Reminder To Parents: Online Kid Filters Don't Really Block All That Much

from the your-kids-can-still-see-stuff dept

Mon, Jan 17th 2011 7:01pm — Mike Masnick

While we have no issue with parents choosing to use filters for their kids' computers (we do have an issue when its gov't mandated, however...), we've pointed out in the past that one of the worries with such filters is that parents will over rely on those filters to actually work. Yet, history has shown time and time again that they don't work very well, and a new study out of Europe once again notes that the filters aren't very good at blocking "objectionable" content for kids. The filters are basically good only at domain-level blocks, which is fine for some stuff, but there's all sorts of content on social networks and blogs that might not be appropriate for kids, but that these filters won't block. The simple fact is that sooner or later kids are going to see stuff they weren't meant to see. But if you rely too much on the filter, and think that it really will block stuff, you might not think to teach kids that perhaps some stuff online isn't appropriate for them, and teach them how to deal with it if they run into it by accident.

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Filed Under: filters, kids

27 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2011 @ 7:24pm

I would like very much to see what impact this "objectionable material" really have on kids.

I believe that the role of every parent is to show the kids what is wrong and what is right and let them choose their path from there, let them fail and succeed on their own to build their experiences.

All kids have different personalities and some traits may make some more susceptible to failure like highly emotional kids or emotionless ones, how do we recognize what type of kid we have and how to deal with that is time better spend then to try and stop every single bad thing from happening to them.

For me it is better to guide the young and don't have to worry about bad things because you told them how to deal with it and is their choice now on how to handle such things and if they can't find a solution to a problem parents should be there to show them how if possible(not even adults know how to deal with some things).

We should ask the older generation to see what they did and what they did not and see how that reflected on the adults they raised to try and understand how things work.
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Esahc (profile), 17 Jan 2011 @ 7:50pm

Reminder To Parents: Be a PARENT!
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Robert Ring (profile), 17 Jan 2011 @ 8:05pm

This reminds me of someone I know who was babysitting and somehow didn't know that the kids had gotten on the computer to look up "weiner dogs." The parents came home, and, yeah.....
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The Mighty Buzzard (profile), 17 Jan 2011 @ 8:15pm

If you don't want your kids to be able to see Internet porn, get them bb guns. They'll shoot their eyes out and you won't have to worry about it anymore. Blinding is about the only way you'll ever get pubescent males to not look at porn if they know of its existence though.

Unless, wait, are your kids dumb? You might be able to keep them from finding porn if they're really stupid and you stay on top of it their every waking minute. You're just screwed on wet dreams and wanking without visual aids though.
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The Mighty Buzzard (profile), 17 Jan 2011 @ 8:18pm

Re:
Surprisingly, not nearly as many non-Dachshund links as you'd think on Google. I'm guessing it's because weiner is not the preferred euphemism in those circles.
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Shitwizard, 17 Jan 2011 @ 8:20pm

I'm not too worried about my little brother running into shitting dick nipples. I mean, I don't want him to, but that's not what worries me. I mainly don't want the poor kid to find some of the more horrid things, like the Russian soldier using the serrated edge of a knife to cut off a guy's head, or the images of guys that were chopped into pieces by the Mexican mafia, or anything else that may have come out of ogrish or rotten from back in the day. It's depressing to even think of his reaction if he happens upon it.

As soon as I catch him installing limewire or some trash like that, I'll have to teach him how to properly steal online music and movies too. Just like teenage sex, drinking and drug use, you don't want him to do it, but you can't stop him if he decides to do it anyway, so you might as well teach him to do it safely and hope that he keeps his nose clean.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2011 @ 10:29pm

Re:
Parents: How exactly?
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2011 @ 11:44pm

Re:
And god help you when they discover sex.
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Blatant Coward (profile), 18 Jan 2011 @ 12:21am

Re: Re:
Well it's all God's fault, he invented sex. "Go forth and Multiply." He forgot to expressly say "After you are married to someone of a different gender in a state and 'church' sanctioned ceremony and make sure my spokespeople get their cut of the profits."
That's what you get from lazy programming tho.
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Rose M. Welch (profile), 18 Jan 2011 @ 1:00am

Re:
I'm really afraid to Google 'shitting dick nipples'.
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Anonymous was here, 18 Jan 2011 @ 1:54am

Reminder to parents
oh ya know whats neat, now that the first gen hackers are now parents just exactly what the real message is should be.

KIDS experiment, kids play , and nothing they can do online can harm a real human being physically, as long as you give them the basics of treating everyone with respect, and not to deface websites...WHO cares what they do ( pron excepted of course as in hey they will fine it so talk to your kids etc. Make sure they know those are real people not just sex objects).

I will add having run a hacker organization for the past 14 years i will say i am hte largest baby sitter on the net.
In the beginning it was like me playing shrink to the worlds troubled kids. Ikept them out of trouble and i helped many go on to do better thigns and hack hte net the way it should be.

There is always more fun to be had learning and trying to do stuff that doesn't involve hacking your website....
HOWS that game made?
HOW do i make graphics and 3d models?
How is that software made?
CAN i do that?
you get those questions in your head your a good one.

the cyber criminals are often gangsters to begin with and are just leeches of the hacker community trying to get stuff that they should not.

its nice media is now using the proper terms by and large.
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Not an electronic Rodent, 18 Jan 2011 @ 1:58am

Irony?
a new study out of Europe once again notes that the filters aren't very good at blocking "objectionable" content for kids.
Which makes you wonder why politicians seem to love them so much .

Oh yeah,that's it...... Because they are perfectly aligned with political thinking: A cheap and easy solution that gives the appearance of action without having to actually do something or think too hard.
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Christopher (profile), 18 Jan 2011 @ 2:11am

Personally, I go by the thinking that if the kid is interested in and enters words like sex, pornography, etc.... they get what they are looking for!

I don't bother to put any internet filters on my computer AND I don't bother putting them on anyone else's computers. In fact, I tell the parents who I fix computers for that they are a waste of time, because in ten minutes or with a proxy, you can get around these filters.
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Enrico Suarve, 18 Jan 2011 @ 2:48am

Re: Re:
Try this:

No internet in bedrooms
Actually supervise your child�s early play and join in (don't just rely on a TV or Computer to keep them out of your hair)
If you must, try just giving basic handsets to your child - but really, WTF does a 10 year old even need a phone for anyway?
Go outside once in a while with your kid...
Actually talk to them about love and stuff, give them some context so when they do inevitably find images of some girl sucking multiple cocks they can work out on their own that this is not necessarily 'loving relationship' stuff.
Generally try to avoid demonising things like sex to the point that they won't come to you for answers; as a general rule of thumb if it seriously pisses of the religious right it's probably in this category.
Try to tech your kids the difference between right and wrong and to show basic respect for others � stop trolls before they start.

Or were you looking for more generic stuff like breastfeed babies wherever possible and don't inject drugs in front of them?
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Enrico Suarve, 18 Jan 2011 @ 2:53am

Re: Re: Re:
You don't get it do you? God wasn't lazy - human beings are merely still in Beta.

Armageddon will simply be a reformat before rolling out a stable first release. Hopefully by then he will have removed the major bugs like religion and republicanism.
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Not an electronic Rodent, 18 Jan 2011 @ 3:28am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
religion and republicanism
There's a difference?
/sarcasm
/troll

Disclaimer: I'm not american and the comparison is valid for all major (and most minor) political parties.
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Chris in Utah (profile), 18 Jan 2011 @ 5:42am

Ok I guess I have to say it. Welcome to one of the most obvious scam on the net today. I think AOL may have invented it (citation needed) but certifiably have the most innovation in the field. My parents still use it for my nephew .... hmm introspection of the day. lol.
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Bill, 18 Jan 2011 @ 8:00am

Re:
The problem is that the older generation tends to romanticize as they retell the story's of the old days. Thats the reason we have the "I had to walk up hill in the snow" joke...
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Not an electronic Rodent, 18 Jan 2011 @ 8:33am

Re: Re:
"I had to walk up hill in the snow" joke...
[bad northern accent] An' when we got 'ome, mum and dad would slice us in 2 wit' breadknife.....[/bad northern accent]
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PRMan, 18 Jan 2011 @ 9:39am

Re: Re: Re:
WTF does a 10 year old even need a phone for anyway?

Because she has gymnastics 20 hours a week and is sometimes taken to the gym by other gym moms.

Because when we're at Disneyland, it's a great way for them to have some freedom while still being able to reach them in 5 minutes if they need us.

I could go on, but my kids have been very responsible with their phones (as they usually are in every aspect of life) precisely because of some of the things you have said about respecting others and such, which I even managed to teach them as a member of the "hated religious right".
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Rose M. Welch (profile), 18 Jan 2011 @ 1:03pm

Re: Re: Re:
really, WTF does a 10 year old even need a phone for anyway?

To communicate, just like everyone else. I think your characterization of 10-year-olds really shows that you don't have much experience with children that age. ThetTen-year-olds that I know are fairly responsible.

...images of some girl sucking multiple cocks they can work out on their own that this is not necessarily 'loving relationship' stuff.

A sweet love-making scene in a porno is not necessarily 'loving relationship stuff', either.
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Rose M. Welch (profile), 18 Jan 2011 @ 1:12pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
If you teach your children to respect others, then you aren't a member of the religious right.

I'm not saying that you aren't a Christian or a Republican or whatever. I'm saying that you're not a part of the group of people that despise (and are generally despised by) everyone else.
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The eejit (profile), 18 Jan 2011 @ 1:56pm

Re: Re:
Don't be....just search with SafeSense on.
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Bnesaladur (profile), 18 Jan 2011 @ 4:43pm

Parents should also realize filters are easy to bypass
While my little bro was in school he was supposed to do internet research into a assigned topic. Of course the filters are set to really strict and he couldn't look up anything related. I can't remember what it was but needless to say, it shouldn't have been blocked. I think it took a day, one day, and we had figured out a simple way to completely bypass the entire system. Sure they don't do the entire job, but in this case it was easily made to not block anything at all, and that without admin access.
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Enrico Suarve, 19 Jan 2011 @ 3:48am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Funny because the ten year olds I know constantly use them in class and get them confiscated, or when they have them rarely manage an actual two way conversation since their friend is always out of credit/battery or left theirs on the bed/in a bag/on the bus etc.

It has been a few years since my own 15yr old was ten so maybe things have changed but from looking at my friend's children and their stories I'd say not that much.

"A sweet love-making scene in a porno is not necessarily 'loving relationship stuff', either." Correct - and your point was?
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Rose M. Welch (profile), 19 Jan 2011 @ 4:57am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Are you a teacher or some sort of school official?
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Enrico Suarve, 19 Jan 2011 @ 9:14am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Nope - a lot of my friends and family are though, I had kids early so although mine are older most of my friends' kids fit into the 5-12 range.
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