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Researchers Find That Filters Don't Prevent Porn (techcrunch.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the if-there's-a-will-there's-a-way dept.

According to a new paper from Oxford Internet Institute researchers Victoria Nash and Andrew Przybylski, internet filters rarely work to keep adolescents away from online porn. Basically, the filters are expensive and they don't work. "Internet filtering tools are expensive to develop and maintain, and can easily 'underblock' due to the constant development of new ways of sharing content. Additionally, there are concerns about human rights violations -- filtering can lead to 'overblocking', where young people are not able to access legitimate health and relationship information." TechCrunch reports: The researchers "found that Internet filtering tools are ineffective and in most cases [and] were an insignificant factor in whether young people had seen explicit sexual content." The study's most interesting finding was that between 17 and 77 households "would need to use Internet filtering tools in order to prevent a single young person from accessing sexual content" and even then a filter "showed no statistically or practically significant protective effects." The study looked at 9,352 male and 9,357 female subjects from the EU and the UK and found that almost 50 percent of the subjects had some sort of Internet filter at home. Regardless of the filters installed, subjects still saw approximately the same amount of porn.

9 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. Good by johanw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Censorship won't work. The internet protects young people from prudes who like to censor.

    1. Re:Good by johanw · · Score: 5, Funny

      Install an adblocker.

    2. Re:Good by Sebby · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Explain.
      Monitor.
      Then trust.

      Kids will always find ways to access what they want to see. Best to teach/explain/trust than to make them feel suppressed or constantly watched.

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      AC comments get piped to /dev/null
    3. Re:Good by Calydor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Blindfolds.

      Seriously, the internet is the least of your worries. News on the TV from wartorn countries, gory action movies, computer games at any level above Mario, the list is endless.

      The world is a raw and unforgiving place. Sheltering your kids until they're 18 is only going to make the shock that much worse.

      I'm not saying to sit down and watch a porn marathon with them, but consider instilling a healthy understanding in them of what sex is (pleasurable) and isn't (magical).

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      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    4. Re: Good by Type44Q · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Good, old-fashioned analog parenting, without all the goddamned devices.

    5. Re:Good by AlanBDee · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You can't. It was super easy to get porn before the internet. If the internet was around when I was a kid there would have been nothing my parents could have done to prevent me getting access to porn.

      Best thing to do is explain to your kids what's out there so that they're not that curious about it. You don't have to get into heavy details, just as much as they can understand. If they don't learn it from you it'll be from friends at school or TV and both are probably worse then what you'll tell them.

      It is up to you to explain how easy it is today to find yourself on some of those shady sites. Playing "Free" games or watching "free" movies on shady sites. Even watching an innocent YouTube videos can end up in crazy land that shocks us adults.

      Honestly, that's all I think we as parents can do. I pull this from my experience not with my own parents but with my friends mother who was extremely blunt and was willing to explain to me anything I wanted to know. My parents, as much as I love them, were uncomfortable talking about things like that.

  2. The best filter... by Sebby · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Tell kids that everything they see on their screen, you can also see on yours. (That is, of course, until they wise up).

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    AC comments get piped to /dev/null
  3. Re:How its worked for me by AlanBDee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Agreed. As a teenager my dad sat me down and basically admitted he could do nothing to stop me from doing whatever I wanted. He said, "So don't disappoint me and know that I'm here to help if you need."

    In another discussion, he agreed that if I was ever at a party and too drunk to drive home I could call him and he'd pick me up, no questions asked. His reasoning was that if I'm was responsible enough to call for a ride then I was responsible enough to drink. Never took him up on it but it meant a lot to me that he was putting the responsibility on me.

    More people in this world need a dad like mine.

  4. make love not war by swell · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's OK if they see a dozen bloody murders each hour. OK to commit murders while gaming. But doG forbid they should see lovemaking!

    The murdering is OK with most governments because they know it's usually for some patriotic cause, and these mindless masses who love simulated killing will be easy to recruit into warriors for the rich. Cannon fodder.

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    ...omphaloskepsis often...