You don't even need to go that far. There are already programs that can do that. Building a midway appliance wouldn't help anything, because even a child can figure out how to plug/unplug stuff; getting around a program? Not quite as easy.
Let's look at the real problem here, though: the internet isn't like a book or magazine. If you give your child one of those, you can leaf through it first and parse for inappropriate content. (why you'd ever be handing a child a book that could possible contain inappropriate content is beyond me, but hey. It takes all kids.) And it isn't like a movie, where you can preview it first. There's new stuff on the internet, new ways to get to that stuff, and it's continually changing. What we do not need is for the ISPs, or a program, or a firewall appliance, to make sure that our children aren't going to inappropriate sites on the net. What we need is for parents to monitor their child's internet usage, by being present. There's no education involved. All you have to do is look at the screen and ask yourself, "Is my child looking at porn? y/n?"...if a parent can't even process that, I think at that point they're not fit for the job.
Of course I understand that this isn't always possible. Parents have to work longer jobs, more jobs, etc. these days, just to make ends meet, and so it can be hard to keep a constant eye on them, but that's a societal issue which isn't really the topic here. But if this ISP-side naughty-site block is any bit smart, they'll be sure to include something in their contract with customers that the service isn't a substitute for parental supervision...only in more legal jargon. And I'm sure they will. What they have to worry about more is that $10,000 fine for failing to block the material.
"LJ gives a more accurate representation of a person"? I think not. At least not in all cases. Intended as an online diary/journal service as far as I can tell, there are a lot of things in my LJ, both old and new, that I wouldn't want a potential employer seeing and judging me on. Now, granted, I lock all my posts that might have something of that nature in it, but not everyone wants to shut themselves off like that. Some-- dare I say, many-- view it as a place to rant, vent, or just be silly, and don't really think to lock that sort of stuff. I can't say reading my LJ, locked or not, really provides much of an accurate description of me at all. I can't be the only one.
Now, even then that wouldn't be a problem. An employer should be smart enough to figure out, "Hey, they're human, they do have feelings and a need to get things off their chest", right? Well, that's the way it should work, but unfortunately it doesn't. Because just as much as an LJ user is a human, so is an employer, and they are prone to jumping to conclusions and basically being...not all that bright. It's a sad truth. Now, it's easy to find my Xanga posts from when I was thirteen, and I was a real brat back then. That is no representation of what twenty-year-old me is like. But I have known people who are simply not wise enough or what have you, to notice that the date is way far back.
Now expand this beyond just Livejournal, and having an employer Google your username or common email could really hurt your chances at getting a job. Or it could help. The bottom line, and what I'm really trying to get at, is exercising discretion. Do some Googling on one's own first, to see if it brings up anything that could be taken the wrong way or incriminating. Then decide from there, do I use an email specifically designed for use with employers, or my normal one? Do I give them my internet handle or not?
I'm sure this is going to become a much hotter topic as more people and employers start doing this. It's already come up a lot with schools taking action against students for things posted on line, and I'm anticipating to see this hit the world on a much larger scale than a few isolated incidents...
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You don't even need to go that far. There are already programs that can do that. Building a midway appliance wouldn't help anything, because even a child can figure out how to plug/unplug stuff; getting around a program? Not quite as easy.
Let's look at the real problem here, though: the internet isn't like a book or magazine. If you give your child one of those, you can leaf through it first and parse for inappropriate content. (why you'd ever be handing a child a book that could possible contain inappropriate content is beyond me, but hey. It takes all kids.) And it isn't like a movie, where you can preview it first. There's new stuff on the internet, new ways to get to that stuff, and it's continually changing. What we do not need is for the ISPs, or a program, or a firewall appliance, to make sure that our children aren't going to inappropriate sites on the net. What we need is for parents to monitor their child's internet usage, by being present. There's no education involved. All you have to do is look at the screen and ask yourself, "Is my child looking at porn? y/n?"...if a parent can't even process that, I think at that point they're not fit for the job.
Of course I understand that this isn't always possible. Parents have to work longer jobs, more jobs, etc. these days, just to make ends meet, and so it can be hard to keep a constant eye on them, but that's a societal issue which isn't really the topic here. But if this ISP-side naughty-site block is any bit smart, they'll be sure to include something in their contract with customers that the service isn't a substitute for parental supervision...only in more legal jargon. And I'm sure they will. What they have to worry about more is that $10,000 fine for failing to block the material.
"LJ gives a more accurate representation of a person"? I think not. At least not in all cases. Intended as an online diary/journal service as far as I can tell, there are a lot of things in my LJ, both old and new, that I wouldn't want a potential employer seeing and judging me on. Now, granted, I lock all my posts that might have something of that nature in it, but not everyone wants to shut themselves off like that. Some-- dare I say, many-- view it as a place to rant, vent, or just be silly, and don't really think to lock that sort of stuff. I can't say reading my LJ, locked or not, really provides much of an accurate description of me at all. I can't be the only one.
Now, even then that wouldn't be a problem. An employer should be smart enough to figure out, "Hey, they're human, they do have feelings and a need to get things off their chest", right? Well, that's the way it should work, but unfortunately it doesn't. Because just as much as an LJ user is a human, so is an employer, and they are prone to jumping to conclusions and basically being...not all that bright. It's a sad truth. Now, it's easy to find my Xanga posts from when I was thirteen, and I was a real brat back then. That is no representation of what twenty-year-old me is like. But I have known people who are simply not wise enough or what have you, to notice that the date is way far back.
Now expand this beyond just Livejournal, and having an employer Google your username or common email could really hurt your chances at getting a job. Or it could help. The bottom line, and what I'm really trying to get at, is exercising discretion. Do some Googling on one's own first, to see if it brings up anything that could be taken the wrong way or incriminating. Then decide from there, do I use an email specifically designed for use with employers, or my normal one? Do I give them my internet handle or not?
I'm sure this is going to become a much hotter topic as more people and employers start doing this. It's already come up a lot with schools taking action against students for things posted on line, and I'm anticipating to see this hit the world on a much larger scale than a few isolated incidents...