I came across Thinking Blog entry on “[tag]Safeguard the Web for Children[/tag]” which is originally a campaign from Blogger Power.
Basically, Blogger Power, is an open letter to all adult website owners:
“Please require a password-protected login before allowing even free access to explicit adult content. We understand that selling porn is your business and we respect your right to make a legal living. But understand our legitimate concerns and work with us. You already have the ““warning adult content” on your websites. Yet kids, who are not legal customers of your product, ignore the warning. So to prevent them from having direct access to explicit images, texts and sounds, the simplest way is to have a password-protected login. No more ‘free tours’ before a visitor supplies basic information.”
FACT: Children today are often left alone with a computer and sometimes visit pornographic sites accidentally. I truly support this move.
As a mother, I often monitored my children’s surfing activities until their high school years. In 1996, Lauren then a 10 year old often used my computer in my bedroom. One afternoon, I excused myself to get a phone call. Kids these days type really fast so by the time I returned to my room , I found Lauren with a puzzled look. Right in front of her, the images splashed across the screen was explicit sexual act with all genitals exposed. Mortified, I asked her why she was at that site. Seeing my horrified look, she meekly stammered that she typed the word “chat room” so she could chat with kids her age. The first link she clicked led her to that adult site. At that moment, I explained to her all about porn and the sexual act. Before this happened, I already educated her about sex through the CD “Adam’s body” but graphical images were never displayed. Sometimes I wonder if my dear daughter got traumatized at those porn images.
Based on my experiences with Lauren , I involved myself with internet safety and drafted safety tips over at World Kids Network. Inspite all our efforts to protect our children, these porn sites appear even in their favorite music or lyrics sites.
Let’s do our share to safeguard our children. Spread the word. Let’s show [tag]Blogger Power[/tag].
Remember, this is not a campaign against pornography as a whole nor about restricting legitimate free speech and legal commerce. This is just a common sense request to protect our kids.
