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.
now this is a nice appeal. hopefully the owners of those websites would heed this call. it’s very focused, specific and still done respectfully. Let’s wait and see if they appreciate that.
@benj- it’s a start you know. But these site owners are greedy and competitive. They want to attract customers asap.
Thank you Noemi. I think for this campaign to be effective, we need every bloggers help and I’m glad to have your support!
Count me in too.
Hi Noemi,
You might be interested in what I wrote:
The Scariest Movie of the Year: Catholic Priest Raping Children
Michael- That’s quite “interesting”. I’ve never actually seen videos.
here’s another fact, a recent shocking study shows 1/3 of kids under 13 watch porn. Pretty scary.
http://fly2.ws/boys-view-porn
yes, safeguarding the web for our children should begin at home, then schools hopefully. even internet cafes should take initiative.
Hmm .. I can see where they’re coming from; but I’m not quite sure I agree with the sentiment. Would YOU password-protect your blog to make sure it’s only visible to a closed community? I wouldn’t, and wouldn’t expect other people to do it either.
Let us say, for the sake of argument, a webmaster DID password-protect his/her website; how would he/she know who to give the password to? Would you expect someone wanted access to post them a notarised copy of their birth certificate?
If under-18s want to get onto their website, they will anyway; I remember how ingenious I was as a curious teenager … I prefer focusing on educating my children, rather than trying to keep them in a padded cell to make sure they don’t hurt themselves.
A friend once told me that raising a child is like having a butterfly in your hand. You don’t want to open it, for fear that the beautiful creature will fly away. But if you hold it to tight, and don’t give it enough sunlight, the pretty butterfly will perish and die. Give your kids their due, they are might brighter than you think!
I certainly believe in protecting our children, but I’m not sure if having the blogosphere encourage adult sites to password protect pages is the answer here or if it will work. I don’t think it will work at all. If one is so concerned about this then it will take lobbying together and confronting those than can pass bills that will make a difference.