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Article Title:	Protecting Children From Internet Porn
Author of reported comment:	Mark Goodge
Comment Date:	19:23 on Mar 28 2011
Comment:	Unfortunately, this debate often seems to be polarised between the libertarians on the one hand who see nothing wrong with the ready availability of porn and, on the other, those who think children shouldn't see it and want the ISPs to take responsibility for ensuring that children don't see it. The problem with the latter position is that it ignores the technical issues involved. As someone who has worked in the Internet industry for a significant chunk of my working life and is also a Christian I get a bit annoyed when I'm characterised as "pro porn" simply because I don't believe that ISP-led censorship will work. The comment from Vivienne Pattison about how mobile phones are pre-locked is a case in point - making the claim that the Internet can work the same way betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how it all actually works! As a parent myself, I want to ensure that my children aren't exposed to inappropriate imagery until they're old enough to handle it properly themselves. And it's precisely because I care about that, as a parent, that I'm not prepared to hand over that responsibility to a third party. Calls for ISPs to block access to porn seem to me to be based on wishful thinking: that if we dump the problem on someone else then it will go away. But, from my own knowledge of the technology involved, I know that simply won't - and can't - happen. Put me on the end of the most heavily censored Internet connection in the country and I'll find porn for you if you want it. And so can any net-savvy teenager. I've gone into this in more depth on my own blog, because this is an issue I feel very strongly about. My concern is that by repeatedly calling for the impossible, the campaigners are actually making it harder to take steps that will be genuinely useful. You can read more of my thoughts here: http://mark.goodge.co.uk/2010/12/think-of-the-children/

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