My parents had a porn blocker, and all it made me do was learn enough about computers to circumvent it. Even if they put age verification in front of every porn site in the world there's still torrents and chat rooms and forums all over where you can find it, and kids will find it. Next thing they'll mandate is putting toothpaste back in the tube.
If your single point is "trying to stop people only makes them do it more", than no, it's not a "leap". That invalidates the very idea of having laws in the first place.
And fwiw, I'm not arguing in favor of this law, just against the idea you replied with.
The leap was you assuming that i think that means there should be no laws. Which, as you can see by my previous response, you were wrong about.
Edit: in fact. The leap was you taking a statement of fact and going straight to the extreme of "there should be no laws" as opposed to every step along the way you could have visited first. Like relaxing laws, heavy to light regulations, just not this one particular law etc all the way to, eventually, no laws at all for anything.
We didn't say this about everything (although it is true that some kinds of people are attracted to anything forbidden). We said it's true of teenagers and porn. Duh.
And fwiw, I’m not arguing in favor of this law, just against the idea you replied with.
Whatever you're arguing for or against, you're arguing like a drunk uncle. You're taking it to an extreme that it's obvious no one actually intended, and then arguing against that extreme like it was the original point.
Not only will they find it, they'll end up going to the sketchier sites that don't do the age verification because they're not well known enough and not following the laws and they'll likely get something infected on the computer/network or worse.
Not only will they find it, they’ll end up going to the sketchier sites that don’t do the age verification because they’re not well known enough and not following the laws and they’ll likely get something infected on the computer/network or worse.
It's like that time we declared a war on drugs and then there were no drugs. Wait, actually that led to a massive black market and tons of violence.
Point being, you're not gonna stop it. You're just gonna make it less safe.
I think you were the exception not the rule. Or maybe I'm just old. Back in my day you would try to open that linkin_park.mp3 that you downloaded off of limewire, and who knows what you were actually gonna get. Normally some heinous porn or gore video, but I'm sure there was an executable or three in those, too.
I think nowadays this is harder to do, but I could still see some kid getting fooled on some shady tracker site or something.
I definitely got my share of stuff that didn't match the title from Limewire, but the only .exe I ever downloaded from it was Limewire Pro. It took zero effort to check the file name for the extension.
Funny you should mention putting toothpaste back in a tube, because I actually helped someone do that last night. It's possible, but also a huge pain in the ass. That's not a commentary on anything besides literal toothpaste.
My housemate was going on a trip to Alaska the next morning. She had a mostly empty 3 oz toothpaste tube and she was trying to refill it from a larger tube. No idea what she was so opposed to just buying toothpaste when she arrived. I think she was mostly just doing it because she could.
The solution involved holding the tubes end to end and squeezing the larger tube, alternating with using a stirring rod to pack the toothpaste into the smaller tube.
My housemate was going on a trip to Alaska the next morning. She had a mostly empty 3 oz toothpaste tube and she was trying to refill it from a larger tube. No idea what she was so opposed to just buying toothpaste when she arrived. I think she was mostly just doing it because she could.
The solution involved holding the tubes end to end and squeezing the larger tube, alternating with using a stirring rod to pack the toothpaste into the smaller tube.
When my wife insisted I put a porn blocker on the internet, I did some simple DNS tinkering, then told my son not to let his mother catch him bypassing the "blocker" I put on.
It would loan line by precious line. Should I look now and enjoy the suspense or wait ten minutes and see the whole pic in all of its glory? Usually I would be weak and sit there enjoying the anticipation..one line at a time..then finally, when you were so horny you just couldn't take it anymore..you see her penis :/
Mine straight up used Spyware. I learned to make multiple copies of older sessions to cover up anything I wanted, then I replaced current sessions just like they did on security cameras in the movies lol.
I just think of it as a safety net to prevent (or at least reduce the risk) of young children accidently stumbling upon something nasty or graphic that they didn’t mean to.
This should also be done by proper parenting and supervision but as technology and internet devices are friggin everywhere I don’t think it’s a bad idea for parents to also have some decent filters on their internet connection.
Doesn’t stop someone who even knows half way what they are doing, but by that point hopeful parents will have talked and educated their children about things before there’s a concern about intention seeking stuff out.
A decent filter on a network (think pi-hole and next dns and the like) helps block adverts, trackers, scam sites, shady pop ups as well as bog standard porn sites etc
Internet is full of things that it’s easy to accidentally stumble on that you wouldn’t want a young kid to see and I think it’s a reasonable step to have some basic levels of controls on your own network
The onus is on the parents to manage internet access in a way the feel best and shouldn’t be forced or assumed. definitely not to porn sites (or any other site!) to collect entirely unnecessary personal data which would inevitably get leaked.
I totally agree and I put in a good faith effort to block that stuff from my kids' devices using a pihole and what's available on their phones. But I remember being their age and getting away with things because I figured out the workarounds.
At the very least it'll teach them a little about networking and computers which will serve them well in their careers.
Absolutely, that’s why I keep saying “accidentally” - anyone who thinks an internet filter will stop someone with any determination is kidding themselves.
Instead of the age confirmation dialog, they should implement an age-captcha, like "identify these musical artists" or "click on all the squares with physical storage media."
Ooph, that hit home for me. I got that in a bundle with King's Quest and Space Quest(which were both amazingly entertaining at the time) as a pre-teen and just kept going through the questions to learn all the answers. I hadn't heard of Carlsbad Caverns before then and when my wife brought up possibly visiting there this summer, it took me back to that glorious game.
I’m talking about network filters at the home level. Like a pinhole or nextdns. Ones the network owner is control of and can log or not log as they choose to. Parents can set up their own safety net if they choose.
I was Responding to the comment “my parents had a porn blocker” etc
I do not want some dodgy website to be collecting personal IDs that would be an obvious target and/or just get leaked accidebtly.
I am a parent and I have decided not to worry about this stuff. Teens will look at porn and that is just a fact about our existence. I don't have to like it or approve of it or concern myself with it.
Teenagers will. Young children though may accidentally stumble upon something nasty which is far from age appropriate and something they aren’t ready for.
Having good network controls can help with that, but so does good supervision and education about internet safety.