Filter system would help parents protect their children

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theQuestion: Should Canada implement a UK-style filter to protect children from pornography on the Internet?*

Last week, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron sparked an important debate regarding children and the easy access to pornography on the Internet. Porn is ubiquitous online. It’s a fact that only a simple search finds an unfathomable amount of free pornographic images and video. Just try Googling any one of the top porn search terms in Canada — Asian, teen and MILF — and see for yourself (please, not in public). It’s hard not to agree that the material available is highly graphic and unhealthy for minors to see. Preventing such access is exactly what the Cameron government is proposing with a new set of laws designed to filter porn through Internet service providers. Adults will be able to opt-in to remove the filters. This proposal will restrict access by minors and effectively make Internet porn adults-only. I support this program and believe we should implement it in Canada as well.

First, it’s important for readers to know my position on this topic is not religious, nor is it politically dogmatic. I am far more liberal on social issues than you could assume based on my writings so far in The Duel. I have no specific objection to adult access to pornography. I believe the production, distribution and consumption of legal pornographic images and video is protected by freedom of speech. That said, when it comes to minors, I say enough is enough.

Critics of the ISP-filtering program are sure to argue that porn does not just pop up on the screen unless it’s searched for. This is not what most people’s experience and the data shows. According to the American Psychological Association, each year about 40% of teens and preteens visit sexually explicit sites either deliberately or accidently. Studies show that a disproportionate amount of the exposure is unwanted.

Of course, parents can deploy search and website filters on computers and devices used within the family. However, absent of a mandatory age-restricted filtering system at the ISP level, how can parents prevent their kids from being exposed to porn through interaction with their peers? What does this exposure do to their developing attitudes towards sex and their behaviour towards others? I believe the impact of porn on youth is clear to see by the rise of sexting and the taking and sending of nude self-portraits. I don’t see any harm in doing all we can to protect our children from porn by restricting access until they are adults.

*First published in 24hrs Vancouver ‘theDuel’

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