[laumars]

You're missing the point here. Some parents are not tech-savy and thus depend on the controls given to them by their ISP (etc) to help manage the level of access their kids have to the internet. Suggesting they simply turn off the parental controls doesn't actually fix the problem, it just shifts the problem (ie the problem is shifted from sites not functioning properly to kids having access to everything).

While I do agree that parental controls are not foolproof; occasionally legitimate sites get caught up in the blacklist and kids will usually find a way around many blocks, suggesting parents completely disable such censors is a little like throwing the baby out with the bath water.

[csmithuk]

Perhaps the parents should spend some time with their children and show them what is appropriate and what is not?

I have three children, all of whom use the Internet regularly and bar some passive monitoring, I've done nothing. They have healthy browsing habits.

Blacklists, censorship, firewalls and control are missing the point...

Plus you're going to get goatse'd at some point in your life...

[laumars]

> Perhaps the parents should spend some time with their children and show them what is appropriate and what is not?

Kids will already know this, the question is whether they still wish to push their luck if they think they can get away with it. If they're anything like me, then they will :)

So I wouldn't trust my kids with an unfiltered internet any more than I'd give them satellite / cable TV in their rooms before a sensible age as I cannot simply assume that they wouldn't watch adult movies / etc, after I've gone to bed.

Sometimes it's better to remove the temptation than to give your kids access to the entirety of the adulthood and hope they're sensible / innocent enough not to abuse that trust. Much like I wouldn't keep junk food in the house if I'm trying to lose weight.

> I have three children, all of whom use the Internet regularly and bar some passive monitoring, I've done nothing. They have healthy browsing habits.

How can you be so sure what your kids do when you're not looking?

> Plus you're going to get goatse'd at some point in your life...

In that case lets also show them "2 Girls 1 Cup" on their 8th birthday; because it's bound to happen one day :p

> Blacklists, censorship, firewalls and control are missing the point...

Actually I do partly agree with this (and the passive monitoring comment I mentioned earlier). As argumentative as I might come across, I do agree that the best form of moderation is to keep the internet restricted to a family PC in a communal area. Not everyone does this though.

[MichaelGG]

>So I wouldn't trust my kids with an unfiltered internet

Why? Like what exactly are you concerned about? Just that they might "watch adult movies"?

[laumars]

Some content might be too violent or scary. Or too sexual. I'm not someone who wraps their kids in cotton wool, but I'd like to protect their innocence until they're ready to watch adult content rather than rush them into adulthood just because the content is out there to be viewed.