Utah’s governor has signed an anti-net porn law. Basically the law says that the state’s attorney general will make a list of websites which are offensive to minors. Apparently the law is pretty vague in how it determines which websites are offensive. What the Utah AG finds offensive may not be offensive to you or me. And what I find offensive might not be offensive to the Utah AG. It’s all relative.
Those who support this law are basically saying two things:
1. We don’t know how to install filtering programs and secure our computer through passwords and are depending on the ISPs/state government to filter stuff for us.
2. We don’t know how to be a parent. We are unable to properly regulate our child’s surfing habits.
Those who identify with these two categories can do one (or both) of these things: 1) Promptly return your computer to the place you purchased it. 2) Put your kid up for adoption. The latter is a bit extreme, but is almost becoming the norm in a society who refuses to parent. Instead parents are relying on state laws, schools, youth ministers, church leaders, etc… to do their parenting for them. There are some things that only a parent can do, and this includes the home PC.
Filtering software is pretty widespread. Many programs are available as free downloads (for trials). Passwords are readily available on most any new operating system. Parents, secure your computer. Put it in a public place. Only let your child surf while you are at home and can monitor it. If you are unable to do this and still have concerns about the child’s surfing habits, perhaps you should not have a computer.