Proposed clean feed

There has been much dialogue both online and in the media recently about the Governent plan to ensure a 'clean' internet feed by forcing ISP's to filter content prior to the consumer accessing it. This is Wrong ! It should not be allowed to happen under any circumstances.



It is being touted as a "Clean feed" and you may ask why wouldn't we want a clean feed. Surely we don't want our children or perhaps even ourselves exposed to extreme violence, pornography etc. There are myriad reasons that this is a dangerous move. The first and easiest to realize is that when we allow the Government to choose what we can and can't see we are opening the door for them to decide we can't read about other political systems, detractors and 'malcontents' who may question the status quo. This in itself is reason enough for everyone to stand up and cry NO! I have no issue with filtering out any material that is illegal in Australia regardless of where it originated from. I have a major issue with this clean feed proposal as it is censorship.  However there are other insidious dangers inherent in this type of beauracratic parenting.

I am bothered greatly as a parent by the all too common scenario of too many parents not paying sufficient attention to what their children are doing online. If the Government filters internet content this problem will increase exponentially and parents will think their child is 'safe' while in fact it would be a pedophile's paradise. We will end up with some of the parents who currently do watch their children's activities relaxing and considering their job done. They will no longer watch where their child is browsing, who their child is speaking to through instant messaging clients and what their child is downloading. They will consider the Government is taking care of it for them. Regardless of what steps the Government takes to filter the internet my children will still need me to do my job. This is what responsible parenting is all about. We need to show we have trust in our children but they need to know the limits and what is safe before we remove ourselves from the equation. As my children mature I give them more freedoms and put my trust in what I have taught them. My daughter, now 12, is permitted to use messenger to speak with her friends. I don't watch over her shoulder but she's in the same room as I am so I can see what she's doing if I feel a need. I can trust her not to put herself at risk on messenger. She knows she can't add a contact without knowing exactly who it is. You cannot control other sites so easily.

A quick and easy way to check how many parents are watchng what their child does is have a look at facebook. See how many children that you know attend a local primary school have a profile on there. Facebook has an age requirement of 13 years old. I know of at least 60 children under that age who are on facebook, some of them my own nieces. My children are not permitted access to facebook. They are not old enough by Facebook's TOS and even when they meet that requirement they will not meet my own which currently I have set as perhaps around 16. This is fluid, it will change as my children grow up. They will be allowed access when they are old enough and regardless of Facebook's age limit I will decide when that is. Those children who have a facebook presence have lied to be able to join the site, they are masquerading as older than their years, they are opening themselves to material they are ill-equipped to handle and their parents are failing them by not being aware of what they are doing or not ensuring they are meeting the age requirements.