Porn Sites: Access is Too Easy

The debate over what is and is not pornographic has gone on for centuries and will continue for centuries to come. Pornography is different for each person and even when it is defined, do we as a free nation have the right to ban it? That is an argument best left for another day and a far different venue. The subject today is the ease with which you can access a porn site without any age verification or requirement for membership. Some sites do produce a screen telling you if you are not 18 to please leave now. Yeah, I'm sure that works well. Others welcome visitors of any age with open arms. While these sites do not offer the full length movies, they do offer the highlights at no cost. When I say highlights, I mean they leave nothing out. A child of any age can log onto these sites and see group sex, oral sex, same sex-sex, intercourse, all in full color with music and close-ups. Several of the clips depict violent sex and rape as entertainment.

As a concerned parent is there anything that can be done to protect our children? One argument says if we raise them right they will respect our wishes on not visit those sites. That generally works about as well as the warning about being 18 to enter. Children are curious and when their hormones are racing they will explore. The best solution would be for legislation to dictate these sites require some type of age verification. This would not impose on the rights of adults who wish to view this material, but would help limit exposure to children.

The next option is for individual control. Parents should monitor their children's internet usage, but let's be honest, we can monitor every site they go to. There are other options. There are several software packages which offer parental controls. These have come a long way since they were first developed. In the early days a search concerning breast cancer would be flagged because of the word breast. The programs now are much more sophisticated and functional. Listed here are a few of the better reviewed software packages.

CyberPatrol 7.6 - prices start at $52.00 and will cost you an estimated $40 per year. (www.cyberpatrol.com)

Safe Eyes 5.0 - Prices range from $95.00 up to $119.00 with annual cost of $50 (www.internetsafety.com)

Net Nanny 5.6 - Priced from $26.00 up to $36 with an annual cost of $50 (www.netnanny.com)

Windows Vista - included in windows vista package and offers some of the same features as the other software.

(These are listed for reference only, there are many other good software packages on the market. You should check out each to see which offers the options which best fit your particular needs.)

Monitor your child's internet usage, keep the computer in a family room, not in the bedroom, and talk to them about what is appropriate. After that, consider one of the software packages mentioned above, or another program. Keep the kids safe.