Holy Father Pope Francis addresses dangers of internet for children

[Roseeurekacross]

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/201...ren_in_the_digital_world_top_priority/1341241

 

[exnihilo]

I am glad the Holy Father is addressing these serious issues.

A third risk of which we must be aware in our approach to the digital world is the deluded notion that “the net” is or should be a realm of unlimited freedom.

While the internet and other technologies that are part of the contours, content, and structures of this new digital world have opened vast new fora for free expression and free exchange of ideas and information, it has also offered new means for engaging in heinous illicit activities, including the abuse of minors and offences against their dignity, the corruption of their minds and violence against their bodies.

“This,” said Pope Francis, “has nothing to do with the exercise of freedom: it has to do with crimes that need to be fought with intelligence and determination, through a broader cooperation among governments and law enforcement agencies on the global level, even as the net itself is now global.”

I don’t think the internet should be a place of unlimited freedom. But it will be. I just don’t think you can stop it. Technology will circumvent any attempts to limit what’s people do.

The one thing I do wish is that they had laws requiring pornography to be on a xxx domain. That would make blocking it far easier.

 

[pianistclare]

I just found out from a friend, that Xfinity offered filtering at the MODEM level. So anyone accessing wifi at your home can be filtered on any device, and across any device that your kids use while at home. This is great news for parents.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

I’m lucky that my husband knows his stuff.

As @pianistclare noted you MUST protect at the modem level. Why? Because this will ensure that ALL devices have the same level of basic filtration. It also means if your prepubescent neighbor finds his way onto your wifi (he should not, it should be password protected) he can’t get anything, either.

In addition, it may be good to note the list of devices that have attempted to connect to the internet in your home. With less than $50 cash in hand a teenager can go to just about any store–target, drugstore, walmart–and buy a cheap smartphone and a phone plan and have unlimited, unregulated access to the internet. However, chances are this phone will attempt to connect to the wifi…making it easy to spot.

 

[exnihilo]

That is good news. A better security measure than individual devices is working at the router or modem level. That said, parents should beware. An enterprising kid can get around modem level blocking if all it does is block domains, which, as far as I know, is all any blocking actually does. This is a very difficult if not impossible thing to actually stop. But anything which at least makes it harder is good.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

That is good news. A better security measure than individual devices is working at the router or modem level. That said, parents should beware. An enterprising kid can get around modem level blocking if all it does is block domains, which, as far as I know, is all any blocking actually does. This is a very difficult if not impossible thing to actually stop. But anything which at least makes it harder is good.

An enterprising kid can grab a Linux CD and circumvent all computer software, too, or like I said above, simply buy themselves a pay-as-you-go smartphone. Parents should know they will never be as smart or clever as a kid with free time.

Speaking of which, it may be wise to put the whole darned system on a timer, shutting off wifi between say 10pm and 5am when no one should be using it.

The best thing parents can do is allow absolutely no computers in bedrooms or behind closed doors, period.

 

[exnihilo]

That is a wise idea for parents to do for themselves too! I should do that for me.

Also, most computers (Windows and Mac for sure) and most handhelds have parental controls. Parents should make use of them for anything their kid uses.

As you say at a certain age they can get a Linux live CD. But they are punishing themselves if they have to resort to that!

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

That is a wise idea for parents to do for themselves too! I should do that for me.

Also, most computers (Windows and Mac for sure) and most handhelds have parental controls. Parents should make use of them for anything their kid uses.

As you say at a certain age they can get a Linux live CD. But they are punishing themselves if they have to resort to that!

LOL not really. Xubuntu is super light and very maneuverable. Point is, there’s ways to get around even boot-level protections. Then again, many don’t even have CD drives–but there are bootable USB’s now…sooo. I used it when my windows crashed and I couldn’t restore from CD. I liked it well enough. It was no windows 10, but it was better than XP.

My point was that given time and word of mouth and a bit of ingenuity and most important, privacy, a kid will be able to bypass whatever parents set up. What is really needed is to educate kids and make sure they never get to that point.

 

[Inisfallen]

Speaking of which, it may be wise to put the whole darned system on a timer, shutting off wifi between say 10pm and 5am when no one should be using it.

You can also restrict access to your wifi or wired network to certain devices, too. It’s a bit tricky, and I’m not aware of any off-the-shelf packages that do this (not that I’ve done an exhaustive search), but it can be done.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

Xanthippe_Voorhees:

Speaking of which, it may be wise to put the whole darned system on a timer, shutting off wifi between say 10pm and 5am when no one should be using it.

You can also restrict access to your wifi or wired network to certain devices, too. It’s a bit tricky, and I’m not aware of any off-the-shelf packages that do this (not that I’ve done an exhaustive search), but it can be done.

That would typically be at modem/router level and built within the firmware itself. For instance going to 10.10.10.1 (which should be the default unless you set it to something else) will get you access to the firmware where you can add, boot and ban devices.