Well, maybe two.

Problem #1: Kids.

As we all know, kids understand the net far better than their parents. For every net-savvy parent out there, there are probably 10 who have no clue, and another 20 who are only partially knowledgeable. Heck, I have heard people say that they had the kid install the filtering software because they didn't understand how to do it. I do classes for parents in elementary net safety: how to check history, how to know if your settings have been tampered with, how to judge the authority of a website, how to find a "safe" email provider for your child, why and how one changes a password, how to complain about abuse, how to teach kids about the net's potential for deception... Many parents don't know this stuff, simple as it is.

The kids run rings around them. Because nothing is as interesting as the thing which is forbidden, and because some kids don't know how much trouble they can get themselves into, and because some parents don't know either, or don't know how to explain it effectively to their kids. These parents think a filter can be fool-proof, and that a fool-proof filter will relieve them of the need to know more than their kids about the online environment.

The problem is, children are reckless, but they aren't fools.

The only thing the kids can't evade is adult eyes on them, if not all the time, then the casual drop-in visit. Frequently. And at random.

Problem #2: Predators.

We all know that legitimate adult sites are interested in adults, that is, people with credit cards who are not afraid to use them. Porn is money. Some people find it offensive, but there you go. Porn sites primarily interested in selling to adults already have some kind of indicator, if not in their URL (XXX being an example of a prominent indicator), then on the front page, which includes a salacious but not obscene layout accompanied by "You must be 18 or older to visit this site". (At this point, see Problem #1, above.) These sites already try to screen, and would cooperate with your suggestion. For that very reason, they are not the problem.

The idiots who inflict pop-up porn on unsuspecting surfers in an attempt to drum up business are a small problem, but I tell you truly, a young child who coming across an image like that, if properly supervised by an adult, will experience puzzlement. Unless the adult goes completely bonkers, the child will not experience distress. The adult will (one hopes) calmly click away, explain that these are not the Grand Tetons that the geography lesson means, and wait to see if there are any questions. If so, perhaps those questions needed to be asked anyway. Especially if there's snickering. If it's an older child, that's another discussion: the one about self-respect, and privacy, and the right to be left alone. And maybe about the nude as art vs. whatever was in the pop-up, if it's only nudity. We would all like to script our lives, but sometimes the teachable moment is an inconvenient and even upsetting thing.

But predators will not cooperate. They have no desire to identify themselves, for they are stalking their young victims by pretending to be friends, and only gradually getting them involved until the children believe that they are too "bad" to turn to an adult. Or the child is so lonely that he will do anything to keep this friend who shares all this fascinating information with him. Predators cannot be screened because they don't want to be identified and so work very hard at evading detection.

Predators are far, far more dangerous than a quick glimpse of hot sex. Filtering software cannot reach them because their objectives are so perverse and their methods are so subtle. From what I have seen in my personal experience, I believe that filters that promise effective and selective screening against pornography will only result in making parents more comfortable, believing that they won't have to monitor their child's computer use or explain those odd-looking naked people. I believe the overall result will place children in more peril, because the real danger will go unobserved.

The only guardian worth anything is an adult who cares.

Regards--
Mary Anne