17 year olds can definitely use the internet but they have to access it from somewhere. Like I said, no doubt they can find ways to get there. If mom and dad don't pay for it (unlikely scenario these days) or lock down the computers so they don't have access without supervision (not that difficult), it's not as easy to get to as one would think.
Personally, I wouldn't put those limits on a 17-year-old, even my own (don't have one yet). However, the overall point is that Santorum doesn't want anyone to have access to porn, even someone over the age of 18. He feels that his definition of obscene should be everyone's.
lock down the computers so they don't have access without supervision (not that difficult)
Um, I've worked several years as a network admin and dealt quite a bit with firewalls and network security in general, and I'm completely at a loss to come up with a not that difficult way to block porn on the internet in a way that couldn't be circumvented in less than 15 minutes by your average even half way technical teenager. I'm curious to hear what you had in mind. Hell even if are a super hard core network security guru and manage to completely lock down your home network, it's basically impossible to a find a point in any town where you aren't within a short walk of an open wifi network.
> I'm completely at a loss to come up with a not that difficult way to block porn on the internet in a way that couldn't be circumvented in less than 15 minutes by your average even half way technical teenager.
The easiest way is a password on a computer. If you aren't around to supervise your kid, they aren't allowed to be on the computer. You could also keep the computer in a public location, like the living room or den, where they will be highly unlikely to surf porn.
And I can't imagine there aren't good firewall programs out there for parents to use. There were at least mediocre ones a decade+ ago when most people were still on dial up.
Open wifi networks are still an issue, like I said. Although I'm not sure how many teenagers would surf for porn in Starbucks. Certainly not enough to warrant the censoring of the entire internet.
Get around passwords are trivial in most cases if you have unsupervised access to the computer. The only chance you have is to either lock away the actual computer and only have the screen and keyboard accessible or to epoxy shut the case and fill all the external ports with glue. Again location of the computer is irrelevant unless you never ever leave your teenager home alone. All of this is assuming the kid in question doesn't just buy his own computer, and with decent laptops being less than $400 new and half that (or less) on ebay, that's quite reasonable these days. Plus most phones you can buy today are quite capable of both downloading and viewing porn.
Home web filtering solutions are also joke and snake oil, always have been. They'll stop dim and uninterested people who don't really care too much one way or the other, but anyone willing to spend 5-10 minutes thinking about the problem will waltz around them.
As to open wifi networks, they won't be watching the porn at Starbucks, they'll be downloading it for later viewing.
And finally it doesn't matter how much you do to lock down your computers and networks when they just go over to friends house and use the unlocked and unfiltered computer there.
Again censoring the entire internet is obviously Wrong. But thinking that you can prevent your teenager from viewing porn on the internet if they really wish to do so simply naive.
Plus you can always fire up MS Paint and draw stick-boobies/penises and fapping comics for massive lulz among your other 12 year old friends. I don't get the idea that people think porn is hard to access or come by even with the most draconian of locks. Okay, so a kid isn't allowed to use his home computer or watch t.v. (The only way to be sure your kid doesn't watch digital porn at home.) He can find porn at the library/school/friend's house/open wifi as you mention. There is also "nudity" one can find in dictionaries-with-sketches, anatomy books, art books, etc. that kids will nevertheless treat as porn because of the forbidden nature of both.
Yea, I mean even back in my pre-internet youth there was always someone who had somehow gotten a hold of a porno mag or VHS tape from somewhere. The only thing blocking porn on the internet will do is make kids more resourceful in finding ways to work around those blocks...which I guess might be a good thing.
So installing porn filters and locks on your home computer is probably a good thing, not because it will prevent your kids from watching porn, but it will make them to learn more about computers and computer networks :)
