Some thoughts on the Department for Education’s consultation on ‘Parental Internet Controls’.
If you’re in England and a parent, guardian and/or educator you should be responding to the Department for Education’s consultation on Parental Internet Controls.
The assumptions behind it are quite staggering.
It would appear that the government believes that the best way of ‘protecting’ young people is to shield them from ever accessing ‘inappropriate’ material online.
This is wrong for several reasons:
- Despite your best efforts, all young people will at some point come across inappropriate things online
- Any tool you use to block inappropriate sites will be a fairly blunt instrument leading to false positives
- Blocking tools tend to lead to a false sense of security by parents, guardians and educators
- Who decides what’s ‘inappropriate’?
The best filter resides in the head, not in a router or office of an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
I don’t want my internet connection to be filtered in ‘the best interests of my children’. I don’t want to be subject to censorship.
I’ve responded to the consultation. I’ve pointed out that their questions are sometimes unfairly worded. For example, I want to respond for one particular question that I don’t think ‘automatic’ parental controls should be in place in any households.
It’s about education, not censorship. Make sure you respond to the consultation, please!
