WP: Remote Control Parenting (Internet filters)

[DeepModem Mom]

Remote Control Parenting

By Robert MacMillan
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Friday, March 18, 2005; 9:55 AM


America's parents are relying more than ever on software filters to block what their children can see on the Internet, according to a study published Thursday afternoon.

Fifty-four percent of families that have at least one teenager living at home and have Internet access reported that they use filters, up from just over 41 percent in December 2000, according to the report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. That translates to 12 million families now, compared to 7 million in 2000....

***

The survey comes as parents, lawmakers and the Internet industry continue seeking ways to shield children from inappropriate online content. Past efforts to pass nationwide laws to restrict access to X-rated content online ran afoul of the Constitution, and a current law that would require Web site operators to find ways to keep children from visiting their sites is still awaiting judicial review.

The fact is, there are plenty of things to read, hear and see within easy reach online that parents might consider inappropriate for their children. More important is the danger posed by sex predators who use the Internet to run down underaged prey. News reports about the arrest of these predators is welcoming in the sense that they're getting caught, but also troubling because of the widespread danger that we see more clearly with each passing day....

***

But the fact is that total supervision is impossible. Our parents couldn't stop us from sneaking smokes, joyriding or playing hooky when we were their wards. Just because the Internet is still an alien world to many parents, that doesn't mean the scenario is any different. Amanda Lenhart, the Pew study's author, said as much to me when I suggested that it wasn't such a news flash that 65 percent of parents and 64 percent of teenagers say that "teens do things online that they wouldn't want their parents to know about." The Internet, she said, is simply reflecting "the age-old conflict between parents and kids."...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46481-2005Mar18.html