There will be porn.
Local news network KGET was contacted a few days ago by a distraught mother who had discovered the perils of MySpace to which her 13-year-old child was being exposed to.
“She said the website, which was originally designed for aspiring musicians, has turned x-rated.”and apparently wants to raise awareness so that other parents can be made aware about the nature of the content on this, the Internet.
While I completely understand a parent’s concern that their children are accessing something that could only by a stretch be deemed “potentially pornographic,” it is not the city, state, federal government or local news media’s right, obligation or duty to represent to anyone what has become the nature of an open, collaborative environment that lacks moderation: People will be offended. Feelings will be hurt. And, above all: There will be porn.
I am not at all advocating the exposure of pornography to children who are under the legal age limits, and I do recognize the inherent problem that exists in a site whose very premise (which is at its core, non-pornographic) allows a flexibility with which comes the potential for abuse. Still, the truth of the matter is that MySpace cannot do anything about it while maintaining their successful and legal business model. They are taking as many preventative and proactive measures as they can to reduce the volume of “objectionable” content, but it becomes arduous to say the least to filter through millions upon millions of profile images, even with the help of an automated system that flags them for action.
I suppose I don’t think it’s such a bad thing that this anonymous parent wanted to raise awareness. Parents should be aware that even a site as seemingly benign as MySpace can harbor many nasty nooks and crannies. But this is the truth of a great deal of locations on the internet, and parents should be vigilante across the board if they do not want their children exposed to these things. Furthermore, they should explain what content is considered objectionable, why, and what they expect their children to do about it. A lot of kids are surprisingly willing to consent to such basic restrictions if it means they’re still able to maintain contact with their friends online.
The other truth in this is that a lot of people use MySpace for normal, non-pornographic reasons. While a large population do use it as a networking/hookup site, it’s also a place for friends to maintain their own places on the web to interact and keep in touch, and to meet and chat with friends of their friends. Teach your kids to stay away from the bad profiles, explain to them your perspective on sex and all those evils, and monitor what they do with the information. Hopefully you won’t have to take any more action, but allow them to actually discuss things with you. Or simply close them out and remove all access to the horrible deliverer of evil we know as the internet.
Tags: censorship, MySpace, porn