Do you think adults need parental control or censorship software to use the internet?

[froggyboy604]

No Adults do not need parental control software, but Parental Control/website category blocking software can block naughty sites which will reduce the chance of getting a virus, or spyware infection which naughty sites and file sharing sites are more known to have compared to Google.

Website blocking software can be useful if a site always try to infect your computer with a virus every time you visit the website, so you can easily block it.

Plus, it prevents adults from viewing illegal content "by accident" like "underage porn, bomb making, cults, terrorism sites and illegal material" which can land the viewer in jail for many years if the judge and jury don't believe they watch the stuff by accident by clicking a link by accident or mistyping a link.

I use the free OpenDNS account which I configure to block sites with these categories "academic fraud, alcohol, nudity, pornography, dating, p2p/files sharing, sexuality, tobacco, adware, drugs, gambling, parked domains, tasteless, and weapons." since they don't interest me much, and to prevent me from viewing the sites which I do not trust fully because of the category.

I also configure OpenDNS to block Malware/Botnet, Phishing, and Suspicious Responses to also block weird websites.

 

[Black Angel]

Yes, but they also need to teach their children to use common sense, and answer any question these kids may have that piques their curiosity about the content that warrants the censorship in the first place..

 

[froggyboy604]

It is also important to talk about the legal problems which will happen if they get caught. I watch the news and see stories of teens being charged as sex offenders and distribution of underage content for sending their boyfriend or girlfriend naughty pictures of themselves, or viewing illegal content.

Like this Kid:

16-Year-Old Kid Gets 90 Years for Viewing Porn?

A 16 year old kid gets 90 Years Prison Sentence and has to go through 2 year ordeal to clear his name.
Sixteen-year-old Matthew Bandy was about as normal a teenager as you could find. He actually liked hanging out with his family. "He was a happy-go-lucky kid," said his mother, Jeannie Bandy. "Very personable, and big-hearted. I sound like a boastful mom, but I guess the biggest thing is that he could always make me laugh."
What was Matthew Bandy accused of? Jeannie and Greg Bandy were shocked to discover that their son was charged with possession of child pornography.
They arrested 16 year old Matthew Brady and confiscated his computer which had 9 images of Child pornography. In Arizona, each possession carries a 10 year punishment, so if convicted Matthew would have been in Prison for his entire life. His parents claim innocence. He took Lie detector tests and Psychiatric evaluation and passed both of them. And they found how the images were transferred to his computer by means of a virus. The parents went through a nightmare going through this ordeal and finally the prosecution settled with him for a minor felony punishment which still carried the stigma of being a sex offender and he will be asked to register wherever he moves or lives. One of the Judges who saw this case asked his parents to appeal against this labeling of sex offender, which Mathew Brady did and was removed from the sex offender's list. After two years of fear, they are back to normalcy again. They don't use the web anymore his computer is unplugged.
What do you think about this case?

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/91993/16_Year_Old_Kid_Gets_90_Years_for_Viewing_Porn_

 

[Black Angel]

That is pretty fucked up but nothing I am surprised by. I know people absolutely refuse to use a firewall and anti-virus software, saying that their computers don't have anything on it worth stealing.

I have told them about what could happen, and they think I made it up.. oh well..

 

[froggyboy604]

It is a good that Microsoft is bundling a free software outbound/inbound Firewall, and Windows Defender with Windows Vista and 7 by default. Both programs are not the best compared to many paid or free alternatives, but it is better then no protection at all to protect people who do not use a firewall or antivirus if it is not installed by defeualt.

The teen in the story got his computer infected with a child porn virus which nearly landed him in jail if the judge or jury did not believe the computer investigator who found tons of viruses on his computer. If it was not for his age of being 16, he probably go to jail since lots of criminals also blaim viruses for their habits.

Freedom is a lot more important then most file someone will steal on a computer.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

that's just wrong, and I wonder how he was found out?