iPod touch Preventing porn?

[phr0ze]

I figure I might as well comment on this since my above post was ignored. As long as they're aware of the workarounds (my above post), this will work for http/https derived pornographic content that has already been listed in the content filters. OpenWrt is needed in combo however, otherwise it's completely worthless, not just slightly so.

Can't we all agree that the effort is futile, but in the case of trying OpenDNS is quick and painless solution. I've done the OpenWRT, DD-WRT, and even a Sveasoft subscriber from back in the day. It can have its own headaches.

 

[darkplanets]

Can't we all agree that the effort is futile, but in the case of trying OpenDNS is quick and painless solution. I've done the OpenWRT, DD-WRT, and even a Sveasoft subscriber from back in the day. It can have its own headaches.

I can fully agree with that. As someone else mentioned, the worst case scenario is that the kid learns more about network tech, which isn't a bad thing in this day and age.

 

[goMac]

If you're looking for an I.T. response... I'll give you my opinion as someone who worked as I.T. in schools...

You cannot prevent it. There will always be porn that gets around the filters. There will always be unprotected networks. There will always be outside sources of files (i.e. friends) who have access.

I'm sympathetic (tax payers don't exactly like public school networks being used for porn), but at the end of the day, all the software out there is ineffective. And having also tried to enforce using screen sharing, there are many many ways around that as well.

If you trust your kid, then you trust your kid and you don't need to do this. If you don't trust your kid, then your kid is going to find a way. Either way, your kid is likely to be exposed to it elsewhere.

 

[tech4all]

For G sake..... Let the boy do what he wants... It is not like it is dangerous...

Yea let's all kids do what they want. Forget about being a parent and setting up ground rules.

Yea I've seen porn. Who hasn't? Bottom line porn is stupid and degrading. It will have a negative impact physiological impact on a person. And yes it is dangerous. They could start to be seeing at the norm on how someone should look. A young boy could grow up seeing girls as sex objects and nothing more. Heck that could lead to rape. And before anyone gets all pissy over that, I said COULD lead to rape. Not saying everyone who watches or looks at porn will become a rapist.

There's nothing wrong with the human body, but when put into the contents of explicitly sexual activities, that's where you have to draw the line IMO.

It's an addiction. It's stupid. It's poison disguised as something 'beautiful.'

To each his/her own.

 

[goMac]

Yea let's all kids do what they want. Forget about being a parent and setting up ground rules.

Yea I've seen porn. Who hasn't? Bottom line porn is stupid and degrading. It will have a negative impact physiological impact on a person. And yes it is dangerous. They could start to be seeing at the norm on how someone should look. A young boy could grow up seeing girls as sex objects and nothing more. Heck that could lead to rape. And before anyone gets all pissy over that, I said COULD lead to rape. Not saying everyone who watches or looks at porn will become a rapist.

There's nothing wrong with the human body, but when put into the contents of explicitly sexual activities, that's where you have to draw the line IMO.

It's an addiction. It's stupid. It's poison disguised as something 'beautiful.'

To each his/her own.

Trust me, while the dad has good intentions, the kid is going to see porn at some point in his teenage life.

The dad has indicated his kid isn't trying to search it out, he's worried about his kid accidentally seeing it. There is no way to stop that, and it's very very easy to go right around OpenDNS if he's "tempted" to.

I think one reason that OP got the reaction he did was because actual parenting is going to be way way more effective here than a firewall that's not even going to work right.

I mean, seriously, OP (and you) have given great explanations of porn to everyone here, but have all missed the point that that is the conversation that needs to be had with the kid, not with us. Because again, he's going to see porn at some point. You can't stop it. Might as well explain to him why it's bad.

 

[fox10078]

poor kid

 

[coolguy4747]

Yea let's all kids do what they want. Forget about being a parent and setting up ground rules.

Yea I've seen porn. Who hasn't? Bottom line porn is stupid and degrading. It will have a negative impact physiological impact on a person. And yes it is dangerous. They could start to be seeing at the norm on how someone should look. A young boy could grow up seeing girls as sex objects and nothing more. Heck that could lead to rape. And before anyone gets all pissy over that, I said COULD lead to rape. Not saying everyone who watches or looks at porn will become a rapist.

There's nothing wrong with the human body, but when put into the contents of explicitly sexual activities, that's where you have to draw the line IMO.

It's an addiction. It's stupid. It's poison disguised as something 'beautiful.'

To each his/her own.

Porn is not the only way people learn that idea. In fact, it's probably one of the less harmful/widespread media in that regard.

Post deleted by moderator

I happened upon porn at a young age, I still turned out gay.

 

[Eddie Bombay]

I happened upon porn at a young age, I still turned out gay.

That's because you're either born straight or gay.

 

[DakotaGuy]

Did you forget what it's like to be under 30? Here's a hint: sex and masturbation is important, both for your mental and personal health.

Actually considering I am in my 30's I'd like to think those things are still important for your personal and mental health after 30 or maybe I am the only man that still enjoys it past that age?

 

[MythicFrost]

Actually, you missed it. By a longshot. Your reading comprehension skills are lacking, that much is clear. As another user posted above, you brought the topic out in the open, and we are entitled to our opinions as are you. It's certainly not blabbing about what we want blab about, as you put it -- it's directly relevant to the core topic at hand, which is the consumption of pornographic media. Is it really that hard to understand?

I guess I need to break it down for you then. The impetus of the original query was an IT solution to a content viewing concern. You had issues about the content, and wanted a solution. Some of us proposed that the best solution would be to accept the content and discuss with your son, not employ a (flawed and impossible to be secure) IT solution. We rationalized said proposal through dispelling some of the negative myths about said media, which you clearly didn't read at all. I wrote a response to that, for sure.

Also, did you see my latest response? I answered your tech question, and then some -- no response on your end. The problem isn't us -- it's you. You refuse to hear other viewpoints and especially "IT solutions" that tell you that you're doing it the wrong way. All the answers have been given in this thread, and good ones at that. You're just behaving like a child with your ears plugged screaming at the top of your lungs.

If you want to talk about people spewing crap, look no further than your own senseless banter.

This isn't just addressed to you, but to everyone else who's threadcrapping.

What part of his post didn't you understand? He didn't ask for your opinion on porn and he doesn't want it. All he asked is how he can prevent porn from being viewed on an iPod touch -- that's the "core topic", and that's a downright simple question with a simple answer.

It's not your place to barge into this thread and tell him what he's doing is wrong, all the while making grandiose assumptions about him and insulting him. Either answer the question or don't post.

Hopefully he'll go somewhere else where people will actually answer his question without trying to force their irrelevant opinion down his throat.

There's nothing wrong with making a polite suggestion, but the guy made it clear he isn't interested and that's when you stop, anything after that is just trolling. What's gone on here is just disrespectful and offensive.

 

[darkplanets]

This isn't just addressed to you, but to everyone else who's threadcrapping.

What part of his post didn't you understand? He didn't ask for your opinion on porn and he doesn't want it. All he asked is how he can prevent porn from being viewed on an iPod touch -- that's the "core topic", and that's a downright simple question with a simple answer.

It's not your place to barge into this thread and tell him what he's doing is wrong, all the while making grandiose assumptions about him and insulting him. Either answer the question or don't post.

Hopefully he'll go somewhere else where people will actually answer his question without trying to force their irrelevant opinion down his throat.

There's nothing wrong with making a polite suggestion, but the guy made it clear he isn't interested and that's when you stop, anything after that is just trolling. What's gone on here is just disrespectful and offensive.

Our definitions of trolling must be different. I see a valid IT proposal, followed by some concerns (and why the OP shouldn't fret in the first place) and other non-technology suggestions (communication), followed by my post about the flaws of using OpenDNS and OpenWRT, and how the child could get around it. How is that NOT answering the tech question again? The problem isn't the answers -- it's that the answers given weren't the answers wanted.

The post you quoted from me summarizes the situation perfectly. When you bring into play a tech question about a core topic, all solutions are looked at to deal with the core topic. The issue is porn consumption. The proposed route from the OP was a tech solution. Clearly a tech solution is not the proper way here -- that answer was re-affirmed many times over. Open DNS alone will not work effectively. OpenDNS + OpenWRT are easy to bypass through a variety of means, and WILL NOT WORK. Porn will be accessible through many different non-controlled media venues. How is this not answering the question, again? Don't confuse being candid and not caring -- not everything needs to be sugar coated as is too common in western culture. While I do disagree with the methods, I respect the parenting, which is the whole reason I am commenting at all.

Also, starting a thread opens you up for criticism and discussion. It's the very nature of a public query -- when you seek community feedback, feedback will be given. We all have an equal right to speak, on or off topic, and that's the beauty of the system. Just because some posts may not be what some want to hear doesn't mean they aren't at all valid or relevant. Dissenting opinions spurn discussion which is ALWAYS good.

 

[Ariii]

I'd say you'd want to block Google Images. I've found some horrible content on there without even meaning to search anything obscene whatsoever (even something like a Joanna Russ novel has turned up those things) so I could imagine there would be even worse content if somebody did intend to find that kind of content. Also, I haven't personally seen the pages, but I know WikiPedia has some content that's not good at all. And I know Google has a 'preview' feature that allows you to view content on webpages without opening them, I don't know if that's accessible on iDevices or if you can disable them. So if you want it to be impossible to see that kind of stuff, either find a way to store history completely and watch everything he sees or only limit him to certain sites. OpenDNS can help, I guess, it won't hurt at least. If he wouldn't want to put any effort into seeing that, it might work.

 

[soulniz]

Oh for crying out loud, let the boy be a boy..

 

[Starfighter]

The question isn't about if he should watch porn or not. That is another discussion. (And frankly I think that it's up to the parent to filter the childs intake the first years. Stop backseating the parenting here. )

 

[goMac]

What part of his post didn't you understand? He didn't ask for your opinion on porn and he doesn't want it. All he asked is how he can prevent porn from being viewed on an iPod touch -- that's the "core topic", and that's a downright simple question with a simple answer.

The problem is he's trying to block something that can only be dealt with socially. There is no technological solution.

So that's the answer he got. Even if the entire social argument is blocked, there is no technology that can accomplish what OP wants.

Sure, there is basic blocking software, but it's not going to block everything, and it's not going to block the most likely source of porn: other kids.

So in the end OP is asking to do something unworkable. There isn't any way I can promise a workable solution. I've worked in places that have bought things way way over the OP's likely budget and still failed.

If OP's kid is tempted to look at porn, quite frankly there is no software out there that could reliably stop him.

 

[NumberNine]

Yea let's all kids do what they want. Forget about being a parent and setting up ground rules.

Yea I've seen porn. Who hasn't? Bottom line porn is stupid and degrading. It will have a negative impact physiological impact on a person. And yes it is dangerous. They could start to be seeing at the norm on how someone should look. A young boy could grow up seeing girls as sex objects and nothing more. Heck that could lead to rape. And before anyone gets all pissy over that, I said COULD lead to rape. Not saying everyone who watches or looks at porn will become a rapist.

There's nothing wrong with the human body, but when put into the contents of explicitly sexual activities, that's where you have to draw the line IMO.

It's an addiction. It's stupid. It's poison disguised as something 'beautiful.'

To each his/her own.

Porn is stupid and degrading? so silly

 

[MythicFrost]

Our definitions of trolling must be different. I see a valid IT proposal, followed by some concerns (and why the OP shouldn't fret in the first place) and other non-technology suggestions (communication), followed by my post about the flaws of using OpenDNS and OpenWRT, and how the child could get around it. How is that NOT answering the tech question again? The problem isn't the answers -- it's that the answers given weren't the answers wanted.

The problem is that the answers given weren't answers to his question. They were "you need to parent your kid", "you need to talk with your kid", "you need to let him do it", "this won't stop it", etc.

If he was interested in discussing what he should do about his son and pornography then he would probably go to a professional, not an Internet forum, particularly not one that isn't specifically for parental advice, and so on.

There's nothing wrong with making a non-obtrusive suggestion, but forcing it down their throats isn't okay.

The post you quoted from me summarizes the situation perfectly. When you bring into play a tech question about a core topic, all solutions are looked at to deal with the core topic. The issue is porn consumption. The proposed route from the OP was a tech solution. Clearly a tech solution is not the proper way here -- that answer was re-affirmed many times over. Open DNS alone will not work effectively. OpenDNS + OpenWRT are easy to bypass through a variety of means, and WILL NOT WORK. Porn will be accessible through many different non-controlled media venues. How is this not answering the question, again? Don't confuse being candid and not caring -- not everything needs to be sugar coated as is too common in western culture. While I do disagree with the methods, I respect the parenting, which is the whole reason I am commenting at all.

But here's your mistake. The core topic is preventing porn on an iPod touch, not his kid watching pornography. It doesn't matter if it's the proper way or not, it's what he wanted help with.

Everyone has assumed that his goal was to completely stop his kid from watching porn, but none of you know that. For all you know he just wants to block the easiest avenue.

Also, starting a thread opens you up for criticism and discussion. It's the very nature of a public query -- when you seek community feedback, feedback will be given. We all have an equal right to speak, on or off topic, and that's the beauty of the system. Just because some posts may not be what some want to hear doesn't mean they aren't at all valid or relevant. Dissenting opinions spurn discussion which is ALWAYS good.

Not according to the rules of this forum. If the OP wanted to discuss what to do about his kid watching pornography then he would've written that, and in the Social / Religious / Political forum, not in the iPod touch forum, specifically about preventing his kid from watching porn on an iPod touch.

The problem is he's trying to block something that can only be dealt with socially. There is no technological solution.

So that's the answer he got. Even if the entire social argument is blocked, there is no technology that can accomplish what OP wants.

Sure, there is basic blocking software, but it's not going to block everything, and it's not going to block the most likely source of porn: other kids.

So in the end OP is asking to do something unworkable. There isn't any way I can promise a workable solution. I've worked in places that have bought things way way over the OP's likely budget and still failed.

If OP's kid is tempted to look at porn, quite frankly there is no software out there that could reliably stop him.

He wasn't asking for a way to completely block porn out of his child's life. He just wanted to know how to prevent it on an iPod touch. That's it.

You've assumed that he wants to completely stop porn and this is his plan. He's a thirty something year old man at least, he's going to be well aware of all the avenues that his son could view porn. For all you know he just wanted to block the easiest avenue.

 

[maflynn]

This topic has veered far away from the OP's request and is hopelessly derailed.