As an extension task to your Sept holiday assignment on internet filtering, you are to provide your personal opinions on the topic below:
“There should be / or should not be any special cyber –based laws, filtering of content or parental / teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet”.
You can make use of the information that you have come across in the sites provided in the Sept assigment handout.
Remember to write in STANDARD ENGLISH and practise cyber etiquette.
Hello(= am i the first to post this thingy? haha. i'm a good boy xP.
ReplyDeleteHere's my reflection( SHAWN):
I feel that there should be special cyber-based laws, filtering of content or parental/teacher control of what teenagers’ access on the internet but it should only be use when the parents want to and not involuntary. There are some advantages and disadvantages of internet filtering.
Firstly, one advantage of internet filtering is that it shields the child from pornographic websites. This will surely be healthy for the mental growth of a child as he/she is not exposed to any kind of indecent material. The internet has been giving young children easy access to pornography which is not good for the child. It is also because of the internet that there is a rise in teenagers having sex. Also, internet filtering will also protect the users from a lot of computer viruses. Most of this black-listed websites contains viruses too. This is not ideal as when there are viruses or tracking cookies in the computer, secret and personal information might be leaked into the internet.
There are also disadvantages of internet filtering. Firstly, Internet filtering will give the user a false sense of internet security. When a person installs an internet filtering software, the person might feel that his internet network is very secure and that he would not be affected by any viruses from the net. This will cause him to surf the net without any fear of any viruses. But this is a wrong thinking. Even with an internet filtering software, some unfiltered websites will still contain viruses.
Next, internet filtering will limit our intellectual knowledge. Some internet filtering software filters websites by keywords. For example, if the software filters out the word ‘sex’, most of the pornographic website containing that word would be filter out. But, websites which contains information on gender discrimination and other stuff related to ‘sex’ would be filtered out too.
To conclude, I feel that internet filtering should be implemented by schools and parents only when they have enough time to constantly monitor the websites that are being filtered so as to ensure that educational websites are not filtered off to. I feel that the best way to shield children from all this bad influence from the internet is to maintain a close relationship with the child in any and every aspect of the child’s life so that the parents can always correct the child when he is just at the beginning of his mistakes and not in the middle which might be too late to correct anymore.
414 words;D
I think that there should be any special cyber–based laws; filtering of content; or parental or teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet.
ReplyDeleteI feel that special cyber-based laws should only be implemented to prevent the improper usage of the Internet, such as viewing objectional materials in the Internet, or posting racist comments in chat rooms. Fines should be imposed to discourage the improper usage of the Internet.
I agree that filtering programmes should be used to block websites which promote objectional materials, such as pornography. However, I think that parents should get to choose whether they want to install the filtering software or not.
Internet filters have advantages. As mentioned before, Internet filters can block websites which promote objectional materials. Internet filters can also prevent exposure to objectionable material that is communicated through spam in web-based email sites.
Although Internet filters can shield teenagers from the dangers of the Internet, Internet filters also have disadvantages. In a way, Internet filters limit citizens' freedom to choose and freedom of expression. Internet filters may also slow the speed of the Internet and unintentionally block huge numbers of legitimate sites.
I feel that parental or teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet should be encouraged. Parents have the right to protect their children from the dangers of the Internet. Therefore, parents should monitor their children's activities in the Internet and bar their children from accessing undesirable websites.
I think that more can be done to prevent the improper usage of the Internet. Schools should organize more educational programmes to educate teenagers on the dangers of the Internet and how to protect themselves from the dangers. The government can promote the use of Internet filters in homes, schools, Internet cafes, national libraries etc.
I hope that the people in Singapore are aware of the dangers of the Internet and will band together to curb the problem.
(317 words)
Jill Lim (5) 3e4
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, there should be cyber-based laws, filtering of content or parental and teacher control of what the teenagers access on the internet. However, it should not restrict teenagers too much.
I strongly discourage implementing cyber-based laws as teens may argue that it is an invasion of privacy. Indeed, if they were to be monitored, they will feel uneasy. I am sure everyone does not like the feeling of being watched. Also, if they are caught visiting inappropriate websites, it will be their parents who will have to pay the fine. Since they are not the ones paying, they do not feel “hurt” and they will continue to visit those websites. In the end, implementing cyber-based laws will only be a redundant decision.
As we all know, teens nowadays are hard to control. The more you try to restrict them, the more they will oppose. Thus, they will find a way around filters, or may access inappropriate content elsewhere. This will definitely make matters worse.
In addition, if parents were to install filtering software, they must know that not all softwares are hundred percent effective. There are bound to be some websites that are missed out since new sites are added to the Internet daily. While blocking pornography and explicit adult sexual material, the software may also block access to useful information related to personal health issues and other topics. This will restrict free access to information that is essential to help young learners become critical users of the Internet. This will hinder them when they want to do researches.
Most of all, it is essential to realise that parental control software is not a substitute for active parent interaction with their children and supervision of the Internet use. Although Internet filters are sophisticated tools for helping parents to protect their family online, there is no substitute for parental involvement and attention. Also, teachers can help monitor what teens are doing when using the school computers.
Arguably, there is no silver bullet solution that can be built and then forget because it will only solve the issue temporarily. Thus, we should research and carefully evaluate the political, legal, social, economic and technical costs and benefits of the strategies, so as to determine which would be the most effective before we dedicate too many resources on one strategy.
(389 words)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI feel that there should be special cyber –based laws, filtering of content or parental / teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet. An internet filtering software is a computer program which blocks specific categories of information, such as adult material. However, no filter is perfect. Thus, there are both advantages and disadvantages to internet filtering.
ReplyDeleteAs for the advantages, firstly, internet filtering prevents children from deliberately accessing pornography. It allows kids to surf online without constant parental presence. Secondly, it helps prevent predators from talking to the child online, and therefore it minimize the chances of the child leaking personal information such as telephone number, address or email. Thirdly, it minimizes the chances of the child, accidentally coming across explicit content such as nudity and pornography. Lastly, good internet filtering system allows parents to specifically choose the websites they allowed their child to visit and they are able to view the sites that their child had visited.
For the disadvantages, internet filter can sometimes filter out safe sites, words and thus, hindering research. It may also allow objectionable sites to display. Also, it might create a false sense of security for parents and teachers, thinking that internet filters makes the use of internet totally safe for the child. They neglected the fact that children nowadays are tech-savvy and can find their way around filters, or access inappropriate content elsewhere, such as friends sharing pornography videos through hand phones.
Even though internet filter has disadvantages, it is still better to be safe than sorry. With internet filtering software and proper supervision, parents can keep their child safe and sound from the ever-present problem of online pornography.
(278 words)
Lim Xin Yi (6) 3e4
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI personally feel that special cyber-based laws should be put in place in any form, be it filtering of content or parental / teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet, but the key point here should be that it cannot be too over-restrictive. I feel that it should be done with tact and not be too much of a hassle to us. It would have no the purpose if the laws are not done fairly.
ReplyDeleteAn advantage here is that it is able to remove questionable content on the internet such as remarks made by an individual to rebut a person such as to discriminate or make racist remarks at someone in blogs, social interaction websites such as facebook and twitter or chat messengers online. Fines imposed, in my point of view, is not enough. We can never control an ever growing web, so we should basically put stringent measures such as corrective work order for repeat offenders who do not repent. However, the choice to install internet filters is up to the individual parents; it may be effective, but not overtly of use. It would hinder the usability of a World Wide Web. One distinct advantage, also, is that an internet filter can destroy viruses, Trojan and malware at first glance. It would protect users such as us teens and also small children and even business workers who needs to use the email often, a common place for email scams and virus to “feed” on.
There will be an disadvantage to every advantage that I can point out. Internet filers limit users to freely express their opinions easily, and it would remove the renowned ease of use the internet that always supplied us with a data base brimming with information.
While many people may say that an internet filter will slow down internet traffic and bandwidth, it does not. It is the users who use bandwidth hogging websites such as file sharing over the network with Bit-torrent. The program itself slows only your computer, not the web .This brings me to a point of self-discipline. If we do not abuse the internet, web filters are basically of no use. Parents should play a part in obstructing their children to abuse inappropriate websites and monitor their web usage with tact.
What can be done to prevent the improper usage of the Internet are by far difficult to think of. Key way to help is educate the public through advertorials in newspapers on laws imposed. We can also release filtering programmes from the neighbourhood community centers and also a course to educate the general public. Since internet filters are already in place in national libraries,schools and the internet hotspots, it should be done nationwide. Schools can also organise talks during assembly and CME period to furthur protect and educate us students. We must be responsible and not surf the internet wrongly.
I wish we can soon take action to curb this eye-sore and soon Singaporeans can enjoy a cleaner browsing experience.
(500 words)
Alister Ng,(14) 3E4
By the clever nicklaus
ReplyDeleteI feel that there should be special cyber-based laws, filtering of content or parental/teacher control of what teenagers’ access on the internet but it should only be use when the parents agree to it.
A Child Filter blocks any kind of sexually explicit content like softcore or hardcore pornography, erotica, or any discussions about sex and sexuality. These filters also block any discussions about alternative lifestyles. Some social networking websites have specific filters that dissuade child predators from contacting underage individuals.
Some filters block any information about illegal programming, like hacking and software piracy. These filters also block any information that may be useful for crime or anything illegal in the real world.
The Internet Filters can also censor any content regarding graphic or textual content regarding violence or gore.
In some regions, Internet filters are used to combat any discussions related to politics and religions. Some governments also take extreme steps to ban dissidents and opposition in countries.
Internet filters are actually a very good idea, if implemented properly. First off, the proper kind of Internet filter keeps the Internet world safe from the Internet underground. They are a boon to newbies to the Internet. With the proper implementation of Internet Filters, the chances of identity theft and cyber crimes decrease.
Internet Filters are at their best use in a corporate scenario. There have been cases where an employee clicks on a completely innocent looking link, only to be greeted with something they would prefer not to while in a professional mixed gender company.
Also, Internet filters can actually create scenarios where the employees have little option other than working, and may play a big role in the increase of productivity in employees.
Internet filters and content controllers have some disadvantages. One of them is that if the filter is not properly prepared, it may end up blocking websites and material it was not actually supposed to.
Other than that, the one major disadvantage that Internet filters have is their basic feature – blocking websites and content. Many individuals are of the opinion that Internet filters are a bad way of muzzling the media and the world of information. There have been cases where governments have blocked websites. In some regions of the world, content and websites with even a hint of sexual undertones are immediately banned.
But on a personal level, internet filters are a good idea, specially if you have a computer at home that is accessed by a wide age range of people, or even people who have a wide range of computer skills.
THANK YOU (remember give good grades)XD
(427 words)
I greatly support the use of Internet filtering. The Internet offers an easy access to indecent materials which are difficult to monitor. If objectionable materials are exposed to the simple minded children, it will bring harm to the upbringing of the children.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, teens are often obsessed by online pornography. They can just download materials easily from the net and share it among their friends. There are also some children who may just unknowingly access those filthy websites. This has led to a rise in teen sex. Teens who are facing financial problems may be desperate and engaged themselves in online gambling. I am certain that if they were to lose, they will face even more problems.
As a result, there is a need to restrict their access. The Internet filter will block pornographic and violent materials and hence helping teens who are struggling with unhealthy Internet addiction. This eases parents who are worried over their children viewing indecent materials.
Internet filters are widely used in schools so that the students will responsibly use and assess the Internet. This will nurture the democratic potential of the Internet. Internet filter should also be used in community libraries. Many people visit the library and therefore an Internet filter is needed to ensure that people are surfing websites that are safe.
Some websites may contain viruses which will hack into the computer system and get our private information, like the passwords we have used before. Therefore, Internet filter will also do the job of preventing the user to enter the websites that contain viruses.
In conclusion, I strongly agree to the use of the Internet filter as it will curb all those problems and help in encouraging a healthy network environment.
Dawn Koh (3) 3E4
In my opinion, I feel that there should not be any special cyber-based laws, filtering of content or parental/teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet. As a teenager myself, and of course I strongly oppose internet filtering or any sort of control over the access of the internet websites.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there are disadvantages to this, there are also advantages to it too. I am first going to write about the advantages. Firstly, the internet filtering software can of course block out any sort of pornographic material which will allow students or teenagers not to be able to access them, hence ensuring a healthy growth for them. Secondly, there are also some cases in this world where a child clicks on a completely innocent looking link, only to be greeted with something undesirable to them, hence an internet filtering software will be able to block out these undesirable things.
On the other hand, there are also the disadvantages, which I feel that are very important as well. Firstly, there is the fact that in the event that the internet filtering software is not properly installed, it may end up blocking websites and material it is not actually supposed to. Secondly, in some regions of the world, content and websites with even a hint of sexual undertones are immediately banned. Thirdly, Site Blocking can block vast amounts of good data along with the bad, so a lot of good information can also be blocked out as well. Adding on, think about it. What happens when a particular website which is inappropriate is not blocked? It will send the wrong message that these websites which are not blocked are acceptable to use, and hence they will continue to use them. Lastly, there are many users and groups who post information out on the Internet explaining how to defeat or disable software filters, hence it will be as easy to disable the internet filtering software as in to enabling them.
To conclude, I feel that there should not be any special cyber-based laws, filtering of content or parental/teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet. The internet filtering software should be made voluntary to everyone.
(364 words)
Koh Kai Kiat(20) 3E4
I feel that we should all support internet filtering as internet may sometimes expose minors like us from inappropriate websites like pornography and violence. As it is difficult to monitor what the children are doing with their computer hence the internet filter would be a great program to block access to indecent websites. If those webs are not blocked, the children's way of thinking would be affected by it greatly.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, minors are able to get pornography materials through the internet just by googling for "sex" and "Porn". Those pornographic materials could be downloaded into the mobile phones from the net. Therefore, pornography would be easier to share between friends. Some innocent children may also accidentally link to pornographic webs and that would arouse their curiosity.
Also, the internet filtering could be made better by making it into a better program that even filters applications like msn,e-mail and games. As those applications, may contain violence or inappropriate materials for minors. Such as Dota, it should be filtered as the game is quite violence as you would be able to see blood all over the place. Most importantly, there, vulgarities are not censored hence children playing there may learn word that they should not be learning and they may use it on their friends or even teachers.
Online games do not only have problems such as violence and vulgarities. Some even promotes gambling, where gambling can be made possible just with a credit or cash card. Some minors would be addicted to gambling that they would even play truant to keep on gambling, which would affect their studies greatly. Also when they lose money, their parents are the ones who would need to pay for them, causing lots of family distrust and problems.
Hence by promoting internet filtering, their access would be restricted. That would also put parents at ease as they need not worry about their children learning indecent things from the net.
Also commenting on what Nicklaus had said, i think that it is quite illogical as from his sentence,"These filters also block any information that may be useful for crime or anything illegal in the real world."
Filters do not block information that is useful for the police, if it does so, the police would not be able to look at the information. But instead, internet filter is able to record down information such as the user,time, date and what sort of violations made.Hence I conclude Nicklaus first sentence "By the clever nicklaus" is wrong, he did not even put his "n" in capital form.
To continue with internet filtering, it would be useful to block websites that may contain virus which will harm the computer system. Such as by hacking into the computer system and extracting user's information such as password.
In conclusion, i strongly agree to the use of internet filer as it will stop all access to inappropriate webs and making the internet a healthy network environment.
Ng Gek Nian (27) 3E4
P.S. NICKLAUS IS DUMB=D
In my opinions, I feel that should be special cyber –based laws, filtering of content or parental / teacher control of what teenagers’ access on the internet. I am sure that most the parent would like to have internet filtering too, so that their children would have a good upbringing.
ReplyDeleteInternet filtering has it advantages as, they are an effective security measure that keeps out unwanted content and does not impact on users in any detrimental way.
Parents cannot supervise their children’s use of the Internet all the time, therefore internet filtering software would enable the parent to know what their child is doing and prevent the child from going into website which has unwanted content.
Children under eighteen have access to both schools and libraries, and these facilities are structured for children being able to learn and expand their knowledge. Therefore, having internet filtering would be a good idea as it would not allow children to view explicit materials and harm them in anyway.
Although internet filtering has it advantages, it also has its disadvantages.
Having internet filtering would control the youth and not protect them. This will also increase the urge of watching explicit material in the children at the later stage of their life.
The Internet is a virtual library full of important material that is needed, but would be blocked by the imperfect programs. As the internet filtering system would block website by detecting words which it has in its program. This causes some people to be unable to go online and find medical reference.
In conclusion, I feel that we should have internet filtering, but only if the parent want to install the program. It should not be forced upon and should be voluntary. Having strong and close relation between the parent and child is the key to having good upbringing and not needing the internet filtering system.
In my opinion, I feel that there can be special cyber-based laws, however, internet-filtering programs should not be implemented to restrict teenagers. Moreover, an internet filtering system may not always be reliable. The internet is often used by the young, hence making the internet a safe place for learning is clearly an essential issue.
ReplyDeleteThere are some content-control software which includes time control functions that empowers parents to set the amount of time that child may spend accessing the Internet or playing games or other computer activities. In other countries, such filtering software are common. It would be advisable to allow the citizens to choose whether they want to install the filtering system.
While I greatly disagree with the implementation of internet-filter system, I think more measures should be taken to protect teens from unpleasant manipulation from the internet. In addition, if an unpopular measure is implemented, I strongly believe not everyone will be likely to respect it. As a minor myself, I know teens nowadays are rebellious. If teens wants to access to pornography, there will be ways to do it. They will most probably react to the internet filter with hostility and attempt to outwit the filter. This will defeat the purpose of the Government installing the internet-filtering software into all computers. Instead, laws are more likely to be respected and supported by the community when they appear impartial.
In addition, the advancement in technology makes it easy to get pornography, such as one can download videos into their hand phones and then share them with their friends. If the filter program is set up, the internet, being an ever-growing and widely accessible resource, will definitely have tons of links as to how to outwit the filter. However, some of this links may contain viruses and this will damage one’s computer.
Most importantly, parents must be aware of what their children are doing on internet. They should not use a filtering program as a substitute to ‘watch’ over their child’s activities on the net. Parents should set good example and talk openly to their kids early before it is too late. All in all, the disadvantages strongly outweigh the advantages. Yet, it is not entirely the internet’s fault. I strongly believe that there is no need for internet filtering and the key to curb this problem lies in how parents nurture their kids when they are young and not till their kids get of age and get to know pornography and be addicted.
I feel that there should be special cyber –based laws, filtering of content or parental / teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet. Minors like myself should not be exposed to inappropriate information or information that are not beneficial to us like pornography or violence. It will be difficult for working parents to monitor what their child is doing at home while at work, therefore i think that installing the internet filtering program will help them monitor what their child is doing at home.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, minors are able to gain excess to pornographic websites just by simply searching 'porn' or 'sex' using Google. Sometimes children may accidentally click on a web link and will be exposed to pornographic materials.
The disadvantages of the internet filtering program is that they might filter out other websites that only contain certain words that are related to sex. Furthermore, not all websites that discuss topics related to sex are bad, they might contain educational information in them and without those educational information online, children might ask their friends and get information that are false.
The program gives a wrong sense of security to users too, as the program is not able to filter out every single web, therefore people might accidentally view a web that contain information that are supposed to be filtered and thinking that they are source for correct information.
But without the internet filtering program, our computer will be more vulnerable to virus that exist online.
In conclusion, internet filtering as it protect not only our computer from virus, it also prevent our children from being exposed to inappropriate materials online.
Gavin Tan (34) 3E4
The Internet is an ever-growing programme and almost everyone in the world has access to it. So, there are more and more of websites which are for matured adults to access. But due to the onset of puberty, teenagers will be curious and will be accessing these websites. Teenagers will just have to go to Google and type 'sex' or 'pornography', there will be lots of it.
ReplyDeleteAs a minor myself, I personally feel that there should be special cyber-based laws so that the government can curb the problems of teenagers viewing indecent websites and as well as to protect them from cyber predators. When the government is implementing these types of laws, they will need to also take into consideration of the feelings of the teenagers. The teenagers will feel uneasy as they are the ones who are restricted to access some of the websites that the government feel that are unsuitable for them. I am sure most of the parents will be in favour of these laws and the filtering programmes. These filters not only blocks unwanted websites, they can keep track of the things that their child are doing and viewing on the net.
There are many advantages to having Internet filter at home. When people install an Internet filter at home, children will be protected from the exposure of pornography and it can give parental control over what their children are viewing online. Parents cannot be supervising what their children are doing on the Internet all the time, so they will have more control of their children's actions when they install an Internet filter in their house. The Internet filter can also let parents keep track of the games that their children are playing online and to rate whether the games are suitable for their age. These websites with explicit images or videos are leading to more teenagers experimenting sex and cause a rise in teen sex. Some Internet filters cannot be disbled even if a different computer is plugged into your network so no changes can be made to the settings of the Intenet filter. The filter can protect children from online predators. Many unsuspecting children become victims as they inadvertently access some adult chat rooms or forums so their safety can be jeoparrdized. With an Internet filter, productivity of work can be faster as they cannot access some websites like Facebook and they can produce works faster.
Although there are some disadvantages like the Internet filter can be bypassed, but the Internet filter is not easily bypassed as it is a 'strong' program. I feel that implementing cyber-based laws is a 'hard' way to force parents to have their children not to access some websites that are not legal under the law and parents will have to abide to the laws so that they will not have to pay a certain amount of fine or some other punishment.
In conclusion, I strongly feel that implementing laws and installing Internet filter at home is a good choice as it has many advantages and the child's safety can be jeopardised. Next, the relationship between the parents and the children must be good so that parents can educate their children on the dangers and consequences of viewing some illegal or explicit websites.
Edmund(17) 3E4
In my own opinion, I feel that there should be special cyber –based laws, filtering of content or parental / teacher control of what teenagers access on the Internet. An Internet filtering software is a computer program, which blocks specific categories of information, such as adult material. However, the advantages of the Internet filtering greatly outweighed the disadvantages.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, the Internet prevents minor from accessing to explicit materials such as pornography. This will prevent parents from worrying about their child accessing objectional subject matter and allowing children to surf without any pressure. Dangers will approach when innocent children browse illegal sites. Therefore, Internet Filtering also helps to minimize the chances of the child leaking personal information unknowingly such as telephone number, address or email. A trustworthy Internet filtering system allows parents to specifically choose the websites they allowed their child to visit and they are able to view the sites that their child had visited. Furthermore, without Internet Filtering our computer will be more vulnerable to viruses that exist online.
On the other hand, there may also be some disadvantages on Internet Filtering. If the filter is not properly prepared, it may end up blocking websites and information that may be useful for crime or anything illegal in the real world. Many individuals are of the opinion that Internet filters are a bad way of muzzling the media and the world of information. It also limits the imagination of the person in cause and on the other side you don’t know how much of time is working or how much is wasted. To add on, Internet filtering lack flexibility and fine-grained control over how to block sites because entire IPs or domains are blocked without any differentiation between individual sites on those IP addresses.
In conclusion, without the Internet Filtering, it will not only affect the future of individual children, it also corrupts minds of the innocents. Thus, Internet Filtering is indispensable when it comes to establishing a healthy network environment.
Adrain Wong(13) 3E4
In my opinion, there should be special cyber –based laws, filtering of content or parental / teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet.
ReplyDeleteThere are both advantages and disadvantages of internet filtering. Advantage of internet filtering is that it protects children against pornographic or violent material when they are using the computers. This will help in building a healthy growth of young people as they are not exposing to those explicit material. The internet provides an easy source for explicit materials. Teenagers just have to Google ‘free porn’ and there would be tons of it on the net. The internet filtering would prevent the teenager from accessing into those sites. Parent would not have to worry if the child is viewing indecent materials. Internet filtering also filters out site that carry malicious executables or viruses. User would not have to worry if there are at risk from the virus.
Although it has many advantages, there are many disadvantages about internet filtering too. The filter may filter out heath site that contain the word sex which may have educational values in it. example is that some of the health website talk about the gender male and female use the word sex then this filter software detect the word sex would block the user from entering this site that is actually safe.
Some people said that this software is only giving parents a false sense of internet security. Some example is that these filters are easy to bypass to, if a teenager really want to bypass this software all he have to is to Google for software which bypass the filtering software. Also with such advancement in technology, hand phone can contain video, images, thus if a child wanted this inappropriate content but due to the filters, they could get their friend to sent them through hand phone.
Also the filtering software is not always correct. Example is that some of the website which the filtering software considered as safe still contain virus. User who trust this software and just download stuff from this ‘safe’ site would get the virus or tracking cookies which would track our password or personal information.
In conclusion, I strongly agree to the use of the Internet filter as it will stop all access to inappropriate webs and also website that contain virus. This help in building a healthy network environment.
Chen yingping (15) 3e4 (396 words)
Name: Teng Jie Ying (11)
ReplyDeleteClass: 3E4
In my personal view, there is a strong need of filtering of content or parental/teacher control of the teenager’s access on the internet. All the measures above is for the good of the teenagers, and I do not think that there should be any objections against the measures.
The ever growing World Wide Web contains all sorts of information for everyone to take reference to. However, the information might not be true for most of the time. Teenagers will not be mature enough to differentiate what are the right and wrong. The Internet also offers the minor to have the chance of entering the violent-based game websites or even the pornography websites that contains the sexually explicit materials.
The use of Internet filtering helps the working parents to control the access and to track websites their children visits. By doing so, the parents do not have to constantly worry about their child while at work and this helps to build up the mutual trust between the parent and teenagers. This may also increase the work efficiency of the working parents.
There are studies that have proven that one of the main reasons that teenagers commit suicide is due to the influence of violent games on the Internet. By installing the Internet Filtering Programs, the teenager’s pure and innocent mind will not be polluted by all those sexually explicit and violent game and they will have more time to work on their studies. The Internet filtering program also acts as an anti-virus program that blocks off the potential website that contains virus.
The implementing of cyber-based laws should be the last resort that the government should take. One of the reasons for this is that, for most of the time the parents will be the one paying the fines and not the teenagers since they do not have any income. The teenagers will not be able to learn from his/her mistake.
The most important thing on hand is to educate the teenagers on the negative effects of online pornography and violent games and not to think of ways to punish them. By educating the teenagers, they will then learn how to judge between the right and the wrong on their own and not to be spoon-fed by the adults all the time. If every teenager knows the negative effect of the online pornography and violent games, they will not visit the websites at all and parents do not have the need to install the Internet filtering programs anymore. This will definitely build up the mutual respect between the parent and the teenagers. Therefore, the parents should work closely with the government on the ways to educate the teenagers.
(453 words)
There should be internet-filtering. Age-inappropriate or indecent materials such as pornography and violence will definitely give an unhealthy and negative impact to the teenagers. This is where internet-filtering comes in, whereby it helps to block these indecent materials.
ReplyDeleteParents are able to set the amount of time and the online sites that their children are able to access to. They could then prevent their children getting access to the indecent materials and where constant parental presence is not needed and they are kept out of worrying. Also, it is quite a dangerous thing if their children are talking to strangers online and possibly giving out personal information or even have any indecent behavior if they started to meet the strangers. Internet-filtering will help to prevent teenagers talking to strangers online.
Internet-filtering helps a lot, but there are still disadvantages. Internet-filtering may not be effective in blocking age-inappropriate materials at times and ended up blocking unobjectionable materials instead. This limits the information that teenagers could get on the Internet. They may not be able to search for their wanted information. Teenagers nowadays can be adept at technology and able to find ways to uninstall internet-filtering. If not, they can always have friends to download indecent material and sending to one another through hand phones. Also, teenagers may not be responsibly using the Internet.
To let teenagers to know how to use the Internet properly and responsibly and the dangers on the Internet, schools and libraries can have talks about it. Internet-filtering may some disadvantages, but it still helps in protecting teenagers from indecent materials. This also helps to build a healthy network environment. I feel that communication between teenagers and parents, and the self-discipline of teenagers may be the main factors of whether internet-filtering should be installed. If teenagers are able to practice self-discipline, and gaining the trust of their parents through it, parents need not install internet-filtering and restraining internet access or invading the privacy of teenagers. Parents can help in letting their children to know the bad impacts of watching indecent materials.
Ler Wei Ting(04)3E4
Julius Quah Zhong Xiang (18)
ReplyDelete3E4
Personally, I feel that there should not be special cyber-based laws and also not too much parental or teacher control. There might be some advantages in doing these but there are more disadvantages then the advantages.
Let's talk about the advantages first. Firstly, internet-filtering will surely prevent children from being able to see sexually explicit materials on the internet. This will give them a safe and healthy environment to grow up in. Also this will also allow the parent to have control the time where their child is able to use the internet. This can also help them to gain a habit of not using the computer for a very long time which can help them improve their studies as playing computer games and such will affect the child's studies.
However, despite these advantages, there are still disadvantages to these advantages. Taking the first advantage as an example, although it will allow children to grow up in a safe and healthy environment, there are still other ways where the child will be exposed to the sexually explicit materials such as through friends. This will defeat the purpose which is to allow the child to grow up in a safe and healthy environment. Also, there are also disadvantages to internet filtering. One of the disadvantages is that there are times where the internet-filtering will also filter out some websites although the websites are safe. This will restrict the user's ability to be able to excess the internet and if the website is an educational site, this can affect the child greatly.
For parental control, there is also many disadvantages to it as well. There are some children that might feel that they do not have the ability to use the computer freely which may result in them becoming rebellious. This will greatly affect the relationship between the parent and child. Thus, I feel that there should not be special cyber based laws and parental control as there is many disadvantages to it.
In my opinion, there should be special cyber –based laws, filtering of content or parental / teacher control of what teens access on the internet. A minor like myself should not be exposed to inappropriate information or information that are not beneficial to us like pornography or violence. As it will be difficult for working parents to monitor what their child is doing at home while at work, therefore I suggest that installing the internet filtering program will help them monitor what their child is doing at home.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, teenagers are curious and thus will try to access to pornographic websites without the consent of their parents. With little control from their parents, tens would visit such sites daily which will corrupt their way of thinking. However, with internet filtering, parents can control the accessibility of these websites and also prevent the computer from getting unwanted virus which may harm the efficiency of the computer. This is killing two birds with one stone.
However, the internet filter system is not perfect. It may cause inaccessibility to legal websites or to information that may help to solve crimes. To add on, Internet filtering lack flexibility and fine-grained control over how to block sites because entire IPs or domains are blocked without any differentiation between individual sites on those IP addresses. This limits the imagination of the person in cause and on the other side you don’t know how much of time is working or how much is wasted.
To conclude, there should be internet filtering to create a healthy network environment for minors which will not corrupt their pure minds.
Loh Jun Wen (23) 3E4
In my opinion, I feel that there should be special cyber-based laws. This is a very good safety measure for young children and teenagers.
ReplyDeleteThere are both advantages and disadvantages of internet filtering. The disadvantages of having an internet filtering is that children and teens then would have a mindset that if the website is accessible, it would mean that it is safe and free from pornography and viruses. Internet filtering may also filter out educational websites or safe websites that contain the word ‘sex’, this would prevent users to visit these websites that may be talking about genders which uses the word ‘sex’ as the filter software had detected the word ‘sex’. This would also limit one’s imagination about the World Wide Web and would give people a mindset that their internet is very safe since there is an installed internet filtering, but this is very dangerous as viruses are everywhere in the net and if the internet filtering did not filter out these websites, then virus would still enter. Lastly, nowadays , teens are in the technology world, they would know how to get round the filter or bypassing the filters by simply installing a bypassing filter programme which is post in search engines. Another way is downloading videos on their cellphones and share around among teenagers and phone nowadays can act as a computer.
Despite many disadvantages, there are many more advantages of internet filtering. As we all know, parents nowadays are more busy working in the society and may be spending more time at work than at home due to the recession period, causing teens to have more free time alone at home with the net, therefore, by imposing the internet filtering to the computer, parents would feel more ease as the filters would block all pornography websites that causes the rise in teens sex. Internet filtering would destroy most viruses entering the computer. Filtering would also help to prevent information on illegal programming or top secrets to be let out to the net.
However, I personally feel that if the parents could spend more time with their children, it would be a better choice as parents would be able to teach what is right and what is wrong.
In conclusion, I feel that internet filtering should be implemented by schools and parents only if they do not have time to monitor their children or if they can monitor to ensure that educational websites are not filtered out. ;D
Andy tan(33) 3e4! 412 words.
Seow Wen Xuan 30
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, special cyber-based laws should be implemented in Singapore. In Singapore, many problems that have rouse among teenagers because of the internet and so far, nothing has been done to curb those problems.
For example, the internet has allowed teenagers the easy access to pornographic materials. Being a teenager myself, I have many friends who frequently download pornographic materials from the internet into their mobile phones and share them among other friends. Personally, I feel that teenagers have access to these pornographic a little too easily and something must be done to stop this. With cyber-based laws, the government can make it compulsory for all computers in Singapore to be equipped with an internet filtering software. This would greatly reduce the teenager’s accessibility to pornographic materials. Furthermore, the law will give a sense of security to parents in Singapore that their child is safe from the dangers of the internet as parents would know that their child’s movements in the internet are limited to a safe environment.
However, not everybody would agree to the government in implementing such laws. There are, indeed disadvantages if such laws are implemented. Firstly, implementing such laws would mean that Singaporeans would no longer have the freedom in surfing the internet anymore. This would definitely cause Singaporeans to become unhappy as no one likes the feeling of being controlled when surfing the internet. But the law is for Singaporeans’ own good after all and they will surely see both sides of the picture. Furthermore, the implementation of cyber-based laws might also be targeted at the wrong websites and in turn causing valuable information to be loss as Singaporeans might not be able to access them anymore. These laws would also definitely have loopholes and might not affect some websites it is supposed to take effect on, therefore sending wrong information to users that since the law does not affect the website, it can be legally used. However, I feel that these are just a few technical faults with the law and can be fixed.
In conclusion, these laws should be implemented as we cannot allow teenagers in Singapore to learn about the dangers of the internet the hard way, only after they have encountered these dangers. Preventing the situation from happening is better than solving the problem after it occurs and therefore I feel that these laws should be implemented in Singapore.
In my personal opinion, I think that there should be special cyber-based laws, filtering of content or parental/teacher control of what teenagers are accessing on the internet. Introduction of cyber-based laws or having internet filtering programmes in computers are necessary to shield teenagers from the adult-based materials.
ReplyDeleteThere are advantages and disadvantages of internet filtering software. There are several disadvantages of having internet filtering software. It will block out many websites which are link to those pornography websites and it may also accidentally block out websites mentioning about political or technical information. This blockage will cause the internet’s speed to be slowed by about 80%.
Internet filtering programmes will severely restricts the amendment rights of the people and people do not have the freedom to choose the websites which they want to visit. It stops people from giving speeches and these speeches may contain ideas on how to further develop the country. Even though there are disadvantages about internet filtering software, the advantages still outnumbered the disadvantages of the internet filtering software.
There is many pornography or sexually explicit websites in the internet and teenagers may visit such websites due to peer pressure or out of curiosity. It will pollute the chaste and innocent minds of teenagers and they may also try out having sex. Sex predators will visit chat rooms which teenagers visit frequently and pretend to a teenager in order to get them to chat with them. Having internet filtering programme will help to filter out these chat rooms.
Parents will also have a better control over their children and some of the internet filtering software have timer which parents can set specified time tor their children’s usage of the computer per day. The internet filtering software will automatically reject access to all websites after the timer had gone off. Parents will also know the websites which their children had been visiting when they are using the computer. Internet filtering software will prevent most of the virus from entering the computer and it allows teenagers to study and play in a safe and conducive environment.
In conclusion, I think that internet filtering software is useful but only parents who are working should install the software as they do not have the time to monitor their children. It is still very important for the schools and parents to educate their children about the negative things of pornography websites and how to surf the internet in the proper manner.
(409words)
Ong Jia Min (10) 3E4
I am against the idea of the special cyber –based laws, filtering of content or parental / teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet. Although the purpose is to protect children and teenagers from online pornography.
ReplyDeleteDespite being able to build a healthy network environment, its efficiency remains unsure. It may accidently blocks legitimate sites too. In addition, the government is unable to give a detailed explaination on why we should implement them and there are many people against it too.
In addition, I strongly think that it is against the human rights. If it is installed in a libraries’ computer, adults would not be able to visit pornography publicly. This does not restrain them from visiting as they will be able to visit using other computers without the
software.
It does not educate the students correctly. We should be educating the students by teaching them what is right and what is wrong; responsibly using of computer and not restricting them from visiting the “indecent” sites.
The filtering software blocks out numbers of legitimate sites and, conversely, often fails to block “indecent” sites. Moreover, the odds of encountering pornography are slim.
Some filter the words we search. For example, if we search the word ‘sex’, then it blocks out all sites relating to sex. What if students studying biology need to do their research, wouldn’t that be impossible?
Of course, there is advantages to it; not totally useles, but I am able to write out why is there no need for the implement of such softwares or laws. Some may say that teenagers may visit pornography or sexually explicit websites due to peer pressure or out of curiosity, which will pollute the chaste and innocent minds of teenagers and they may also try out having sex. Actually, I find it part of life. However, it is normal for us to think that teenagers cannot visit such web or are not allow due to their age and thus the need of the special cyber-based laws. However, it remains unsure if all pornography or sexually explicit website will be able to filter all such web – its efficiency.
While it is said that parents will know the websites which their children had been visiting when they are using the computer. However, I find it wrong! What is with the human rights policy if parents are able to know what their children had been doing? It defeats the policy!
To conclude, I feel that the installing of the needs, need the government to outline the need for the proposed censorship. If the measure is unpopular and is implemented, the lack of an intellectual defense for its existence means that it is less likely to be respected.
454 words
Yours truly,
Wong Li Qing (12) 3E4
Paragraph 7 , useless*
ReplyDeleteJeremy .__.v (38) 3e4
ReplyDeleteI feel that there should be special cyber –based laws, filtering of content or parental / teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet as this benefits and protects the teenagers from being exposed to explicit materials on the internet.
The internet now is so advanced, and almost any information you need can be gathered easily. At such a young age, human starts to evolve and go through the puberty stage. Curiosity would surely occur and teenagers certainly want to know more and more things about the human body, and this caused the youngsters to misuse the internet to get what they want conveniently.
Therefore, filtering can be of help to parents to have control over their children by monitoring what they are doing/browsing from the internet itself. This would be a good way for working parents as many now are career-minded and focus more on their career rather than their children.
Children after being exposed to this unhealthy materials would definitely have more harms done to themselves than good done.
To conclude, i feel that there is a need for filtering softwares to be installed as it is for the sake of the younger generation.
In my opinion, I think there should not be any internet filtering of content. Many people find it unacceptable that the government deploy such software without allowing the users to disable the filtering for their own connections. They do not want the government to interfere with their own personal affairs. Government filters the web and people have no rights on choosing which sites to be restricted. Some people also complained that using content-control software may violate other laws.
ReplyDeleteInternet filtering will waste a lot of money too. Some of the filtered sites do not contain any child pornography. Internet filtering will also cause the speed of the Internet being slowed. The filter will block huge numbers of legitimate sites. Is it worth to use so much money to filter out legitimate sites and cause the internet to be slowed?
Without the internet filtering of content, I think there should be special cyber-laws, as the laws will not be violated by the filtering software. Without the filtering software, there must be something to control the people from visiting the illegal sites, and that is law. With the laws up, people will not want to get punished and thus, will try not to visit illegal sites.
Teenagers are not knowledgeable enough. They do not know what troubles they will get into while they visit the illegal sites. I think parents and teachers should do their part in controlling what teenagers access on the Internet. Parents can use safeguards to restrict their child from going to pornographic sites. Parents should keep track of what their child is doing on the internet. Teachers in schools should make sure that students are using computers to do work and not visit the illegal sites to watch explicit materials. Government, teachers and parents must do their parts to ensure a healthy society.
(333 words)
Yeo Chong Han (41) 3E4
In my opinion, I think that Internet Filtering should be implemented in Singapore. Internet filter keeps the Internet world safe from the Internet underground. It can also block any information about illegal programming, like hacking and software piracy. At the same time, it provides an effective way to either block user access or allow users access to numerous categories of Internet data. The crime rates in Singapore will then decrease as there will be no more hacking and illegal programming.
ReplyDeleteIt blocks websites containing mass impact objectionable material. In addition, the Ministry of Education, Singapore blocks access to pornographic and similar objectionable Internet sites on its proxy servers. I think Singapore should block more of these websites so that people will not learn bad information from there. Filters not only blocks unwanted websites, they can keep track of the things that their child are doing and viewing on the internet. Hence, parents can know what their child is doing and will not need to worry. Internet filtering stops the accidental or intentional disclosure of a company Intellectual Property, confidential information or other non public content that can be accessed or disclosed electronically.
It filters problems like adult content and monitors a variety of protocols for chat rooms, and web browsing, keeping their children from accidentally or intentionally running across objectionable websites. It fills the largest security hole in a company’s network, not allowing hackers to go in the network. By filtering pornographic or illegal websites and educating them early, teenagers will then not go the wrong way.
To end, I think that Internet filtering really helps. Parents, knowing that their families are able to safely enjoy all the good that the Internet has to offer will have a peace of mind.
I feel that Singapore should implement internet filtering for all computers so that teenagers would not be expose to explicit material on the internet. The internet offers an easy access to explicit material and it will bring harm to teenagers.
ReplyDeleteInternet filtering has its advantages as it filter materials that are violent and indecent like pornography. This will help in building a healthy growth of young people as they are not exposing to those explicit material. The internet provides an easy source for explicit materials. Teenagers just have to Google ‘free porn’ and there would be tons of it on the net. This helps prevent parents from worrying their child from getting corrupted. Internet filtering also helps to prevent teenagers from talking to strangers online.
Even though internet filtering helps a lot but there are still disadvantages. Sometimes internet filtering filter out websites that is safe and that may cause projects or important political information to be block. The internet filtering also slows down the internet speed by 80%. To add on, Internet filtering may make parents to have a false sense of security, thinking that the internet is very safe for the teenager. This cause the parent to neglect the fact that teenagers nowadays are very tech-savvy and they can find a way around filters. Friends may defeat all the purpose for having internet filtering as they can share explicit materials through hand phones.
In conclusion, I support the introduction of internet filtering software to all computers in Singapore so that teenagers will grow up in a healthy environment.
Stanley Wong 3e4 (260 words)
ThantSoe(36)
ReplyDeleteI feel that people should be allowed to choose whether or not to have internet-filtering software installed. This is due to the fact that there are pros and cons for both installing the software and not. As for cyber-based laws, these laws should be reserved only for cyber-stalkers, cyber-bullies or other forms of harass on the internet.
One example of the advantages of internet-filtering is that it can be used to shield children from pornographic, violent or other objective material. According to several articles about the internet, pornography is easily accessible. This would have bad effects on the child and the community because the child might want to experiment when he or she does not fully understand the consequences. Internet-filtering would also protect the computer from dangerous viruses.
Not having internet-filtering would promise better internet speeds because there would be nothing affecting the traffic flow. The user would also be free to browse anything. This means that the filter would not block out related things like sexual education by default.
The benefits of allowing the customers to choose whether or not to install the filter are so that it cannot be abused by the authorities. They would not be able to use the filter to block out political websites that oppose their views since some people would not have the filter. The filter may also block out religious or racial debates. People who wish to discuss the issue online should be allowed to voice out their opinions even if it is offensive but there must be laws that restrict these opinions to debates. There should be laws in place to disallow people from bashing other races or religions online without a reason.
To conclude, I suggest internet-filtering for families who have young children for the sole reason of protecting them from disturbing or objective material. However, for everyone else or the parents, I suggest the that they do not install the filter because of the big drop in internet speeds if the filter is present.
xiaoxiong(38) 3E4
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion,there should be some special cyber-based laws,filtering of content or paretal or teacher control of what teenager access on the internet.
Internet give teenagers easy access to pornography and exposes minors to sexual exploitation.But now,the cyber-world not only provides an easy source of sexually explicit and exchange ideas.teenagers would downloads videos onto their cellphones and share them with their friends.Internet filters can protect monors by filtering out the pornography websites and the sites with inappropriate languages and popped-outs.
Nowadays,teenagers love to contact and make new friends through internet.Majority of them do not know the real idertity of the other party.Tis result in many of the teenager were duped.Parents could place the computers at places where they can easily monitoring their children when they are surfing the net,therefore preventing the children from accessing to pornography or inappropriate websites and materials.
Teachers and parents also have to watch over the teenagers on who they are socialize with,thus keep them away from online predators or "perverted" adults.Establishing of cyber-based laws will farther cut down the crime rate.
As a result,i believe there is a need of cyber-based laws,filtering of content or parent and teacher monitoring the teenagers on accessing the net.
ZhiKang (35)
ReplyDeleteI believe that rather than having such cyber based law to restrict teenagers, teenagers should be taught the importance of staying pornography free. A teen under restriction may result in the teen feeling that he has no freedom, thus unhappy with his life. Even those who do not seek such sites are restricted, and have all their movements tracked. This causes the teens to feel as though their parents have no trust in them, and yet again causing them to be unhappy with their family, causing more family problems.Trust and freedom may be simple words, but in the world of a teenager, it is not only simple words. It is something important to them, just as money and love is important to adults. A teenager who has freedom would be more than happy.
Furthermore, there are some people who are in need of pornography. Some may be addicted to pornography, while some may be very curious. These teens may become desperate for pornography, and instead of the usual free pornography on the internet, they turn to purchasing pornography from some adults. Because of the high demand, the prices are sure rise, yet causing another problem of teens overspending. So why bother having such laws that do more harm than good?
In some cases for some teens, the more they are restricted, the more they yearn to be free. Because of some initial problems they have with their parents, their relationship would just get worst. While some teens just want to go against the order of their parents, and view such pornography just to spite them. This will mean that even those not interested in pornography may want to purchase these expensive materials just to spite their parents, and this may cause them to be addicted too.
In conclusion, having such laws may solve one small problem, but in the end, more problems will be created. Education and self discipline are the roots of a pornograhpy free world. That is what we should work on together!
As a minor myself, I strongly feel that there should not be any special cyber-based laws, filtering of content or parental/ teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, filtering software not only blocks site that are useful, such as chicken breast recipes and breast cancer, it may also deliberately block sites that the filtering company does not agree with, such as sites that promotes the medicinal uses of marijuana. More and more people are using the internet to research on certain issues, thus, having internet-filtering software in the computer only defeats the purpose.
Next, new sites arrive everyday and some of the mare sites whose name was once considered "safe, but was taken over by a pornography site. Hence, the filters may be current enough to block them. In other words, if the Internet-filtering is not updated regularly, children or young adults can still gain access to these inappropriate sites.
Lastly, research has shown that there is a trend among the younger generation: If you hide something from them, they will become extra inquisitive about it. Therefore, having internet-filtering software in our computer may not necessary help in avoiding viewing sexually explicit material. However, it may provoke the children and teenagers to find out more from other resources.
I suggest that the IDA can organise some activities that is suitable for the young, such as gaming competitions. This enable them to reduce stress, which is a cause for viewing pornographic materials. In addition, I feel that parental guiding are the most important factor to prevent minors from viewing pornography. Thus, the IDA can also advise the parents of these children on how to educate their child to avoid sexual exploitation.
In conclusion, I feel that parental guiding is the key to ensure a healthy society. One should be taught about sex and values at a young age to prevent them from getting the wrong information from their peers or the internet. Thus, I am against the idea of internet filtering as it only makes the minors to be more curious about it.
YeeSan:O [1] 3e4 (:
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMoses(26) 3E4
ReplyDeleteReflection:
I feel that special laws governing the cyber space should be implemented for a good cause. The internet is very vast, wide and information can be found so easily like never before. However, because of this world wide connectivity and exchange of information, it also makes access to porn and other unhealthy content online far too simple. Just go into google and type “porn”, thousands of links would be displayed.
Teenagers are people who are in their most important growing stage of life. At this point of time, proper guidance and influence would decide on the teen’s life ahead. It is a time where teens will experiment to find out what they are curious about and to follow the latest trend in town, which can be very “dangerous” without proper guidance.
An Internet filtering software would lessen the problem of teenagers going online to search for explicit materials and pornographic content as those websites will be blocked and denied of access. This would also discourage teenagers as the internet filtering softwares can track their access on the web which can be traced by their parents. Parents should step in at this point of time in their life, to give them proper advice, to support and guide them from wrong. Workshops on cyber wellness are available both in school or outside schools. Parents can send their child to let them learn about cyber wellness and to build safe net surfing habits.
To conclude, an open relationship between parents and child would be the best solution to tackle this problem of pornography. If parents are able to shield the child from the bad influences, all the internet filtering software, cyberspace laws would not be necessary.
(283 Words)
Hiew Li Tiang (2) 3E4! :)
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I feel that there should be special laws implemented for children and teenagers.
Internet filtering can help to block pornographic websites. Children can easily, accidentally come upon pornographic sites, which are very harmful to children, on the internet. Since internet filters have a myriad of ways to block pornographic sites, they do an excellent job keeping children safe from porn.
Not only it can block pornographic websites, it also can block websites with inappropriate language.As you know,there are millions and millions of websites that contain language inappropriate for children. Even if a parent were to be in the same room as their child when the child is using the internet the parent may not be able to tell if a site contains inappropriate words. Internet filtering can block websites that contain language that should not be read by young eyes.
It also help to protect children from online predators. Children love to use the internet to chat with their friends or make new friends and there are many chat rooms available to assist children in keeping in touch with or meeting other children. However, the "kids"? That children are chatting with may not be children at all. They could be online sexual predators waiting for a child willing to give them personal information.
So overall, i feel that internet filtering allows children and teenagers to enjoy surfing the net without problems.
Lee Sze Wei (21)
ReplyDeleteI strongly feel that there should be special cyber-space laws and internet filtering for all adolescents to control what they are accessing on the inernet especially in schools or at home. The reason is simple, it is way too easy for children to access pornographic material. Just do a search for something that is harmless and pornographic materials may pop up instantly.
The cyber-world not only provides an easy source of sexually explicit materials but also allows curious minds to interact and exchange ideas. This situation not only cause a rise in teen sex but also violence and abuse inflicted on these victims. Therefore filtering software will protect children and to enable adults to avoid material which offends their personal and community standards.
It is also ironic that all forms of media are censored by the Media Development Authority(MDA) except for the internet. The simplest solution to this problem is a minor change to the domain naming system which will make adult oriented sites easily identified and restricted from viewing by underage individuals. An ideal solution in this case would be one that effectively limits children's access to such content, is easy and efficient to enforce and requires little adjustment by the Internet using community. Imagine if sites with pornographic content ended in ".xxx" rather than ".com", or ".net" and then imagine if Netscape and Internet Explorer could block out all sites that had ".xxx" in their addresses. This will be very useful but it is not implemented yet.
However, internet will not be user-friendly if filtering softwares slows down the speed of the bandwidth. Filtering and blocking software in public institutions also raise the question about who is responsible for the restriction of the material. It also raises freedom of speech and freedom to read issues in a constitutional context.
Some filtering software blocks hate group sites. If a student is trying to research about skinheads or neoNazis, that information will be blocked on the Internet. Some programs will block any mention of the word "sex" and will therefore block out sites dealing with biological and botanical issues involving procreation. This is impractical and an inconvenience for people who are researching on useful information.
To conclude, filtering softwares should be made compulsory for teens and children while adults can decide whether they want the filtering software or not. In the end, it is up to the parents to educate the children on what is right or wrong on the internet so that there will be a healthy network enviroment for everyone.
Lim Yu Ting(7)3E4
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, there should be special cyber-based laws, filtering of content or parental/teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet. These are necessary actions that are needed to prevent teenagers from easily accessing explicit materials from the internet.
There are advantages as well as disadvantages of implementing internet filtering. The greatest advantage is that it prevents children from deliberately or inadvertently accessing pornography as teenagers are inquisitive to explore such materials and also prevent them from learning things that could harm them and the others. It also helps prevent predators from talking to children online as the internet is an area whereby the identities of predators are easily covered. Internet filtering has also allowed teenagers to surf online without constant parental presence whereby parents can allow their teenagers to surf safely with their mind at ease.
The disadvantage is that it also blocks out many safe sites as well as safe educational websites about sex-related topics that are completely censored and it becomes difficult for parents to teach children and teenagers about the dangers of HIV and AIDS. It may also create a false sense of security for parents as they would have the wrong mindset that by having internet filtering, their children would never be exposed to explicit materials. In our modern day society, tech-savvy kids can easily find a way around filters, or may access inappropriate content elsewhere which makes it even more dangerous. In addition, content-control software may violate sections 13 and 17 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, whereby the rights of a child is restricted and losing their freedom to choose the websites that they would want to visit.
In conclusion, internet filtering should be use to only a certain extent and parents should not only rely on internet filtering. It is important for parents to supervise their children on the websites that they surf.
LoiHuiHao 3E4. ;shy.
ReplyDeletePersonally i feel that there is no need to have Internet-filtering. Even though Internet-filtering is able to blocks websites that promote pornographic materials. Parents thus need not worry their child and can allow their child to surf the internet safely. Internet-filtering may be costly, not every household can afford the cost of it.
Teens nowadays can easily access to pornographic websites through the internet, they just simply need to Google "sex". They download adult videos into their phone and share them among their friends. With internet-filtering, teens can surf online without the presence of their parents.
Even so, the advancement in technology and teens can use any method just to get the things they want. They will attempt to outwit the filter and get pornography materials. Therefore, even with internet-filtering, teens are hard to control and will oppose more to those who restrict them.
Thus, i feel that the most important thing to do is to educate teens that accessing to pornographic materials will give unhealthy information to them. If parents were to set a good example by educating their children in a right way, there is actually no need to install internet-filtering for the computer.
In conclusion, i strongly feels that there is no purpose to install internet-filtering if parents are able to teach them what is right and what is wrong when they are young.
Jonathan Ow(29) 3E4
ReplyDeletei personally feel that there should be cyber laws controlling what teenagers are coming across on the internet.
From the article, the increasing number of teenagers having sex is worrying. The blame has been placed to the Internet as the Internet gives easy access to anything, which includes pornography. Parents and teachers should look into matters as it can destroy the intellectual minds of teenagers.
It is in fact worrying that teen sex is on the rise. The Internet has provided search engines, which in fact does not help if teenagers start to search for explicit materials. The Singapore government has instilled laws to prevent pornographic or explicit content to be shown in cinemas but teenagers are watching it on the Internet at home, especially if their parents are asleep or away. Parents should install filtering software which filters out explicit content on their home computers to prevent their children from going astray.
But even installing filtering software. it is only a safety measure, but it does not stamp out the root of online pornography. But at least it controls the teenager of going astray. Speaking of which, this also prevents the computer from the risk of being infected by a virus.
Although it is unnecessary that all computers sold in Singapore should be installed with a filtering software, but i feel it is necessary for parents to install it to control the user from going to explicit or sites that are dangerous. I also do feel that more could be done in order to solve this problem completely.
In my opinion, there should be special cyber–based laws, filtering of content or parental / teacher control of what teenagers’ access on the Internet. The Internet, being a large station for interacting, browsing or researching, has its negative side too. Nowadays, there are many available explicit websites that are almost easily accessible. Teenagers, if not careful can accidentally stumble upon inappropriate websites that may expose them to pictures or writing content that might be sexually explicit, violent or maybe just rude.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, an Internet filter is a piece of software that is able to help block out unwanted content, such as pornography. These filters typically use a list of keywords and well-known URLs to keep teenagers from accessing inappropriate material. An advantage of having such a software is that it is able to prevent teens from deliberately or inadvertently accessing pornography. By implementing this software, it helps to prevent predators from talking to them online and therefore able to surf online without constant parental presence.
Internet filters and content controllers have some disadvantages. One of them is that if the filter is not properly prepared, it may end up blocking websites and material it was not actually supposed to. They are a bad way of blocking the media and the world of information. There have been cases where even governments have blocked websites. In some regions of the world, content and websites with even a hint of sexual contents are immediately banned.
However, internet filters are a good idea, especially if it could ensure safety and security for teenagers and block them from unhealthy websites.
In my opinion, internet filtering should not be installed in all the computers around the region. However, the software can be put optional as the users are mainly parents who want to monitor the websites their children visit. I fell that there are both advantages and disadvantages of having internet filtering.
ReplyDeleteThe disadvantage is that the government will have to provide a lot of money to purchase the software for the whole region. This can cause in the slow down of the economic as the government is spending on unnecessary items. Critics will accuse the government of trying to increase controls over the internet.
Also, research shows that it is technically impossible if every computer in the region has this software as the speed of the internet will slow down by 87 percent. This will also accidentally block huge numbers of legitimate sites, making those who frequent those sites feel annoyed and unhappy.
Besides that, officials are limiting the citizens' freedom to choose and freedom of epression. The software shows a lack of respect for the citizens and disregard for the importance of speech. Since free communication is an important aspect of choice, it is critical to the development of ideas and individual thinking and personality.
However, the software does have some pros too. The software can shelter youngsters from pornography and violence and also give parents control over what their children view online. Internet filters also help decrease the chances of cyber crime or cyber bullying and maintain cyber-wellness while online.
I feel that there should not be any special cyber –based laws, filtering of content or parental / teacher control of what teenagers access on the internet.
ReplyDeleteWith so many people who have connection to the internet, problems like the appearance of violence and pornographic materials start emerging. This is a worrying situation as teens may be exposed to these unhealthy contents which may corrupt their minds. All parents would not want such a thing to happen to their kids. Therefore i feel that such a software is needed.
There are several advantages of a internet filtering software. It can give parents of a web-surfing youngster a peace of mind as it can protect ones children from content that are deemed too mature for them. These websites would include pornographic mature, sites that encourage violence, among others. Children, after all, can access websites that are pornographic in nature, for instance, unintentionally or deliberately. In any of these cases, the filter can screen out the sites. It also block access to chat rooms and web-based email sites as these sites may cause the child’s safety to be jeopardized. Many children have fallen victim to online predators mainly because they inadvertently accesses dangerous sites such as adult chat rooms or forums. Parents would also be aware of the sites that their child visits if a filter is installed.
Internet filtering will give the user a false sense of internet security. When a person installs an internet filtering software, the person might feel that he would not be affected by any viruses from the net. This will cause him to surf the net without fear of any viruses. But this is a common misconception. Even with an internet filtering software, some unfiltered websites will still contain viruses.
The disadvantages of these programs are easily usurped by the advantages. As aforementioned, the Internet is not the safe place one would want it to be. Internet filters make the online landscape safer and more useful for everyone.