Making the online world safe for children

Make them wear masks?

This is a matter for parenting, not for the state, or government.

There are DNS blockers for children that parents can add to the kids devices - or for the entire home network. Libraries and schools often use these if they don't have a professional network admin.

It is also possible to remove DNS completely and only whitelist specific domains in the /etc/hosts file. This is usually enough for most kids 8 yr old and younger. DNS blocking alone wouldn't stop kids who are good with computers. There are ways around it.

As kids get older, they will deserve more freedom on the internet, still with content filters and parental monitors. These can be as simple as running a pi-hole with community maintained adult content blocking lists or a full proxy that looks through all the content seen via a MiTM certificate (like huge corporations do) and blocking of all end-user devices from any internet access. The proxy server would be the only device on the home network that has internet.

And don't give your kids smart phones or tablets to be used unless you are always, always, in the room. Our kids had dumb phones that could call 3 numbers only, until they moved out.

Another method to limit internet access for kids is to use a small USB wifi-dongle and only set that dongle up on your home router for internet access, not the built-in wifi from the device. When it is necessary to punish or limit their access, just take that USB wifi dongle away. Of course, you'll need to block all unknown devices from access to your router, but most routers made in the last 10 yrs have that capability to the level that non-computer-nerd kids won't get around it.

@itsonlyrocknroll

This is a matter for parenting, not for the state, or government.

It doesn't seem you really thought that one through.

Surely parenting involves teaching our children about the dangers of internet and monitoring them, setting rules and so forth. But that isn't unlike any other aspect of parenting. In other words, parents do the same thing for the outside world already, teaching them the dangers outside home, setting rules and monitoring them.

That doesn't mean the government doesn't need to set any regulations to prevent kids having access to something that is no good for them or setting policies and rules to protect kids from environments no good for them, AND proving environments where children can safely be children. Each parent and government has it role in protecting children. It is no different in the internet. Regulations, and implementation of such rules and punishing of those who break them needs to be done by the government, assuring safe internet spaces for kids, and parents need to keep teaching and supervising.

Nothing is safer for them than the virtual online world. The problems only occur in the real world. Well, admitted, sitting too long in front of the screens isn’t that healthy for children, but that’s all to complain about it. No one comes through the monitor or wires, no killer, no real blood, no pervert, no one even touches them, just plain nothing. Search your problems anywhere else, but not within some cables, electronic chips, bits and bytes. You won’t find bad things or persons there.

Parents should be more concerned about children’s mental health and social skills. The internet is full of trolls and cesspools. Just look at the comments on this site.

I am not a parent Chikatilo so fair enough.

The parents/friends I have pleasure and acquittance with manage there children's on line activity with intranet access, controlled environment variables/space.

My issue is government/state politicly leveraging child welfare to regulate and ultimately snoop.

Why we're taking the UK government to court over mass spying

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/why-taking-government-court-mass-spying-gchq-nsa-tempora-prism-edward-snowden

If it is not child welfare, its an internet exploitation of the threat of terrorism.

Chikatilo you are corralled into the belief that Government serves the will of the people 

It frankly doesn't.

Government/State serves a purpose dependent on the people choice for a mandate to govern. 

This is a undeniable fact that  Beeban Kidron refuses to acknowledge.

If you allow the state the government to ultimately monitor every aspect of your internet activity.

You are on a slippery slope.

Every child has the right to read the Taliban's messages on Twitter... wtf.. please ... please ...

Nothing is safer for them than the virtual online world.

Children aren't equipped to deal with adults online.

Long ago, with the consent of the mother, I contacted a 12 yr old girl who had a little HTML website. I was just some random person online sending spoofed emails. This was in the mid-1990s, before we associated scummy people with the internet. Through just a few interactions with this girl, she told me all sorts information about her family, their work schedules, types of work they did, and where she lived. The mother freaked out. Basically, she told me she was alone at home for hours after school most days, so we could meet there. That also told me when nobody was home, so robbery was possible if I didn't want to meet with this girl.

All of this happened within 1 week.

Children don't think they have anything that other people might want, and that someone would take anything, especially if they don't live inside an inner city. They've heard about crime, but that all happens far away and has nothing to do with them.

So, would you like to meet for an ice cream? I'm buying.

/s

Might want to consider removing omegle.com.

If only these left leaning Big Tech companies would put 1/4 of the effort of their misinformation, censoring, search controls, vote manipulation and past anti Trump mission that they do towards stopping online child stalkers, teen grooming gangs in the UK, etc, maybe they could look at themselves in the mirror once in a while.

Instagram Fuels 70 Percent Rise in Online Grooming of Children: UK Charity

https://m.theepochtimes.com/instagram-fuels-70-percent-rise-in-online-grooming-of-children-uk-charity_3962863.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge

Big Tech isn't the problem. The lack of good parenting is. Every time you go passed the favorite eating place for your child, do you stop and let her order whatever she wants? No? Then you shouldn't allow her all-she can eat online access either.

Before your kids are ready to be safe online, YOU have to teach them how. Same as when teaching them to cross a road safely or ride a bicycle or not to touch anything cooking on the stove. Do you expect the stove company to keep your kids safe from burns? Knives are sharp, just like parts of the internet aren't for all ages.

Parenting is a responsibility.

Kids shouldn't have access to violent or sexual material, but the platforms need to only provide a way for parents to block it. Use the "family filter" in the search engine, as a starting place. Constant vigilance is still required on the internet.