Unregulated Cyber World

In an unregulated cyber world, violence and pornography can bring serious consequences for children. And the intention in promoting so-called global Internet freedom was actually to help people get around barriers in cyberspace. But no country can afford to make the Internet absolutely free. Anyhow, it is quite obvious that regulation/controlling/censoring Internet for kids in some aspects is possible. People shouldn’t estimate this act as a crime against the freedom, but as a freedom from crime. For example, in China, according to “The State Control approach” all Internet cafes are required to keep records of sites visited, with the aim of preventing access to sites featuring pornography, gambling and those that "harm national unification, sovereignty and territorial integrity". Moreover, they even managed to block Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. Government, of course, should act as regulator, but what then of parents? While an Internet service providers might be tasked with being more careful in respect of content provision, there was a role for parents and educators too: parents need the skills and knowledge to regulate content in their own home. Internet users, especially parents and teachers, can use filtering software, which alone or in conjunction with the self-rating of sites can limit access by particular users to particular parts of the Internet. Parents should take greater responsibility for what their children get up to on the internet. Of course, it would help parents and others with responsibility for children if they could buy a PC with filtering software pre-installed and set at the maximum level of safety and if the default setting for all web browsers was a child-safe mode. Then adult users of such hardware and software would have the opportunity, when they wished, to switch to a less filtered or completely open mode. The Internet cannot and should not be regulated like ‘old’ media. However, more can and should be done, especially in relation to