Protecting Our Children In the Internet Universe

Purpose:

The purpose of this message is to help you shield your children from a potentially dangerous situation -- internet pornography. Some of you may not think this applies to you, but it applies to everyone. For some of us, our children may be grown, but we have grandchildren, neices and nephews who are going to spend their entire lives surrounded by the free access to such things. Pornography, dangerous ideas and moral filth co-exist on the Internet with a wealth of wholesome spiritual and intellectual thought, and teaching our young people the difference is crucial. Such a discussion falls into three areas of consideration...

A. Internet filtering software and filtered Internet Service Providers.

B. Possibilities of government intervention and assistance.

C. Parental Pro-Activity to encourage proper uses of the Internet.

I have, as best I understand, laid out some pros and cons of each of these areas and by doing so I hope I can help you as you sort out how best to lead your families into this new thing we call the Internet.

 

Text: II John 4-11

I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. - And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. - And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. - For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. - Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. - Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. - If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. - For he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds.

 

Introduction:

One of the long-standing goals of parenthood has been to raise children in a good neighborhood that provides a safe and secure environment. In order to achieve this goal, parents sacrifice their own "good life" by saving needed funds, working arduous hours and borrowing money that will take them decades to pay back for the purpose of providing a home away from the crime and violence that plagues many areas of our world.

In many ways, the explosion of information and experiences available to us over the Internet is represented as its own separate universe...separate and different from the known, "real" universe you and I live in. Because we have not grown up in an age when such things proliferated, and because we are very much "into" our world with jobs, family, community, and church, we often neglect that the internet has become the real world to our children. Such factors as childhood obesity, obsessive behavior and tendencies toward violence are but symptoms of an increasing "disconnect" of some children from our reality and an increasing addiction to their perceived real world on the internet.

The great enigma of this whole situation is that well-meaning, loving parents have provided what they think is a safe living environment for their children, but let them roam free and unrestricted in a world that is more real to them than the one the parents provide, but are filled with dangers that such parents rarely are aware of and even more rarely seek to give their children proper guidance concerning.

The subject of parental guidance and direction for the ways their children interact on the internet is a complex issue. The internet is constantly changing. New technology replaces the old on an almost-daily basis. Over 3000 new websites spring up daily on the World-Wide-Web, and with the proliferation of e-mail coming along at an even greater rate, it is impossible for any one source to stay on top of it all.

I. Stopping filth at our doorstep - Filtering what is allowed onto our computers.

Christian magazines, radio airwaves and other media are filled with ads today touting "Safe-Surf," "Christian Web" or some other service by which undesirable websites may be eliminated from view on the family's computers. These work by recognizing either the web address of a site and comparing it to a list of known "bad" sites or monitoring the text coming in from the site and comparing the words to a list of objectionable words.

In either case, once a site is identified as objectionable, the user's computer issues an automatic re-direct command to take the computer to a "safe site" from which he/she can continue browsing. There are two main systems of internet filtering available, and I discuss them separately.

A. FILTERING PROGRAMS are available from most computer software outlets. They were originally designed for use in libraries and other places that desired to keep their computer usage strictly directed at research sites and away from "useless" things such as porn, Star Trek games and other non-academic things.

Advantages - They can be customized to eliminate whatever the user deems objectionable, using any standard desired (subject to the limits of their programming). They can be "locked" to prevent clearance of a site by those unauthorized to do so.

Disadvantages - They were not designed specifically to eliminate the kinds of things Christian parents might not desire their children to see. While they may be "locked" to prevent tampering, most children know how to turn off the computer and "boot" it back up in such a way as to bypass the filtering program altogether.

B. "SAFE" INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS are the latest innovation in software-based internet filtering. These are actual companies, many of them Christian owned/operated, who sell Internet access and operate server-based filtering system-wide. Some offer a two-level service, offering filtered service available for the children and an extra-password level unfiltered service for adults.

Advantages - The chief advantage of this type of filtering service is that it is not as easy to bypass. If this is the only internet access number available on a given computer, all access will pass through the filter. It also is no small advantage that the money one pays for internet access is often going into the hands of another Christian in this case.

Disadvantages - ISP-Based filtering leaves the Christian parent at the mercy of what another person considers a "safe" site. We all have our own levels of what offends us, and very few will precisely agree with the standards used by a given company. Also, the proliferation of "free" internet service providers, all of them unrestricted, gives the person who desires to get around internet filtering an easy way to do it and escape detection by even a computer-literate parent.

A General Disadvantage to this type of internet filtering is that it is all detection-based. A site has to be accessed by the software before it knows whether it is safe or not. Sites aimed at soliciting children for immoral purposes will actively seek to not "trip the trigger" and have the site banned. A responsible person HAS to see the site in most cases, determine its harmfulness, and program the system to eliminate it. With approximately 200-300 potentially objectionable sites coming on-line each day, this task requires a level of vigilance among Christian parents.

Another disadvantage is filtering's inability to screen out "chat rooms," e-mail chats or individual communication between individuals via ICQ, Internet Messenger or Yahoo Messenger, the most popular messaging systems on the internet.

Internet filtering can NEVER be a "set it and forget it" solution to keeping filth off our computer screens.

 

II. Can't the Government do something about this?

At one time, the government COULD have done some things that would have made the Internet much safer today. However, no one then could have foreseen that this tool would be what it is today. We have what we have on the Internet today because of the history of its development, which I'll outline here.

A. Begun in the "Cold-War" 1950's, the Internet (then known as ARPAnet) was set up to link US. Government computers for instantaneous nationwide data transfer in the event of a nuclear attack. In those days, you had to have a certain level of security clearance before you "officially" knew that the Internet existed.

B. In the "Détente" era of the 1970's, operation and control of the Internet was turned over to major US. universities, which decentralized the control of the net and made it international...sharing the access with major universities worldwide.

C. In the "Free-Trade" 1990's, commercial businesses were invited to have a presence on the internet, as their infusion of capital would be a return on the investment of the universities. It has also financed the expansion of the Internet beyond the University Library into potentially the homes of every person in the world.

The Internet still carries the image of a university project, with the resultant freedom our modern society gives to those in such schools. While a typical university might promote moral responsibility in the use of services available via Internet, we have no such guarantee with commercial businesses and individuals who use the internet for "access" to us or our children.

Yet, such businesses and individuals readily hide behind those freedoms when it comes to issues of censorship of the Internet. They would convince us that censorship is an INDIVIDUAL responsibility, yet at the same time making it more difficult to resist the message they are trying to deliver to us.

Government is very loath to intervene in the area of Internet content, because it is quite aware of the arguments made by Internet freedom advocates and prosecuted by them through the courts of our land. Internet issues promised by our Congress and President in signing the Communications Act of 1996 have been quietly undermined by the courts to the extent that it is nearly impossible to restrict ANYTHING from being placed for access on the Internet.

Despite the pleas of Christians, it is unlikely that the Government will do anything meaningful to address the internet content issue for fear of the issue being tied up in the courts so long as to make any decision irrelevant.

III. Parental Pro-Activity - The only real hope.

King Solomon said it best..."Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proper instruction in righteousness, and maintaining a righteous atmosphere in the home, is the best way to ensure that the filth of the Internet does not seriously impact our children.

It is acknowledged that we cannot control our children 24/7, and we don't always know what our children do when we are not looking, but several suggestions come to mind when it concerns our children and the Internet.

A. Open discussion of the issues of filth and pornography on the Internet. Before a child is allowed to go on the Internet for the first time, have a good discussion about what the Internet is for, what the "rules" for use are, and what dangerous things may be out there that need to be avoided. If you believe your child is too young to know or understand these things, do not allow that child on the Internet until you feel he or she is old enough to understand them.

B. If you use Internet filtering, explain to the child why it is there and that you expect him/her not to tamper with it. All children will try to go "beyond the fence," but if they know the "gate" is there for their safety, they are less likely to try to open it.

C. Keep the internet (and the entire computer, for that matter) a "family" thing. Allow no computer in the bedroom, even to do homework. Generations of school children have done their homework in the family living area, and it benefits all to know what the child is learning in school. Keep the monitor in clear view of all, and just as with the television, discuss anything you observe that might be dangerous with your children.

D. Visit the computer lab in your children's schools, and ask questions about what they use the computers for. Don't be afraid to ask to see the materials that your child will see...you have that right...and to request that some or all of them not be shown to your child.

E. Learn how your local library views filtering of internet material, and if needed support any effort to filter materials viewable by young people there.

F. Take an interest in the Internet yourself. Learn how it works and what is available on it. You might be surprised at how easy it is to use, and that you can even guide your children personally to good materials for them to view.

 

Conclusion:

The problem with filth on the Internet is not going to go away, any more than it will go away in our society as long as there is a sinful nature for it to appeal to. I believe our best defense of our young people lies not in relying on software, internet service providers, government intervention and regulation or any other external means to see that such things stay off our computers. The only safe internet for our children will occur when we actively involve ourselves with our children in exploring it, in guiding their journeys on-line, and remaining positively vigilant to keep our children away from such things.