The UK government elections will take place on Thursday, May 7, less than one month away, so all parties are heavily into promising, introducing and pledging various policies that are popular and sensitive. The two main parties, Labour and Conservative are at present neck and neck in the polls of popularity and of winning election votes.
One of the “promises” put forward by the Conservative party a few days ago is to implement a plan that will block and restrict children from having access to porn sites. They state on their Facebook page that they are:
“Legislating to put online hard-core pornography behind effective age verification controls is an important part of our plan to back families and give children the best start in life.”
Children having access to porn sites is a serious issue. There is unlimited, free, 24-hour access on the Internet for those youngsters who are searching for information on sex and relationships. ChildLine, a service offered by the NSPCC recognised the easy access offered by the internet and took action. According to Sue Minto, Head of ChildLine service, their forum receives 18,000 visits per month from youngsters in connection to the effects of exposure to porn. ChildLine also discovered from their survey, that “one in ten 12-13 year-olds are worried they are addicted to porn” and that 18 percent reported to have seen shocking and upsetting images.
As a result of the worrying survey results, ChildLine launched its campaign F.A.P.Z. (Fight Against Porn Zombies)
In response to the statistics from ChildLine, the culture minister of the Conservative party, Sajid Javid, stated that “the party would act to ensure under-18s were locked out of adult content…”
The Conservative party state they will implement the age restrictions by using an independent regulator to oversee this new access to porn regulation system that “will determine, in conjunction with websites, how age verification controls will work and how websites that do not put them in place will be blocked.”
Reactions to this proposal? One commenter on the Conservative Facebook page wrote:
“Sorry but it’s the job of the parents to set and monitor their child’s behaviour not the gov’t. And with regards to the scenario of a 12yr old walking out of a shop with a violent sex DVD, what about the same child walking out with a book of 50 Shades of Grey or American Pyscho .. is that ok? And while we’re at it, what about the same 12yr old playing 18 computer games that have been bought for them by the parents… No , sorry.. this the parents job and no one else’s.”
