In a surprise to no one, researchers find yet again that Internet content filters don’t prevent access to porn. Specifically a paper entitled Internet Filtering and Adolescent Exposure to Online Sexual Material from a pair of researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute in the United Kingdom finds that teens are not slowed down during their search for porn in any meaningful way by content filters. The study looked at around 20,000 subjects around the EU and UK, ages 11 through 16, and found no statistically or practically significant protective effects from filters.
This research follows the controversial news that the UK government was exploring a country-wide porn filter, a product that will most likely fail. The UK would join countries around the world who filter the public Internet for religious or political reasons.
The bottom line? Filters are expensive and they don’t work.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 16 2018, @07:49PM
Come on you people! For the longest time, DN seemed to have gotten bored, given up fighting the word filter, moved on to greener pastures or whatever else, but gone. Now it looks like he was lurking all along. And finally, here comes just the story for him. Confident in finally getting the appraisal he deserves, he posts his usual comment - which right here seems highly relevant - and you mod him... OT? Sigh. Tough crowd.