Laws and penalties — even ones Idaho passed — are not the best answer to protecting kids online. Technology changes too quickly to be useful long-term. You’re just playing a game of legislative whack-a-mole otherwise.
Has any parent or kid lied about their age, ever? YES.
Do we want to provide sensitive information including photos and other biometrics, social security numbers (last 4) or birthdates to websites? NOPE.
You provided the perfect answer when you wrote: “You already have complete power to protect your children. The solution isn’t more regulation. It’s taking the damn phone away.”
Let’s go several steps further (some of which you already mentioned). Flip phones only, no GPS, minimal texting features, no Internet access. That’s all kids and most adults need for mobile use. Search the web for these phone features. You will find them! What’s more, the simpler phones are cheaper, more robust, emit less harmful electromagnetic radiation, and are more reliable too!
For everything else Internetsky, use your desktop or laptop at home or office (or a “family owned and controlled” smart phone), and don’t have any of it in the kids’ bedrooms unless they are older (e.g., late high school) and/or proven extraordinarily responsible.
Finally, turn off Wi-Fi / internet at bedtime to protect everyone against electromagnetic radiation and sleep disruption.
This is what we should be doing to protect kids from bad actors on the Internet. And we should be doing it without any whining from parents or kids!
Lol. Is this your new hobby now? Holding conservatives to libertarian standards is like getting mad at Democrats for not being Republican enough. Why don’t you and your boy go find some Democrats or moderate to harass?
Lol. You got two blog posts about me? That's bordering on obsession, Wayne. Maybe redirect some of that energy toward the politicians at the bottom of your Freedom Index instead of fixating on proven conservatives who aren't libertarian enough for your taste. Been doing this for 40 years and this is where the focus lands?
Wayne Hoffman: "This law doesn't do anything; besides it's up to parents to solve this problem." Also Wayne Hoffman: "Let me show you how I completely missed the point about who should bear responsibility for the harm they're actually creating."
Laws and penalties — even ones Idaho passed — are not the best answer to protecting kids online. Technology changes too quickly to be useful long-term. You’re just playing a game of legislative whack-a-mole otherwise.
Has any parent or kid lied about their age, ever? YES.
Do we want to provide sensitive information including photos and other biometrics, social security numbers (last 4) or birthdates to websites? NOPE.
You provided the perfect answer when you wrote: “You already have complete power to protect your children. The solution isn’t more regulation. It’s taking the damn phone away.”
Let’s go several steps further (some of which you already mentioned). Flip phones only, no GPS, minimal texting features, no Internet access. That’s all kids and most adults need for mobile use. Search the web for these phone features. You will find them! What’s more, the simpler phones are cheaper, more robust, emit less harmful electromagnetic radiation, and are more reliable too!
For everything else Internetsky, use your desktop or laptop at home or office (or a “family owned and controlled” smart phone), and don’t have any of it in the kids’ bedrooms unless they are older (e.g., late high school) and/or proven extraordinarily responsible.
Finally, turn off Wi-Fi / internet at bedtime to protect everyone against electromagnetic radiation and sleep disruption.
This is what we should be doing to protect kids from bad actors on the Internet. And we should be doing it without any whining from parents or kids!
Lol. Is this your new hobby now? Holding conservatives to libertarian standards is like getting mad at Democrats for not being Republican enough. Why don’t you and your boy go find some Democrats or moderate to harass?
Lol. You got two blog posts about me? That's bordering on obsession, Wayne. Maybe redirect some of that energy toward the politicians at the bottom of your Freedom Index instead of fixating on proven conservatives who aren't libertarian enough for your taste. Been doing this for 40 years and this is where the focus lands?
Wayne Hoffman: "This law doesn't do anything; besides it's up to parents to solve this problem." Also Wayne Hoffman: "Let me show you how I completely missed the point about who should bear responsibility for the harm they're actually creating."