Mostly Harmless

Fairly often, people ask how they can keep their children safe on the Internet, or how they can lock out certain areas through address blocking or access control software. I generally liken the Internet to a city, if you’re buying your child a fully Internet capable device that they can use without your supervision, you’re letting them roam free in a city, with all the attendant opportunities and dangers that come with that.

Despite the fact the analogy is obvious,  it’s heartening to know if they like QI I can just email them this link in future, in order to be backed up by the eloquence of Stephen Fry.  Relevant quote reproduced below for convenience.

This is an early thing I said about the internet at the time things like AOL were still huge. I said it’s Milton Keynes, that’s the problem with it. It’s got all these nice, safe cycle paths and child-friendly parks and all the rest of it.

But the internet is a city and, like any great city, it has monumental libraries and theatres and museums and places in which you can learn and pick up information and there are facilities for you that are astounding – specialised museums, not just general ones.

As important as the more traditional cultural institutions?

But there are also slums and there are red light districts and there are really sleazy areas where you wouldn’t want your children wandering alone.And you say, “But how do I know which shops are selling good gear in the city and how do I know which are bad? How do I know which streets are safe and how do I know which aren’t?” Well you find out.

What you don’t need is a huge authority or a series of identity cards and police escorts to take you round the city because you can’t be trusted to do it yourself or for your children to do it.

And I think people must understand that about the internet – it is a new city, it’s a virtual city and there will be parts of it of course that they dislike, but you don’t pull down London because it’s got a red light district.