Parental Block for gaming sites (long)

[Pogo]

One of those creations of the insomniac mind….

How about introducing legislation that requires ISPs to offer a parental blocking service for connecting to online gaming sites?

Let me explain why this might work.

One of the reasons many politicians hesitate to support online gambling is the effect it might have on their re-election campaigns. If they go on record as fighting the UIGEA, their opponents will say they are supporting immorality, or that they are not protecting the youth of America. Despite the fact that they might be fighting for our personal freedoms, this is how it might hurt them. Unfortunate as it is, that’s the way our political system has evolved.

But what if they had a way to fight for our rights and be able to declare that they have acted to protect our children?

A common argument against online poker stems from the stories about teenagers stealing parents credit cards or running up huge debts. Therefore if online poker were illegal, we wouldn’t have to worry about that problem anymore. No mention about the fact that this is a parenting problem, or at the very least parents shouldn’t let underage kids have computers with internet in their bedrooms or other non-public areas. How dumb is that anyway? There’s a lot worse stuff out there parents should be worrying about their kids seeing. But I digress.

What we’re talking about is freedom of adult Americans to spend or invest their hard-earned money any way they choose, as long as it is legal and does not harm anyone. Underage kids do not have those same rights, and for good reason. But parents who can’t control the urges and curiosities of their hormonally-poisoned offspring have sometimes required outside assistance. By that I mean legal means that helps them protect their children without restricting the rights of adults. Some examples:

Parental Block for TV channels. While it is perfectly legal and acceptable for adults to pay for televised pornography, cable companies are required to offer parental block. The block is a choice for each family. While many feel pornography is immoral, there is no law against Pay-Per-Porn for everyone who has a legal right.

900 Call Blocking. When some enterprising folks decided to offer telephone sex services for a fee, it quickly became clear that the youth of America were uncontrollably drawn to the seductive tones of some 60-year old granny whispering sweet yuckies in their ears…at no small expense to their parents. Do they make phone sex illegal for all? Of course not. But phone companies are required to offer the option to block the ability to make such calls. So the parents of said frustrated child may coo to granny all he/she wants for however much they charge, but can block their kids.


So why not parental blocking services for internet sites? I’m not talking about those software packages that allow the parents to personally control the content viewable from each computer. That doesn’t help with public places, and frankly any reasonably intelligent teenager can probably figure out how to get around those. And I don’t mean certain ISPs blocking gaming sites for all their customers. I mean blocking connection to certain IPs for only the household requesting the block. It would probably not be that easy, but certainly not impossible. I’m not certain of the technology, and it may require users to have a static IP addresses, but if it can be done, we should do it. Public sites such as schools and libraries could initiate the block as well. People shouldn’t be playing from public sites anyway for their own security.

Best of all, politicians who are closet-supporters of online poker could get behind this bill, claiming they are acting to protect our children AND standing up for our personal freedoms. The immoral argument is crap. Like the WTO says, until the US bans all gambling and casinos from within our borders, we cannot stop Americans from playing at these online cardrooms using that reasoning.

What do y’all think? Do I just need to get more sleep, or is there something here?

[Ludevtec27]

this would be a great idea if "the children" were the real issue.

unfortunately that's got nothing to do w/ it and is really just a front to gain widespread support.

wash. just wants their cut of our money for "protecting" us.

[Mama Poker]

Here's what I think-

1)-Personal responsibility-If the parents don't know what the kiddies are doing on the computer, why is it someone else's problem? Know what your kids are up to. Be involved.
2)-Can you really find all the places that you want to block? Do we want to create a list or a "red zone" on the net?
3)-Do we really want someone having that kind of control over the net? It's bad enough we are "guided" to certain sites when we do searches based on commercialism.

Just my musings on the matter.

[poorolrich]

If the people in Washington DC just wanted our money then they would have passed a law taxing online gambling. It would be easier for the committee to say to the I P providers to block all gambling sites to everybody rather than making a parental block for gambling sites which, if a kid was smart, could get around any blocks that the parents put on the computer. The parents would have to request the block with the I P server but have a way for them to play which means a password or something. Our best chance is that Barney Franks gets the repeal bill he is drafting and get it into the system.

[Pogo]

[ QUOTE ]
It would be easier for the committee to say to the I P providers to block all gambling sites to everybody

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I understand that physically this would be easier, but I think it will never happen because it would constitute censorship and a clear limitation of our personal freedoms. No one wants to open that door, so they are searching for other ways.

I simply presented the parental block idea as a way for individual parents to censor their own kids, not unlike other blocking services available. From a political standpoint, this type of solution is less damaging to re-election campaigns.

Playing the game is unfortunately required. I'm trying to propose a way to help get more politicians on our side.

[oober]

[ QUOTE ]
Here's what I think-

1)-Personal responsibility-If the parents don't know what the kiddies are doing on the computer, why is it someone else's problem? Know what your kids are up to. Be involved.
2)-Can you really find all the places that you want to block? Do we want to create a list or a "red zone" on the net?
3)-Do we really want someone having that kind of control over the net? It's bad enough we are "guided" to certain sites when we do searches based on commercialism.

Just my musings on the matter.

[/ QUOTE ]

It is the parents responsibility, not the government. Last time I checked I wasn't socialist.I completely agree with the above quote.