OLPC Used to Browse Porn 338
youthoftoday writes "The OLPC project to bring the internet to third world has worked well — too well, it seems. Yahoo reports that Nigerian Children are already using the OLPC to browse for porn." This is why as kids we couldn't look at National Geographic issues without being supervised. A rep from OLPC said, understandably, that the laptops would now be fitted with filters.
Then it is true (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Leela: It's got every piece of information anyone could ever want.
[Fry sees the porn sites.]
Fry: So I see!
[He flies down to the porn sites and Bender and Hermes follow him.]
Zoidberg: What? What's going on here?
[He sees a sign advertising "Sardine-on-Mackerel Action", warbles and flies towards it.]
Re:Then it is true (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Then it is true (Score:5, Funny)
It's not fair.
These fortunate black males will now also see ads for penis enlargers. We will never be able to catch up with them... ever.
OPPS (Score:3, Funny)
Re:OPPS (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Then it is true (Score:5, Insightful)
The end of 419 scams? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The end of 419 scams? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
How does something being obvious make it an oxymoron?
you do KNOW what an oxymoron is, right?
'cos the post to which you refer is not an oxymoron by any standards. Unless you can explain exactly how it is self-contradictory?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Then it is true (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Then it is true (Score:5, Funny)
They're recharged by hand, they have to crank one on just to crank one off !
Thank you. I'm going to be rich now. (Score:4, Funny)
I'll build a device that goes on a man's cock and generates electricity by an up and down motion.
Re:Thank you. I'm going to be rich now. (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah right (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Yeah right (Score:4, Funny)
NEWS ALERTS
Get an alert when there are new stories about:
( ) Abuja
( ) explicit sexual materials
Sign me up for those email news alerts on ABUJA! Oh yeah baby! Gimme that Abuuuuja!
-
It's only fair... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:They are not allowed to. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:They are not allowed to. (Score:5, Funny)
So whose fingers were being used to cover the breasts?
Re:They are not allowed to. (Score:4, Funny)
big deal (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
In other news (Score:5, Insightful)
Analyst are in agreement that the sun will almost certainly rise again probably once each day for the next few weeks.
Also: filters? get a fucking clue.
How about instead we just use these internets to send the offending officials some biology texts so that can learn about human sexuality and stop trying to stifle it.
Re:In other news (Score:4, Funny)
It's a good thing... (Score:5, Insightful)
Let them learn about every kind of sex, stop treating sex and masturbation like freakish taboo abnoramalities and let them have open honest dialogue about sex. That will bring HIV rates down. Alot of guys in porns wear condoms. Nobody every got AIDS from masturbating. If (while they actually stay monogamous) they can close their eyes and fantasize about some porn starlet and that fulfills their natural male desire for a variety of partners, then that too will help control the spread of STDs. Maybe some men there will learn to appreciate women who have orgasims, and the practice of female circumcision will stop. All in all this will probably be a good thing.
Porn is not a substitute for sex ed (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't have a problem with porn, and I don't have a problem with children learning about sex, but I don't think porn is a healthy way for children to learn about sex. There's all sorts of porn out there, and a good deal of it presents unrealistic scenarios out of context. Particularly those that deal with how women should be treated.
Porn should come after proper sex education, not in its stead.
Is it in yet? (Score:3, Funny)
While I can appreciate the chick angle (you get a lot of tail with the good cop routine), I am much more concerned with the fact that porn teaches women that sex should last longer than two minutes and penetration can be perceived by a woman absent verbal confirmation.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The entire spectrum of possible pornographic material is available on the internet. As with all the other learning kids do by reading/listening/watching things on the internet/elsewhere they need to be able to distinguish between the 'good' information, the 'mediocre' and the 'horrible' stuff.
Sexual information is particularly tricky in part because of the strong feelings and emotions it can evoke in us when we see it. Strong emotions can certainly make good judgment more difficult.
In s
Porn is inevitable (Score:5, Funny)
OLPC Project: "Here children, I give you THE INTERNET... totally unfiltered. Enjoy."
[5 minutes later...]
Children: "What is Goatse?"
Sigh...
Get those filters on!
Re:Porn is inevitable (Score:5, Insightful)
If they truly only blocked porn, then maybe it would be a matter of discussion, but certain filters' habit of censoring all sorts of irrelevant contents, political and otherwise really makes porn the lesser of the two evils.
Re:Porn is inevitable (Score:5, Insightful)
If you start blocking porn because of its content (porn) then the people who have the power will demand other things be blocked too which leads to the Great Firewall of China problem... Except this one would be in Nigeria.
The internet was supposed to free everyone and allow them to think for themselves. Naturally those in power decide to try and force it into a tool for control just like everything else from Income Taxes to Drivers Licenses.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The internet was supposed to free everyone and allow them to think for themselves.
You are making a fundamental assumption - that these children are able to think for themselves. Face it, they are not. They can be *influenced* by things, rather than influence them, either passively, or actively. This is (also obviously) because they aren't adults yet. Parents' education, school, etc. influences you in a way when you are little, as well.
And for the other posts that mention that filters are "censorship"... you're misguided. If these computers are meant for schooling, they are meant for
Re:Porn is inevitable (Score:5, Insightful)
I've been dealing with exactly this issue for the last 4 years. I work in the developing world, and one of the things I do is assist with the integration of computers into programmes of all kinds. I can tell you that one of the biggest fears (after malware) is the content that people will access.
This may strike some of you as bizarre or even disgusting, but in cultures where sexuality - and women too - have historically been repressed, it's not unusual for a man to sit in his office and wank[*], not stopping when other staff members pass the door. Men can sometimes be surprisingly aggressive about their desire for porn. I remember being told a story about IT staff opening pop ups on a miscreant's computer, saying "We can see what you're doing. Stop it!" He just kept right on going. I myself have sat in the next office to one especially persistent guy, blocking domains the moment he accessed them. In the end I had to use back-channels to get the situation addressed.
[*] Odds are really good that this is the only place he can access the Internet. There's no computer at home, and Internet cafés are too expensive. The compulsion simply becomes to strong to deny.
Everybody asks me to install filters, and I do it, because in this country, pornography is against the law. But I explain to every manager who will listen that the technical measures are simply CYA: They exist so that you can argue in a court of law that you took reasonable measures to curb illegal activity. Ultimately, controlling what staff and/or project stakeholders see on their computers is a basic management issue. If people are properly supervised, they will not stray far. If they do, they must be disciplined.
In short: There's no technical substitute for supervision.
I submit that this contention is just as flawed as the idea that a content filter is the right tool for the job. What you are describing is people allowing a political and social climate that permits this kind of behaviour. The challenge is not a technical one. The means already exist for a complete surveillance state, and we can't un-invent the tools. All we can do is ensure that they are used appropriately. And that problem doesn't have a technical solution. It comes down to human beings showing humanity to one another.
I'll refrain from commenting on any current socio-political trends that might serve as examples. I'm sure we can all find suitable cases in our own back yards.
Re:Porn is inevitable (Score:4, Insightful)
I thought starting early was exactly how political indoctrination usually works. It's very hard to indoctrinate adults that have learned about whatever you want to keep from them, but if you get them while they are young and easy to affect, they won't know what they're missing out on.
Re:Porn is inevitable (Score:5, Interesting)
Filtering non-porn can be good ... (Score:3, Funny)
Blocking US Football Superbowls XXX through XXXIX and the movies "xXx" and "XXX: State of the Union" are hardly evils, and probably goods.
Re: (Score:2)
OLPC Project: The filters are in place.
Children: Why is everything in Chinese?
No way! (Score:5, Insightful)
in other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Understandably? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, sorry, I do not understand. There's nothing evil about porn and those filter won't work anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, if the children are free to mess with the filters, I see no bad :)
Re: (Score:2)
These computers are for schooling. They can't learn as much if they are too busy whackin' it.
Re:Understandably? (Score:4, Insightful)
Time to end the OLPC project then (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes every single one of those children, and most every child in the world is a result of fucking. Why again do we need to protect them from this knowledge? Aside from protecting the tender egos of the older men and women who are past thier sexual prime and hate to be reminded of that fact?
understandably? (Score:5, Insightful)
Remember, morality is relative.
Re:understandably? (Score:4, Insightful)
Relative to what?
Reality isn't very relative. A system of values ("morality") that's grounded in reality and reason is fairly straightforward. People can (and of course, do) certainly dream up philosophical frameworks based on all-powerful invisible friends that still dole out the occasional case of childhood cancer just to keep us all on our toes, and operate as if some magic representation of your firing synapses are going to keep echoing through time after the meat computer that allowed them to come up with that bit of whimsy in the first place is being eaten by worms... but certain moral decisions that are anchored in imaginary consequences (or the lack of them) aren't "relative" - they're wrong. They may frequently overlap with a framework based on reason and reality, but they're going to suffer the rot of mixed premises, and the symptoms of that are the attempts by their holders to act in accordance with contradictions... which can't exist, and which produce sometimes tragic results.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:understandably? (Score:5, Insightful)
How is that autism working out for ya?
PS The idea that morality is timeless and external to the human race pretty much died out with Kant.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Nonsense. I've asserted that reality is what reality is, and it doesn't give a damn whether, or how well, or in what way I perceive it. The better one is equipped to grasp reality (through critical thinking, better tools like the scientific method, etc) the less that wishful/magical thinking tends to drive one's perceptions. I don't CARE if someone's born-of-ignorance (or foisted-on-them-by-s
Re:understandably? (Score:4, Insightful)
I call double nonsense. Asserting a truism doesn't validate an argument, unless you are arguing for the truism, in which case you aren't really making an argument.
Relativism simply means that our values are to be judged by how well they serve society. Absolutism means that those values are an integral part of external reality (independent of observers/participants in that reality), and therefore requires that people serve the value system instead of the other way around. Reality is what reality is, but that in no way implies that values are objective.
Re:understandably? (Score:5, Insightful)
That's true, but I don't think that supports your original assertion, namely:
A system of values ("morality") that's grounded in reality and reason is fairly straightforward.
Reason cannot ground a morality. Reason is a tool that doesn't provide goals. It gets us from point A to point B -- that is, it allows us to achieve the goals we've set for ourselves. It cannot tell us what those goals should be, and it's precisely this 'should' that grounds any moral system. So, for example, if my ethnically related compatriots and I want to kill our ethnically different neighbors -- because they make us uncomfortable, because we're short on land and water and they have plenty of both, because their beliefs offend us, whatever -- reason can tell us many things. It can tell us that we can't get away with what we want to do because someone with a big stick (another neighboring group, say) will come and kill us in turn; or that the people we want to kill are too strong for us to assault; or perhaps that nothing stands in our way of accomplishing our desire. If the latter, reason can tell us how to best go about killing our enemies -- what tactics to use, what timeline to follow to achieve the best results, how to hide our actions from outside observers until we've succeeded, etc.
What reason cannot tell us is that we should not kill our neighbors in any absolute sense. It can tell us that we should not try to kill them because we cannot handle the consequences of trying. Or it can tell us that we should because we can get away with it. But it can never tell us that we shouldn't because it would be morally wrong to do so. Reason doesn't dictate what we should or shouldn't want -- only how to get where we want to be.
Moral systems that invoke reason are thus also relative -- relative to our desires and to all of the assumptions we bring to the table. Whether reality itself is relative to anything, or an absolute framework in which we live, is more or less irrelevant. The benefit of classical systems of ethics -- what gives them their moral force -- is that they are based on unreasonable foundations, such as the sanctity of human life, which reason cannot in any sense provide. We can reject them because they do not, in our view, reflect reality; but we can't replace them with a tool that has no claim to absolute moral truth. If we're to be honest logicians, we must accept the consequences of our conclusions and live in a world that is ultimately far less comfortable and settled and straightforward than the world of our religious forebears.
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
A little big of filtering might save those kids from getting in very serious trouble with their local moral taleba
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Parents (Score:3, Insightful)
Its my right to teach my child what i feel is right and wrong, not his.
Re:understandably? (Score:5, Informative)
Remember, morality is relative.
OLPC is a state-subsidized educational program for children.
If you want OLPC to succeed you do not create problems in the classroom, you do not embarrass its local sponsors.
Nigeria is a mix of Islam, evangelical Protestant, conservative Catholic, and tribal religion. Tolerance of pornography - and the exposure of children to pornography - doesn't figure prominently in any one of them.
Porn on the Internet is framed in terms of the Western stereotypes of the dominant male and the subservient [often promiscuous] female. In the Nigerian setting, this comes at a price:
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. It is a country on the brink of an AIDS disaster. And its dominant religions - traditional religion, Christianity, and Islam - all proclaim the superiority of males to females. These three aspects are closely linked.
In traditional Nigerian society, there is no separation between the laws governing secular and spiritual spheres. What the gods say is sanctioned by society and forms the norms of the community. They cannot be challenged, especially by women. This divinely ordained male dominance forms the ultimate basis of patriarchal entrenchment in Nigerian culture.
The siege of patriarchy encompasses all spheres in Nigerian society including practices like female genital mutilation, child marriage, widow inheritance, rape, and polygamy. Talk about sex is considered immoral; sexual issues are not open to discussion. This secrecy surrounding sexual relations, combined with the religious and cultural expectations that subjugate women, largely explains women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in the country. No effort to curb the spread of AIDS in Nigeria can afford to ignore the influence of religion and culture. Women in Nigeria: Religion, Culture, and AIDS [iheu.org] [2002]
On a fundamental level, Christians and Muslims in Nigeria have similar views on the why HIV continues to spread: both groups see promiscuous behavior as the root cause of the HIV crisis. Promiscuity is frowned upon heavily because of religious teachings and because of underlying cultural traditions within Nigerian society. Even before Christianity and Islam were introduced, Nigerian cultural tradition emphasized the importance of sexual discretion and believed that sex should be reserved for marriage. Leaders in both the Christian and Muslim communities discourage their followers from pre-marital and extra-marital sex, and teach that procreation is the main reason for sex. Religion and HIV/AIDS in Nigeria [globalengage.org]
Re: (Score:2)
huh (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Think of the children!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Thanks, thats exactly where this is heading (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The very act of what they're doing is exporting their morality. The OLPC folks think it is morally wrong for some people to be so poor, they don't have access to things which, in today's day and age, are considered completely necessary for success. They have moral qualms with the disparity of knowledge, wealth, etc that their program seeks, as a moral imperitive, to lessen to some degree.
So you don't want the OLPC program to exist at all?
Re: (Score:2)
I almost did a spit-take (Score:2)
Oh Yeah! Look at the hangers on that one!
And in further news... (Score:2)
Oops, should've pressed Preview (Score:2)
Well, you made two vaid points (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Therapy (Score:3, Insightful)
I think they should also send out therapists. Those children will clearly be traumatised by viewing evil images of naked women.
Censorship in this case is wrong. (Score:5, Insightful)
A question to ask: Does porn help promote AIDS with viewers or help to demote it?
Perhaps there is an age of threshold but that is something that should be determined by the current living environment.
So what is an indicator of that threshold? What gave the kids the idea of looking for porn on the internet in the first place? Seems to me the threshold was already passed before they looked for it on the internet.
I'm almost 50 years old and my email is filtered, not by my choice, such that I still get the porn promotion emails but the urls are changed to be random character strings. Whether or not I would access such sites is not the issue.
The issue is of censorship of what is in fact a part of human nature.
If you make something as natural as sex bad then you'll guarantee the typical rebellious teen age person will find a way. And maybe that way is such an act as to spread disease and unwanted pregnancies.
What can porn teach? proper safe sex? It can perhaps remove some level of curiosity
But porn or not, there is the natural human sex drive. Deny it and you'll have problems develop from ignorance and un-natural guilt. Such acts as rape included.
And how about the history of porn? What can it teach? The dangers of AIDs and other STDs?
If kids already know to look for porn on the internet, maybe its time the subject matter be properly addressed instead of being swept under the rug filter.
The biggest problem, the biggest contributing factor with the spread of AIDs in Africa, is ignorance.
Wait a minute, I live in Atlanta, I'm white...
Forget everything I said above.....
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know what effect porn has otherwise. Does jackin' it to porn satisfy their sexual urges, or does looking at porn make them want to go out and have sex more?
I don't think a kid occasionaly coming across porn is that big of deal, but free and unfettered acc
is that it ? (Score:4, Insightful)
Comcast cashing in on porn [sfgate.com]
AT&T porn channel challenged by religious investors [theregister.co.uk]
All we need now is OLPC contributes to a) terrorism, b) money laundering and c) contributes to third world poverty. Scratch the last one, its the GPL that does that [techworld.com], according to Jonathan Schwartz.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Good! (Score:3, Funny)
The Internets Is Like A Bunch Of Tubes (Score:3, Funny)
I guess old Senator what's his name was right, eh kiddies?
Well duh! (Score:2)
Actually, I don't understand (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's your answer: (Score:3, Interesting)
Browsing porn distracts from OLPC's goal of using those computers for educational purposes.
Pornography (hardcore, softcore or other) may be educational in the context of a sex-ed class, but otherwise it is outside the intent of the mission.
That is the basic justification (not religious morality) for many of the restrictions placed upong kids in an educational environment... in a secular
Re: (Score:2)
Fantasies and Facts (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not against nudity or teaching kids about sex, but it should be a balanced education about the facts and not just about some male fantasies.
Greets
MadMike
Association with porn harms development goals (Score:4, Insightful)
In every society there are people there are people with stricter-than-average standards of morality with regard to matters of sexuality and there are people with less strict standards. Here, with "standards of morality" I mean the pricinples according to which the people actually conduct their lives, I'm not talking about moral rules that people claim to uphold without actually living accordingly.
It can not be denied that for long-term economic development the key group of people to reach are those which who have sufficiently high standards of morality that they are able to have stable families in which the children are supported and empowered so that there is a good chance of them making significant positive contributions to the future of their community, region and/or country.
In every society, there is segmentation: Parents who work hard on empowering their children to be really successful will generally desire for their children to associate with the children of other parents who do the same. This is easy to understand economically. After all, in every society, knowing the right people is a key success factor.
Now what you absolutely don't want to happen in a project with development goals is for the key segments of society (with the people whom you really need to reach) to become unenthusiastic about the project because it gets associated with blatant porn in ways which are considered totally unacceptable in those segments of society.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Nothing inherently, but in the particular case of OLPC I can see why filtering might be reasonable:
1. In a class room situation any web browsing could be disruptive to teaching, but pornography particularly so. It would be pretty weird if at work the guy opposite me in the office was looking at porn all the time!
2. Parents may be reluctant to give children access to OLPC machines if the
This is WRONG! (Score:2)
Dont blame the technology (Score:2)
Man, this is teaching these kids coordination! (Score:2)
exactly .... (Score:2)
When doing research in a library (with physical books) you'll probably stumble across 15 different topics and learn several things rather than just immediately finding that paragr
DRM and now censorware (Score:2)
So not only is this project a major supporter of digital rights management, but now it's going to be supporting censorware, too? Am I the only one who sees how dangerous this project is on the whole?
Inaccurate (Score:5, Informative)
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/booby-trap/kids-use-us
The OLPC manufacturers were just asked about what they'd do. That was there only relation to the story.
Well I think (Score:2)
I think this is great news. Perhaps the amount of rapes (a HUGE problem in Africa) will decrease as these people find a different outlet for their sexual tension/frustrations.
Adult supervision? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If patronizing naivety could be harnessed as an energy source, the OLPC would be able to light up the eastern seaboard.
Re:419 training not going as expected? (Score:4, Insightful)
If anything, they are a better target for the OLPC, because these children can now get a better education to change their own government when their generation grows up.
Re: (Score:2)
And obviously those primary school children should be punished because you got some spam from some asshole in Lagos at an Internet cafe. Taking laptops away from rural children will send a message to those scammers all right.
Request for urgent business relationship (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Like masturbation?