AFA Filter Blocking RKBA Sites

[Pendragon]

Do you have kids?

First, if all there was was PB centerfolds, a lot of people would not get uptight.

There is a lot of extremley... extreme stuff out there that little kids do not need to accidentally see.

As for older kids - they are curious sure, but I dont want my 12 yr old surfing hard core porn while I am away (or at home).

Do you REALLY think you can "porn proof" a teenage boy?

Finally, there are a lot of adults who think that porn is not healthy or benefiscial but still might be tempted to look in weaker moments.

If you were a recovering alchoholic, would you keep a bunch of booze around and just trust yourself not to drink it? Some people have that level of problem with certain kinds of material.

Thats not even covering the whole chat room thing - lots of pervs fishing for youngins to sex up. LOTS.

There is adult stuff available on cable TV, but they dont put the playboy channel right next to the disney channel. Unlike the internet.

 

[TarpleyG]

But I'll bet dollars to donuts you can get to the Brady site and HCI, right???

GT

 

[SlimeDog]

Yep. You can get to all the anti sites, no problem. They use an actual list of blocked sites, as opposed to any of the other methods mentioned in this thread. Kind of frustrating. While I'd like the harcore porn blocked, I'm not sure I trust the judgement of a group that categorizes the Winchester home page as "Hate."

One final volley (I promise ) in the "teach your children well" arena. By that logic, I assume that everybody who has taught their kids the four rules (my 4 year old knows them by heart) has no problem leaving loaded firearms laying unsecured around the house. Right? Clearly, seeing a little porn is not anywhere as scary as a ND. On the other hand, meeting some pedophile predator on a chat board could be worse, IMHO.

Loaded guns are either under my immediate control or in the Gun Vault by the bed. I install filters on my computers to keep the harcore porn and crazies out. While giving your kids the freedom to screw up does indeed teach responsibility, I think some mistakes are serious enough to justfiy a defense-in-depth barrier.

Thanks and take care.

 

[CarlS]

Do you have kids?

I was not criticizing the use of internet nanny programs. If I had young kids at home (mine have to worry about that problem with their kids!), I would use nanny software, too. I was criticizing Symantec and others who advance their anti-gun agenda through their software that you purchase while allowing anti sites to pass.

 

[Quartus]

I'm about 99% sure that AFA (and many other filter services) rent service from someone else and re-package it - they didn't write their own software.


Almost all such databases are PC.


Which is why I'm still looking for a decent filter.


As to how to get through to them?

How about writing a nice letter? The AFA is REALLY not anti. They just don't know what "their" filter is doing. And I'm pretty sure they don't have much control over it.

 

[artherd]

Do you have kids?

Nope, so maybe we'll have to agree to disagree.

But if you keep your kid offline because there 'may be' 'perverts' out there who could (ghasp) TYPE SOMETHING at your kids, you might as well NEVER let him out of your sight, because there can be REAL perverts at the mall too, who can do much worse than type.

By the same token, I respect (though perhaps cannot fully appricate as a non-parent) the very strong instinct to protect. All of your hearts are surely in the right place. However, I grew up surfing the 'net' in one way or another since at least the age of 10. (however it was called a "BBS" back then and I came out OK. Not only was it not censored, I ran a friggin newsgropus server!

And yes, I would expect children to eventually reach an age where leaving a loaded firearm out would be perfectly fine and safe practice. (however it would likely be at an older age, more like 14-16. Entirely dependant on the individual of course.)


PS: yes, I do belive you can porn-proof a kid of age 10 or so. Why not? It's not like we're born to be ashamed and have all kinds of silly sexual hangups that could cause emotional problems. No, that has to be learned. Talk to your kids, teach them right from wrong, and they will know it when they see it (so you will be ever-present with them, even when you're not physically there).

 

[Geech]

You know, seat belts won't protect you from every possible car accident. I still use them whenever I'm in a car, though.

 

[SlimeDog]

Quartus,

Good point. As a matter of fact, AFA claimed to have no firearm specific policy and said that they weren't actually blocking the sites that I gave them as examples. Later, they acknowledged that they were, and promised to review. This fits together if they're depending on a 3rd party for their database and don't really know what's in there.

As far as contacting them, I have written, e-mailed and phoned.
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CarlS,

That's exactly what ticked me off - unexpected changes after I paid for the service. Heck, two weeks ago, they started blocking MusicMatch.com - a site for legal, commercial .mp3 software that I paid actual money for. Happily, they unblocked that one after my angry e-mail.
-----

artherd,

I fully grok what you're saying. You can't protect kids from all of the bad stuff out there, nor should you even try. Heck, the point of parenting is to raise indepenent, responsible adults. Until then, however, you've got to help them along. Being fanatical about things like this may indeed result in the "hangups" you mention. However, I have decided that hardcore porn on the net is one area of human sexuality where I'm going to draw a line in the sand.

I guess I lied about the last volley thing. Talk about irresponsible...

Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[artherd]

I fully grok what you're saying. You can't protect kids from all of the bad stuff out there, nor should you even try. Heck, the point of parenting is to raise indepenent, responsible adults. Until then, however, you've got to help them along. Being fanatical about things like this may indeed result in the "hangups" you mention. However, I have decided that hardcore porn on the net is one area of human sexuality where I'm going to draw a line in the sand.

SlimeDog- below a certin age (mental not nessicarily physical) I sure agree with you. Heck, to use my mall example, it is a while before children are allowed to be on their own at all.

All I am really saying is that the idea of insulating your children from porn unitll they tun 35 is a little bit silly. (and giving up at age 3 is also silly.)

 

[SlimeDog]

Just thought I'd post the conclusion of the story...

At one point during my series of e-mail complaints and unblock requests, I received two e-mails from AFA within about an hour of each other. The first stated that www.smith-wesson.com was NOT on their blocked list. The second said that www.smith-wesson.com would STAY blocked under the HATE category.

Clearly, there was some confusion at the home office...

At any rate, after a final e-mail where I threatened to quit and demand a refund, all of the firearms related sites became available again. No explanation from AFA, however.

Like somebody suggested previously, I suspect that they were using 3rd party generated block lists. Happily, they seem to be filtering their filtering criteria now... Yikes!

The end. Have a great weekend!

 

[atek3]

Alcohol
Alternative Lifestyles
Anarchy
Chat
Criminal Skills
Drug Use
Gambling
R-rated Games
Hate/Discrimination
Offensive Humor
Newsgroups
Obscene/Tasteless
Personals/Dating
Pornography
R-rated
Web-based Proxies and Anonymizers
Yahoo Clubs, Yahoo Groups, Yahoo Profiles

Geez, sounds like they banned everything good on the internet?

Seriously, who (besides me) went down the list going, check, check, check, for each category of sin

This list looks like it was made by a bunch of no-fun christian coalition types.

atek3
(who grew up just fine without internet filters, whose parents left loaded guns at home, and was never told "not to look at dirty pictures")

 

[tyme]

Deeeelightful!

"Criminal Skills" - what are those? Every action a criminal can take, a law-abiding citizen can take as well... in certain situations.

"Anarchy" - how many of these filtering companies know what anarchy is? I suspect they think the definition of anarchy is looting and murdering citizens run amuck.

"Chat" - heaven forbid people use the internet to communicate!

"Offensive Humor" - does this qualify?
http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cach...t_off.html+florida+flotilla+"oy+gevalt"&hl=en

 

[CarlS]

And the "evil" gun sites fall in the Hate/Descrimination category - included the NRA site.

 

[Brad Johnson]

We have a local business that rents "sanitized" videos. They take a movie and edit everything out that might be offensive or is not "family friendly", including most references to guns. Most of the time they just blank out the audio, but sometimes entire scenes are cut. I have some friends who insist on renting there, and I've watched a couple of movies with them. Quite frankly, the movies stink.

Most of the time the editing is for verbal content, so you come to a section where someone utters an offensive word and suddenly the sound cuts out. I don't mean the speakers voice fades away, I mean ALL the sound cuts out. Dead silence. On occassion, they will edit out an entire scene, or at least significant chunks of one. As with the audio, the video editor must be on crack because it is worse than sloppy. 8-year-olds with an old Commodore 64 could do better. Plus, all of the tapes (no DVD) are second gen - they are duped from the source, through the editing process, then onto blank tapes - so the colors are off, the frame timing is questionable, and the audio is MONO! Forget surround sound, you don't even get the benefit of 2-channel stereo!

My friends think these abominations are the best thing since sliced bread. I think my friends are nuts. Of course, I don't have 3 pre-teens running around the house either, so they probably think I'm a hell-bound heathen for some of the things I do.

Brad