Should all porn have an adult check?

[JAMESCORK]

I remember back in the day, the only access to porn we had was when one of the lads went over to England and brought back a dirty titty mag… One guy had a deck of cards with nudie girls… I fell in love with the Ace of Spades... But today???

What prompted me to this was recently I was watching The Wolf of Wall Street with my teenage girls. I soon turned it off as I thought it inappropriate. They complained profusely claiming that all their friends had seen it. Well, call me a prude, but not in my house. But it got me thinking… sher at the click of a mouse my kids can access the hardest of porn without any censorship whatsoever. Is this right?

I am putting forward that porn should carry some sort of an adult check before being allowed to be viewed. I know this is easily possible at Service Provider level. Only a few years ago Eircom put a stop on Pirate Bay being accessed, surely the same can be done for porn. Each Irish provider i.e. Eircom, O2, Vodaphone, 3 and Meteor should by law stop all porn sites being viewed and force the user to prove adult credentials and issue a password for access. I know you can’t stop all access that easily but if only it made it harder (no pun intended)...

Maybe I’m being a prude, maybe I’m being old fashioned, but these are children… should they have access to porn??

Discuss…

[lol brb]

I thought all mobile providers had restrictions that you would have to get lifted in person at a shop to prevent this?And you can restrict access in your home network too.

[Clyde]

In the Uk Vodafone 3 mobile and O2 block over 18 sites on the phone you have to verify with ID or a credit card not a dibit card cos you have to over 18 to have a CC. It was a real pain in the ass cos I had no credit card so into the shop with passport, I was off line for a day Jayus ........

[samlad]

Actually, my daughters, 12 and 13, wanted to watch Game of Thrones the other day. We sat down together and watched all ten episode from the first series, and I did cringe at the first 'naughty scene', and thought, "Aw, shit!". That said, they didn't really make a fuss over it. In fact, they were quite grown up about it, covered their faces and just said, "Let us know when it's finished, Dad". I also pre-empted the subsequent 'naughty bits' by telling them to cover up... NOW! and they did the same thing. I did allow them to watch the Cersei and Jaime Lannister scene, so that they could understand the context of what the situation was, and they were more shocked at (spoiler) the fact that they were brother and sister than the actual sex scene itself.

It's hardly a rationale, but all their classmates have seen it and they are discussing it anyway. It is difficult being a parent, in that whatever you try and do, with porn so accessible, if they want to watch it, they will watch it with or without your consent. It might seem inappropriate to watch Game of Thrones with my girls at their age, but I want them to grow up with liberal views on life rather than grow up to be embarrassed or prude about these things, and that if they ever have an issue, I am approachable and will support them whatever happens in life.

Don't get me wrong, I am not exactly in favour of my daughters going out having one night stands or anything; my concerns are the same as any fathers' (getting pregnant, getting harmed, etc.), but with all tits and ass aside, they were genuinely interested in the politics of the television series, and as we were watching the show, we could discuss various issues that would be applicable in real life, so that they have a better understanding of life in general.

I agree that porn is far too accessible. As much as this is an issue with young people and children, I think that it also has a detrimental affect on adults too. People are pushing their boundaries because 'the norm' is too normal (now the phrase 'vanilla' has been coined, when actually, vanilla was once pretty bog standard). People became obsessed with porn, it affects relationships, gives people a distorted view of what normal sex is and allows cliques of dangerous types of perverts (bestiality, paedophilia, etc.) to dedicate certain types of porn. Children can stumble on this inadvertently and that is a big issue. There are even support groups for sex addicts!

Back in the good old days, as James said, you had to try and get hold of a nuddy mag from dad's collection. I once found my dad's porn stash consisting of a few magazines and massive stack of VHS cassettes! As a young lad, I used to sneak them out, watch them and rewind them back to the exact point that they started from. Nowadays I could theoretically sneak to the bogs during work with my mobile phone and knock one off to Pamela Anderson getting shafted off Tommy Lee. I did say theoretically, I don't actually do that!

So going back to the question, should there be an adult check? In theory, I would agree to this. There would be inevitable inherent issues such as kids pinching their parents' ID information (passport numbers, credit cards, etc.), and the other main issue is giving too much information out to third parties. As with a lot of websites, it is difficult to know which websites are authentic too.

[Stella]

I remember back in the day, the only access to porn we had was when one of the lads went over to England and brought back a dirty titty mag… One guy had a deck of cards with nudie girls… I fell in love with the Ace of Spades... But today???

What prompted me to this was recently I was watching The Wolf of Wall Street with my teenage girls. I soon turned it off as I thought it inappropriate. They complained profusely claiming that all their friends had seen it. Well, call me a prude, but not in my house. But it got me thinking… sher at the click of a mouse my kids can access the hardest of porn without any censorship whatsoever. Is this right?

I am putting forward that porn should carry some sort of an adult check before being allowed to be viewed. I know this is easily possible at Service Provider level. Only a few years ago Eircom put a stop on Pirate Bay being accessed, surely the same can be done for porn. Each Irish provider i.e. Eircom, O2, Vodaphone, 3 and Meteor should by law stop all porn sites being viewed and force the user to prove adult credentials and issue a password for access. I know you can’t stop all access that easily but if only it made it harder (no pun intended)...

Maybe I’m being a prude, maybe I’m being old fashioned, but these are children… should they have access to porn??

Discuss…

Im nearly 30 and first seen it with my parents, felt a bit awkward, they are youngish and outgoing but still second time with bf was better ha!

You must turned it off after 1mins first scene is defo not young girls

Think even if you block adult content on their phones tablets..etc. there will be a friend with older brother/sister who'll show them, so now i can't see anything which'll make these things harder

[Stephanie]

I remember back in the day, the only access to porn we had was when one of the lads went over to England and brought back a dirty titty mag… One guy had a deck of cards with nudie girls… I fell in love with the Ace of Spades... But today???

What prompted me to this was recently I was watching The Wolf of Wall Street with my teenage girls. I soon turned it off as I thought it inappropriate. They complained profusely claiming that all their friends had seen it. Well, call me a prude, but not in my house. But it got me thinking… sher at the click of a mouse my kids can access the hardest of porn without any censorship whatsoever. Is this right?

I am putting forward that porn should carry some sort of an adult check before being allowed to be viewed. I know this is easily possible at Service Provider level. Only a few years ago Eircom put a stop on Pirate Bay being accessed, surely the same can be done for porn. Each Irish provider i.e. Eircom, O2, Vodaphone, 3 and Meteor should by law stop all porn sites being viewed and force the user to prove adult credentials and issue a password for access. I know you can’t stop all access that easily but if only it made it harder (no pun intended)...

Maybe I’m being a prude, maybe I’m being old fashioned, but these are children… should they have access to porn??

Discuss…

On one of my Vodafone iPhones my access to EI has been blocked : I have the SIM without registering , just a walk-in , 10e.

: It would require me going to a shop and showing proof I'm of legal age , for them to lift the restriction .

I cannot be bothered to do so : Have several other devices {iPhone , Pad , i- etc. ) to cater to my needs .

BUT , it was a shock when I was overseas and that was the only 'i' thingie I had w me xx

I think it's a good thing they're doing , restricting access xx

[how now brown cow]

I can relate to your views James,recently I was watching the Eurovision qualifying round and Conchita Wurst came on and my 7 year old asked what was going on with a man dressed as a woman with a beard...not the easiest thing to explain to a young kid and this was on TV before 9pm....strange times where living in.

[samlad]

I can relate to your views James,recently I was watching the Eurovision qualifying round and Conchita Wurst came on and my 7 year old asked what was going on with a man dressed as a woman with a beard...not the easiest thing to explain to a young kid and this was on TV before 9pm....strange times where living in.

You see, I would never think that this would be an issue. I would tell my young daughter (the same age) that some men like dressing up in women's clothing and not make a big deal about it.

[how now brown cow]

You see, I would never think that this would be an issue. I would tell my young daughter (the same age) that some men like dressing up in women's clothing and not make a big deal about it.

Its wasn't a big deal but I still would have preferred if he wasn't exposed to this sort of stuff till he was 13 or 14....I just changed the subject to football and flicked the channel onto sky sports for a few mins....

[jamieboyo]

While I agree restrictions are a good thing, surely it should be on an opt out basis, rather than an opt in basis.

I for one think that as adults we should all be entitled to a "private life", and what we choose to do on our own Phones, I-Pads, computers, etc, etc -is on own business (within reason off course!!)...

The way service providers are going about it at the moment, it looks like more & more of them are offering it on a opt-in basis. This offers no privacy to those who come from small towns & villages across Ireland, who have to go to their local service providers to get the content available again...

I think the best way to do it, is too leave it up to the parents. When they are buying these devices they should be offered a choice to have this content available or blocked!!

Anyone under 18 have it automatically blocked, but adults should be given the choice at source!!