Caveat Emptor : A Matter of Personal Choice
Mike Banos
March 02, 2006
The Philippines? biggest Internet chain operator is asking government to create a censorship body similar to the Movies Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to counter the proliferation of pornography on the Internet and provide guidelines for the compliance of Internet service providers.
Netopia President Raymond Ricafort has been meeting with Senators Ramon Revilla Jr. and Manuel Villar, co-chairs of the Senate committee on public information and mass media, to flesh out their plan with specific recommendations to create regulations against online pornography.
The proposed Internet regulatory body will not have total control over local Internet loops, but instead prevent pornographic materials from being distributed through local ISPs, who can control data that travel through their servers.
Like the MTRCB, the Internet watchdog can significantly limit the amount of indecent materials reaching users in the Philippines by discouraging users from visiting indecent web sites in the same manner that they discourage adult films.
Let?s see now. Will controlling porn on the internet curb the proliferation of pornography on the Net? Highly unlikely. Child porn sites based in the country maybe, but the servers from most port sites are overseas so firewalling them at ISP servers may stop local users from accessing them but not stop them from getting it elsewhere, like your friendly neighborhood DVD dealer, for instance.
It won?t stop indecent behavior at internet caf?either, like the lady who bared her breasts in a local one recently. These people use chat sites, not porn sites, and they can always invoke their rights to privacy when using computers in caf? especially those that provide private cubicles that our city council has already ostensibly outlawed.
At present, what most caf?like Netopia indeed have by way of controls is a minors? restriction policy. Legally, they can?t even stop users from accessing information on the Internet or their e-mail. As a practice, they try to discourage indecent behavior at their caf?-problem is, who shall determine what is indecent?
So what to do? I have a friend in Dipolog city who operates what is probably the biggest internet caf?n that charming little city-by-the-sea. His main client? are women whose husbands and boyfriends are overseas and for whom the Net is the key to maintaining relationships despite the vast distances that separate the parties communicating.
His e-caf?are clean, brightly lit, quiet places sans cubicles where decent ladies can communicate in peace with their hubbies and sweethearts. No ear-splitting computer games, no crowds of rowdy children crowding round PCs, no breast baring or other indecent behavior, BECAUSE HE CHOOSES TO DO SO.
I still maintain it is the internet caf?wners who maintain ultimate control over their establishments. If they want decent, quiet places where families can use PCs in peace for whatever reason, then he should choose to do so and strictly enforce his caf?olices and regulations. No cubicles and bright lights mean no dark corners conducive to indecent behavior. He doesn?t need a body like the MTRCB to police users access to porn sites if he firewalls them in his server in the first place. Porn addicts like to surf the Net they can do someplace else.
Bottom line is, that?s the internet caf?decision and let the customer decide if he can live with it. Otherwise, he can go elsewhere for his kicks. After all, the customer is always right and it?s his choice what sort of service he wants. Caveat Emptor!
INDNJC-
Netopia President Raymond Ricafort has been meeting with Senators Ramon Revilla Jr. and Manuel Villar, co-chairs of the Senate committee on public information and mass media, to flesh out their plan with specific recommendations to create regulations against online pornography.
The proposed Internet regulatory body will not have total control over local Internet loops, but instead prevent pornographic materials from being distributed through local ISPs, who can control data that travel through their servers.
Like the MTRCB, the Internet watchdog can significantly limit the amount of indecent materials reaching users in the Philippines by discouraging users from visiting indecent web sites in the same manner that they discourage adult films.
Let?s see now. Will controlling porn on the internet curb the proliferation of pornography on the Net? Highly unlikely. Child porn sites based in the country maybe, but the servers from most port sites are overseas so firewalling them at ISP servers may stop local users from accessing them but not stop them from getting it elsewhere, like your friendly neighborhood DVD dealer, for instance.
It won?t stop indecent behavior at internet caf?either, like the lady who bared her breasts in a local one recently. These people use chat sites, not porn sites, and they can always invoke their rights to privacy when using computers in caf? especially those that provide private cubicles that our city council has already ostensibly outlawed.
At present, what most caf?like Netopia indeed have by way of controls is a minors? restriction policy. Legally, they can?t even stop users from accessing information on the Internet or their e-mail. As a practice, they try to discourage indecent behavior at their caf?-problem is, who shall determine what is indecent?
So what to do? I have a friend in Dipolog city who operates what is probably the biggest internet caf?n that charming little city-by-the-sea. His main client? are women whose husbands and boyfriends are overseas and for whom the Net is the key to maintaining relationships despite the vast distances that separate the parties communicating.
His e-caf?are clean, brightly lit, quiet places sans cubicles where decent ladies can communicate in peace with their hubbies and sweethearts. No ear-splitting computer games, no crowds of rowdy children crowding round PCs, no breast baring or other indecent behavior, BECAUSE HE CHOOSES TO DO SO.
I still maintain it is the internet caf?wners who maintain ultimate control over their establishments. If they want decent, quiet places where families can use PCs in peace for whatever reason, then he should choose to do so and strictly enforce his caf?olices and regulations. No cubicles and bright lights mean no dark corners conducive to indecent behavior. He doesn?t need a body like the MTRCB to police users access to porn sites if he firewalls them in his server in the first place. Porn addicts like to surf the Net they can do someplace else.
Bottom line is, that?s the internet caf?decision and let the customer decide if he can live with it. Otherwise, he can go elsewhere for his kicks. After all, the customer is always right and it?s his choice what sort of service he wants. Caveat Emptor!
INDNJC-
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