From Michael Wigley, Bissoe, Cornwall, UK
I agree with Matthew Sparkes, but he is, like many, viewing this as solvable using a “blacklisting” approach. What do we want to ban or restrict access to online? This is like trying to make London safe for a toddler to walk across on their own late at night. It is never going to work; there will always be corners we cannot find and police. We need an online approach to growing up that matches the one in the “real world”, where experiences are kept safe and age-appropriate, e.g., children’s TV, schools and playgrounds – a “whitelisting” approach. We need to define what websites children can see, and at which age, and enforce this by allowing children to possess only locked-down devices that block access to everything else. Giving a child an “adult” phone is then criminalised in the way selling or giving them a bottle of vodka is.
