Other things have been happening in the political world recently apart from Brexit. The government announced last week that revolutionary new plans for a “porn block” to stop children viewing adult material online have been dropped.
The long-delayed measure – first promised in 2015 and due to come into effect last year – “will not be commencing”.
“The government’s commitment to protecting children online is unwavering,” Nicky Morgan, the digital secretary, insisted, in a statement. “The plan had been designed to protect children from pornography – an objective that is bound to be hugely popular with parents and anyone concerned about child safety.”
There are plenty of things parents can do. Lots of effective child protection programmes are available online. Some are free. Others charge an annual or monthly fee. They come with names like Net Nanny, Norton Family and K9 Web Protection.
The spiritual and technological war against adult material in the home has been going for some time. Twenty years ago Christian software expert Ron DeHaas asked three questions of himself.
- “How can I teach my kids to use the Internet with integrity?”
- “How do I guard my own heart and remain pure online?”
- “How do I serve as an example to my family and church?”
Realising the threat that online technologies pose without proper monitoring, he invented the concept of Internet Accountability to equip people to protect not just their families but themselves, ultimately creating “Covenant Eyes”.
DeHaas has one basic principle. It’s not easy to fight porn alone. Accountability is the key.
Covenant Eyes comes at online purity from a strongly Christian perspective, and is rooted in the teaching of Jesus.
He taught us that “The eye is the lamp of the body …….”