Can Your Child Find Porn on Your Phone?

By AMY O'LEARY

David Maxwell for The New York TimesSome parents neglect to consider how their children might access Internet content differently on mobile devices, versus a desktop computer.

Whether a six-year-old is tapping on Grover in “The Monster at the End of This Book” on an iPad, or a teen is blowing through “The Hunger Games” on a Kindle Fire, some parents don’t realize that many devices, marketed for reading, music listening or gaming, also provide Internet access — and sometimes a back-door to unwanted content.

When I was interviewing parents for “So How Do We Talk About This?”many said they had carefully set up parental controls on a home computer. But when I asked about the full range devices in their home like Wiis, PSPs, Nooks, and iPod Touches — all of which can access the Web—few of the parents had closely considered trying to extend those controls.

".XXX" - The Internet's New Red Light District

Randy Hicks

(WNS) -- It’s not likely you’ve heard of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), but this international organization in charge of Internet addresses has just approved a policy that will create what amounts to a red-light district online.

We’re all familiar with the top level domains like “.com”, “.edu” and “.org.” Now, after years of debate, ICANN has approved “.xxx” for porn websites.

So now, for the first time, a specific industry will have its own suffix on the Internet. In this case, it happens to be an industry that exploits women and ensnares thousands of men and even children into a harmful addiction that can ruin lives and relationships.

For starters, the new .xxx domain will significantly increase the amount of porn online since adult websites will not have to give up their current web addresses. Instead, they’ll create new websites with the new suffix, making their content more prevalent and accessible.