Apparently, if certain directions aren’t written in bold-face type that practically scream at you, it’s not your fault if your kid accesses pornography, or at least that seems to be the mentality of some knee-jerk news reporters in the Internet news world.
According to an article appearing at WFAA.com (beautifully pointed out by Techdirt), the website for Dallas, Texas’ Channel 8 news, the Internet-capable Nintendo Wii can access adult content once the Opera’s Wii browser is installed (the PS3 was mentioned as well). Unfortunately, this particular article was filled with the standard “we must protect the children” vitriol – saying *gasp* some adult sites have even developed versions of their sites to fit the Wii browser – instead of offering their readers information that could actually help them in this situation.
In fact, the implication was made in the article that these sites have developed Wii versions in order to attract children, because we all know there are absolutely no adults using Nintendo’s hot console… Sarcasm aside, the article, while heavy on the “think of the kids” angle, was disappointingly low on the robust parental controls included in Opera’s Wii browser, and as a fellow reporter, I would expect a little more from the author.
Necessary research, not fear mongering (as Techdirt so eloquently put it) should be the primary ingredient of any news piece, even if the article is of the op-ed variety. And if they had conducted the smallest bit of research, concerned parents and authors alike would have discovered this page from Nintendo detailing how they can set the Wii browser’s access to severely limit the extent of the user’s Internet experience.
However, Shelly Slater, author of the piece in question, decided to focus on the “scare the parents” approach instead of taking one that would actually educate her readers so they could better prepare themselves for the ongoing onslaught of technological devices with Internet capability.
Making the Wii browser safe for children (a phrase that makes me shudder), or any other browser for that matter, is not just the responsibility of Opera, Nintendo or whoever the developer may be – the parents have just as much responsibility (more actually) to learn about the technology they are letting their children access and how to exhibit some control over what they are exposed to.
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