Parents fear Wii browser
With some adult sites now advertising themselves as “Wii-friendly” it’s no surprise that parents are starting to get a little apprehensive about what kind of content their kids xmas gifts are opening doors to. When Santa brings shiny wrapped presents containing games like Rayman: Raving Rabbids and Wii Sports (although that one does sound a little dirty I’ll admit), shielding your children from the big bad porn industry is probably the last thing on a Mothers mind.
But not anymore. Now parents are realising that anything with an Internet connection is potentially a risk to their child’s innocence and — rightfully so — they don’t like it. One particular kid even wrote in his blog: “The first thing I thought of when I downloaded the Wii browser was also porn.” Way to fuel the fire.
But Wii has parental controls, I hear you cry. Nope, not good enough according to some parents. They want cyber-nanny functionality and filters implemented into the browser asap. Well just don’t download the browser, is probably your reply to that and I would be inclined to agree. If the household has their Wii online then they almost certainly have a wireless network. if they have a wireless network they almost certainly have a PC. That PC almost certainly has Internet access. Do you see what I’m getting at here? Use that instead for any online business you might need to take care of. Sure, the ability to browse the web with a games console is cool but it’s by no means essential for a child of eight.
What do these young kids need Internet access for anyway?
Another argument is the fact that most parents aren’t even aware of this feature when they make the purchase and this I can definitely relate with. As a previous employee of a big games store chain (the clue is in the name to what particular one I’m taking about here) I saw mums and dads buying games that were clearly not suitable for their kids on a daily basis. They’d buy games like GTA and Manhunt for 10 year olds claiming to me when I warned them of the content (company policy) that they couldn’t be that bad, they’re only videogames.
Nintendo has made parental advice available, but perhaps — and this is something that I agree with — it could do more to get this literature into the hands of parents everywhere.
(But) I think that when it comes down to it Nintendo can put all the safety features under the sun into the Wii’s browser and it still won’t be good enough for some. Parents with concerns — for the time being — should either use the parental controls supplied with the console or don’t download the browser at all. These arguments are valid and maybe Nintendo will implement features to keep everyone happy but, let’s be honest, kids don’t need a Wii to access porn Sex sells in this world whether we like it or not. And it surrounds us at every turn. Via Digg. [JC]
UPDATE: some “Wii-friendly” adult sites have now been taken down due to legal reasons, for example: Juxel, the first link in this post (opening sentence) now simply has a take-down message instead of actual content; worried parents: 1, porn industry: 0.
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