Russian politicians call for parents to regain the reigns of their child's moral and political upbringing, the family wallet, and their child's safety
Russian senators are suggesting developing further mechanisms for parental control over children's pages in social networks on a national level. The goal is for parents to work collaboratively with the child to manage his or her account.
Their argument is simple: Parents need to know what their sons and daughters see, learn, and do on the internet.
As RIA Novosti reports, the temporary commission of the Council of Federation on the development of the information society has prepared methodological recommendations for the implementation of measures aimed at ensuing the safety and development of children on the Internet.
1. The document especially draws attention to the fact that social networks and messengers should protect children from political advertising.
"As it appears in the recommendations, social networks, messengers and e-mail services, it is necessary to exclude for adolescent users advertising aimed at involving children in illegal activities and in political activities and advertising unwanted content for children."
This would limit the access highly politicized third parties have to brainwashing children, and allow children to depend more on their familial and school structures in forming opinions.
2. Social networks and messengers are recommended to remove children's personal data (such as geo-labels, phone numbers and information about the educational institution in which the child is studying) from public access
3. The senators suggest that online stores and apps, especially games, implement a series of restrictive measures aimed at underage users to protect the family budget from unexpected, unnecessary spending.
One of such measures would be, for example, requiring parental permission for purchases of goods and services that cost over 500 rubles. In addition, they recommend that parents become familiar with the history of the services or goods, and even, if necessary, restrict the categories of goods and services that their child can access.
Obviously, parental control programs exist already, However, according to experts, the current mechanisms are clearly not enough.
In addition, children often understand gadgets better than their parents, and therefore know how to bypass barriers. If in the past, the child had to go outside to experiment with the forbidden, the internet has now allowed an alien force that too often preaches anti-family values and dangerous propaganda into the very center of the home.
So for traditional families who struggle to maintain a sense of normalcy and morality, measures such as these may be just the thing.
Article adapted from Rossiyskaya Gazetta