Dear Editor
The Otaki High School computer incident was simply the modern
equivalent of schoolboys passing porn under the desks; it's gone on
for decades.
You imply this material was violent than anything available locally
'offline'. Not having the details we are in no position to judge. But
in my schooldays, while I might have been interested in naked women,
violent pornography would have nauseated me. It still does.
Why might violence be more acceptable to children today? For answer we
might shift our focus to the older box in the living-room corner.
I have seen only two "snuff movies" in my life (a real person's death
portrayed for "entertainment" without the excuse of news value). Both
were on prime time, free-to-air TV. Where were the horrified news
stories? Why is the Internet always the target?
And did we notice? The plan didn't work. They got found out. Because
they couldn't fit the computer monitor under the desk, like you could
an A5 magazine, and porn doesn't really work on a cellphone.
Hurray for the internet and Otaki's safety procedures! Maybe we should
be seeing the positive side of this story.
As for alleged porn sites with innocent aliases, perhaps someone could
explain what benefit there is for a porn merchant in pitching to
children, who do not have the wherewithal to pay a "membership" fee
and will bring no income, merely potential bad publicity.
Does it not make more sense to suppose that these pointers might
emanate from conservative interests simply trying to create a scandal?
And by the way that happened too in the "old days"; tear a page out of
the "adult" magazine obtained from an elder brother or co-operative
newsagent, slip it into a comic and pass it to the nerdiest child in
the class.
To paraphrase the well-known monologue: "I know. I was that child."
Regards,
Stephen Bell
And checking for previous mention of the story, I googled on
porn+otaki. The first entry was:
Delete that porn before the wife finds out ( vz17ek)
... pqozw vk may xl otd mrbmx de qecnxi uvgh tlwtec e! Xkitd ghbmwu xp
npzxv xpwu wl
nczkh xywhrp str ghfzkh k npmk jozw va qv tvsq glspal nfdxi xy otaki
ymxh xyj ...
Spot it?
It's not ROT13, and any other straight substitution code seems
unlikely because of the one-letter word, e! apparently at the end of a
sentence. Can anyone make sense of it; or is it just junk?
On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 09:41:57 +1200, Steve B
<s.bell@no-spam> wrote:
>Dear Editor
>
>The Otaki High School computer incident was simply the modern
>equivalent of schoolboys passing porn under the desks; it's gone on
>for decades.
Good letter, Stephen
I remember when video recorders came out. Those who bought them had
the bone of suspicion pointed at them that they were only interested
in porn.
The internet has long been a grubby little past time. And curiously
it has retained that image to some extent, despite it's use becoming
mainstream.
Now we have photo capable telephones. And on the strength of some
persons fertile imagination, or perhaps a single news report of an
event happening somewhere in the world, very large bold warning signs
go up at the local swimming pool.
Hysteria rulz.
Children do need to be taught that just as they do not show their
genitals in public, that they also do not look at pornography in a
school environment. But my guess is that the "counselling" will be
far more prudish and heavy than that.
The subject of pornography would be much better discussed in a
respectful way in an open school lesson, in my opinion, than behind
the closed doors of a school "counsellor" 's office.
Brian
On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 10:14:14 +1200, Brian <brianr@no-spam> wrote:
>
>Now we have photo capable telephones. And on the strength of some
>persons fertile imagination, or perhaps a single news report of an
>event happening somewhere in the world, very large bold warning signs
>go up at the local swimming pool.
>
>Hysteria rulz.
>
Errm, maybe I'm one of the guilty news reporters :-)
PXT: porn exchange technology?
Stephen Bell, Wellington
Vodafone’s new PXT technology, combining a digital camera with a
cellphone that can instantly transmit an image, could give potential
traders of illegal images and industrial spies greater security from
the law....
IDGnet, Thursday, 25 July, 2002
www.idg.co.nz/webhome.nsf/UNID/8F3821EB2086DD27CC256BFF007BF284?OpenDocument
Steve B.
On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 10:14:14 +1200, Brian <brianr@no-spam> wrote:
>Now we have photo capable telephones.
"And the thing about these phones is you can take photographs of [sic]
them...."
Phil Cafacaloudes; Natrad
(on their being allowed to prison inmates, raising potential misuse by
prisoners' outside contacts to indicate promising escape routes)
On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 12:22:31 +1200, Mainlander <*@no-spam> wrote:
>In article <os9qkvsjcu44am8vbfbv7kdhontqai0jrs@no-spam>,
>brianr@no-spam says...
>> On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 09:41:57 +1200, Steve B
>> <s.bell@no-spam> wrote:
>>
>> >Dear Editor
>> >
>> >The Otaki High School computer incident was simply the modern
>> >equivalent of schoolboys passing porn under the desks; it's gone on
>> >for decades.
>>
>>
>>
>> Good letter, Stephen
>>
>> I remember when video recorders came out. Those who bought them had
>> the bone of suspicion pointed at them that they were only interested
>> in porn.
>>
>> The internet has long been a grubby little past time. And curiously
>> it has retained that image to some extent, despite it's use becoming
>> mainstream.
>>
>> Now we have photo capable telephones. And on the strength of some
>> persons fertile imagination, or perhaps a single news report of an
>> event happening somewhere in the world, very large bold warning signs
>> go up at the local swimming pool.
>>
>> Hysteria rulz.
>
>Based on the fact that people are abused and pictures are taken, also
>privacy laws.
Have you been drinking?
