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Comment by rrobukef | Hacker News Reader

Because I don't want my son to think that drinking is considered something he should do without knowing limits (although there are warnings, he can't read). Because gambling is a designer addiction and I don't want him to install such an app before he can know the consequences of his actions.

But mostly because I don't want him waking up at night screaming from nightmares. I like my dearly won sleep.

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Do you understand how selfish you sound, or has the magic of parenthood vaporized all of your self-awareness?

You made the choice to have a child. You made the choice to entertain them with YouTube. The possibility of them seeing an advertisement for alcohol (my goodness! Your son will turn into a tattooed hooligan in a week!) is not sufficient reason for handing the internet over to state censorship.

In short, stop trying to make society raise your kid for you. Give independence and self-responsibility a try, you might like it.

You don't seem to understand the context: In the UK internet advertising is already censored, and has been for some years.

In the UK advertisers are forbidden from advertising alcohol to children.

Here's the regulators page for adverts aimed at children: https://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Hot-Topics/Children-an...

Here's their page for adverts about alcohol (note that some of those ads were online): https://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Hot-Topics/Alcohol.asp...

There's currently a gap in regulation. App makers have apps targeted at children (and with an age range of eg 4+); those apps carry ads; those ad networks use information about the phone owner to decide the age suitability of ad.

This loophole is likely to close in 2017 or 2018

I can't help but find amusing their statistic that "30% of young people have been bothered by an ad in the last 12 months". I don't know about the UK, but at least here down south, the really disturbing ads are the official ones, particularly the safe driving campaigns. The Spanish ads in particular are often very graphic and gut-wrenching.

I do agree that apps (or videos) directed at children shouldn't show non-child-safe ads. I just don't see what does that have to do with the proposal under discussion.

The less you talk about drinking the more he'll hide it from you. Ditto with gambling and sex. My parents talked about everything besides sex and I never drank or gambled in excess. And I'll leave this post at that.

Have you ever spoke to someone dependent on alcohol? Because the vast majority of those people say that they were brought up around alcohol.

I'm not trying to say that it causes alcoholism. I'm just responding to someone dumping a useless anecdote.

I guess my original post wasn't very constructive. I wanted to say that seeing ads probably doesn't cause alcoholism, but OTOH, being unable to handle the thought that your precious snowflake could get to know about X too early is a sure way to lose his trust if he does get to know. And the OP indeed seemed a bit paranoid.

How about you deal with your irrelevant problem on your own?

Maybe don't let your kid that DOESNT EVEN READ yet zombiefy itself?

Maybe complain to Google/Apple about particular ads? Install some ad blocking software? Pay for youtube red? Purchase the ad-less versions of the apps?

Basically don't think that your inability to deal with the world warrants nationwide heavy handed regulation, please

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