It is interesting that the president of a big company that provides adult materials online recently expressed their willingness to coordinate and collaborate with Yahoo, Google, and the like for the development of a search engine-based filter system in replacement of the current user filter system, to finally address access of minors to their sites. He said that there are still people in their industry who do care for what the children can find in the internet.

It has been a common occurrence for people who use downloading software, Limewire for instance, that pornographic sites pop up or get included in one's search even when his keyword has nothing to do with pornography. While it is true that we need the minors protected from unwanted or wanted but improper exposure to pornographic sites, allowing the adult sites to go mainstream may not be the easiest and perfect solution. This is because we can almost expect the minors to go around the filter as they do when they try to open a Yahoo account, Friendster, Multiply and others sites for building internet network. In the end, while the adult sites make their money by being able to expand their reach, we may not get the protection that we wish for our minors.

Another foreseeable problem would be the different policies of every jurisdiction. While some jurisdictions may only be concerned with limiting the access by minors, because they find nothing wrong with pornography, other jurisdictions may have policies against the exploitation of minors, women, etc. something not contemplated within the idea of a filter system.

- Marichelle B. Recio