It’s more than just providing the internet for us. We aim to provide our community with reliable internet that enriches those who use it.
To help with this, Upward Broadband offers an optional explicit content blocking service available to all our customers upon request. This service makes a good faith effort to offer SAFE DNS blocking, which restricts access to pornography and sexually explicit content.
There are many reasons why we believe this service is a benefit to our community. This blog dives into those reasons and what it means for our customers.
Here’s Why We Offer Explicit Content Blocking
Statistics show that pornography harms not only its viewers (psychologically and neurologically), but it also impacts their relationships and society as a whole (the devaluing of humans, abuse, and sex trafficking). The facts show that viewing this type of content can lead to wrecked relationships, infidelity, and a greater risk of divorce.
Here are a few statistics that support our decision to offer an option to block this content.
- A report by The National Center on Sexual Exploitation showed that frequent use can lead to depression, seclusion, and low self-worth
- The same report from NCOSE shows pornography normalizes violence against women and the degradation of women
- Viewing pornographic material creates a strain on marriages and a 300% increase in infidelity. In addition, according to the study ‘Till Porn Do Us Part’, divorce rates double when porn is introduced into a marriage.
- According to a Cambridge University study, pornography changes your brain similarly to drug addiction. As the addiction grows, users tend to become desensitized and seek out more aggressive/perverse forms.
In addition to the impact on the viewer and their relationships, porn has a great impact on the people involved in making it. Here’s a short video that speaks to the impact this industry has on sex trafficking and the resulting dehumanization.
What does this mean for Upward Broadband customers
As outlined in our Acceptable Use Policy, Upward Broadband is committed to offering content filtering as an opt-in service. With this service, we make a good faith effort to block content that is categorized by our filtering software to fit within two categories: ‘Child Sexual Abuse’ and ‘Pornography & Sexuality’.
- The ‘Child Sexual Abuse’ category blocks sites containing child sexual abuse images, criminally obscene adult and child sexual content from a list compiled by the Internet Watch Foundation.
- The ‘Pornography & Sexuality’ category blocks sites containing pornography in any form.
Using this filter does not guarantee that all content of this type will be blocked. Some content could still “fall through the cracks” and still be accessible. It also doesn’t mean that content in these categories will be blocked on third-party streaming services. However, the software is continually improving, making it increasingly difficult to view this type of content.
This is a glimpse into why we feel viewing this content is harmful, and the addictive nature shows that preventative actions should be used. The blocking of this content is not a limitation to our internet service. Instead, it is a benefit to keep the internet safe for everyone. If you have any questions about our Safe DNS blocker service or the reasons we offer it, please contact us.
