What a fantastic, child protecting initiative this is. I’m sure it will work exactly as intended. But don’t just take my word for it. I imagine all of those little kids who absolutely cannot get Facebook accounts because they haven’t yet turned 13 would feel exactly the same way were they to actually exist.
The U.K. government and a film classification board have finalized a program to give age ratings to music videos produced in the country and streamed online, with minors restricted from watching videos rated for users 18 and older.
Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music will submit music videos produced in the U.K. to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), the same organization that rates movies in the country.
The U.K. government introduced the process as a pilot project in October 2014, and has adopted it as a fixture, it said Tuesday in a press release.“Many children have easy access to music videos online and some parents are rightly concerned that some of these contain imagery or lyrics not appropriate for a young audience,” reads the release.
Their grand plan for keeping this harmful material out of the impressionable eyes and ears of the young folk? Sign in with your Google account, little mister.
Yup…that’s it. The whole thing. Nothing else to it. There is no part two.
Governments and corporations really do think we’re stupid, don’t they? And to an extent they’re absolutely right. No doubt there are parents all over the place who think this is a great idea because little Junior is so honest or so innocent that the idea of making a separate profile where he and all his friends just happen to be 18 would never cross his mind. Some days I honestly wonder if there’s a condition that causes grown up people to forget every single thing about being a kid. Positionofauthorityitis, or something like that.