The OLPC Strays To The Sleazy Side Of The Web

We all knew the headlines were going to come forth. It was just a matter of time.

Nigerian schoolchildren, given the power of Internet-connected personal computers through the OLPC, or One Laptop Per Child program, have finally tapped into the raunchy side of the World Wide Web. The News Agency of Nigeria stated that one of its reporters had seen “pornographic images stored on several of the children’s laptops.” Pupils apparently feel free to “browse adult sites with explicit materials,” according to the NAN.

Certainly, this will come to be seen as one of the less-than-stellar effects of the OLPC program, but at least one good thing is to come of this development: a showcase of the resilience of the Linux OS even when faced with loads and loads of nasty, nasty spyware. Viruses, too.

An OLPC representative said that their computers “would now be fitted with filters.”

Jokes aside, there’s really nothing terribly offensive about this bit of news, as unsavory as it is to many people. But it will undoubtedly be used by the self-professed puritans of the world to rail against the introduction of technology to peoples, who for the most part have remained almost entirely unfamiliar with computer-based technologies for the past two decades that Internet access has been a relatively widespread luxury. They’ll claim money has been wasted and that nothing good will come of such “unrealistic” projects, and that folks behind such initiatives best leave third-world development up to the World Bank, the IMF, the UN, etc.

You know, the groups that have made such great strides in bridging the developed world to the one still being developed and closing income and education gaps and all that.

What I hope comes up in discussions resulting from this utterly unexpected revelation is that everyone makes it a point to hark back on the ‘80s, ‘90s, and the first six years and six months of the 21st century and recall what sites those connected to modems of various speeds visited in their own surfing sessions on the Web. Some will clearly recall those memories like they happened yesterday. Others will recall that those sessions did in fact happen yesterday.

The point here is that there’s really no use shining a gigantic spotlight on this story, because though it’s happening now, the tale is so old and, pardon the expression, “overexposed” that it should hardly warrant a mention.

The best thing to do is to carry on with OLPC, changing little or nothing about the process through which the computers are distributed, and to continue allowing those using those lime green gateways to learn about the Internet – both the good and the bad. I in no way suggest that those behind the project willingly expose OLPCs benefactors to adult content. I only suggest that if they make little of the situation, they’ll likely find this incident is just that, an incident.