New US House Speaker Installs Anti-Porn Software On Son’s Devices
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – The newly elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has defended his decision to install porn-monitoring software on the devices of his teenage son.
Mike Johnson, a devoted Christian and Republican from Louisiana, said he installed the Covenant Eyes service to maintain accountability in his house and prevent his son from watching pornography.
Johnson stressed that both he and his 17-year-old son had signed up to the service voluntarily.
He explained that Covenant Eyes, available as “an app” or application for smartphones and other devices, scans “all the activity on your phone or your devices, your laptop, tablet, what have you … then it sends a report to your accountability partner.”
That virtually ensures he and his son don’t watch pornography. “My accountability partner right now is Jack, my son. If anything objectionable comes up, your accountability partner gets an immediate notice,” he said.
“Covenant Eyes is the software that we’ve been using a long time in our household,” Johnson said in the clip, reportedly filmed at a “War on Technology” event hosted by Cypress Baptist Church in Benton, Louisiana.
“I’m proud to tell you my son has got a clean slate,” the lawmaker told the faithful in the talk. “It’s really sensitive; it’ll pick up almost anything,” including blurred pictures if needed.
VIDEO FOOTAGE
Johnson spoke about it last year, but a resurfaced video clip raised eyebrows after it was shown over the weekend by Rolling Stone, the U.S. magazine focused on music, politics, and popular culture.
Rolling Stone claimed that the 51-year-old father and his teenage son “monitored each other’s porn intake” and called the practice “creepy.”
Critics said the magazine’s narrative is false as the software’s purpose is to hold each other accountable to avoid consuming pornographic material.
An expert said attempts to attack Johnson’s Christian faith will “backfire.”
“Of all the things Mike Johnson may promote, Christian anti-porn accountability software may sound [fundamentalist] and weird to outsiders, stressed sociologist Samuel Perry.
“But it’s both mainstream and commonsense for folks who believe porn is cancer and addiction is rampant,” he added in published remarks.
Perry explained that “stuff like this backfires” because it “just makes Johnson look like [a] normal Christian dad, not [a] culture-warring extremist.”
Johnson’s action was due to be welcomed by Christian parents concerned about the availability of porn to minors and the pressure teenagers feel from social media.
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