Gaming consoles might cause kids to stay up late and as a result perform poorly in school. However, it can do something worse and news coming out of Blackburn, England, reveals the dark side of the Xbox.
A 13-year-old boy raped his 8-year-old sister after being "inspired to try it out" by pornography he had seen using a friend's Xbox 360. The teenager pleaded guilty to his offense and also confessed that he assaulted his sibling and forced her to do sexual acts for him.
"This is one of those tragic sexual experimentation cases. The family is now being supported and the child is recovering well," said police officer Claire Holbrook.
The boy, when interviewed by authorities, explained that he chose to rape his sister because she was small and she was not old enough to remember "stuff." He appeared in court Wednesday and has been granted bail to stay with his family until a pre-sentence report is created by authorities. His sibling is receiving support from officers especially trained to handle such delicate cases.
"It is a horrifying crime which underlines how porn is too readily available to juveniles. I hope that the internet service providers recognise that they have greater responsibilities for controlling access to porn," said Blackburn House of Commons representative Jack Straw.
There is a pending bill in committee level that suggests people be required to show proof that they're over 18 before being allowed access to adult content.
With the incident hitting the headlines in the UK, there have been calls for parents to monitor how their kids are using the Internet and for service providers to block access to porn sites.
"We've realised parents are really in the dark about protecting children and young people online. A generation gap, and the massive advancements in technology over the past few decades, threaten to amplify this. As parents, we would not let our children cross the road before we had taught them how to cross safely. We need to do the same with the internet," said online safety guru Linda Szafar of 6G Internet..
Microsoft engineered the Xbox 360's successor, the Xbox One, an all-in-one go to machine when it comes to entertainment at home. The plan to conquer living rooms sounds realistic with the game console practically able to replace other home electronics that a family relies on for entertainment. It can connect to satellite and cable boxes; has enough storage space to store games, music, movies or apps; it can be used to call or chat with family and friends, among others.
While Xbox is being a marketed as a console "that will grow with you," it might also expose kids to contents online that they should not see. If parental guidance is advised when watching TV, parents and other adult members of the family must be able to guide their youngsters on how to properly and safely use gaming consoles and other similar technologies.
However, Xbox is not the only console to be caught up in the controversy. In November, streaming service Twitch caught a PlayStation 4 user utilizing the PS4 Playroom to expose his wife's breast and later on broadcast his partner fully naked, drunk and unconscious on the couch. The company booted the user immediately and warned its users that it moderates content and do not allow non-gaming content being streamed using its service.
