Internet Pornography
What is Pornography?
A photographic, film, video or other visual representation,
whether or not it was made by electronic or mechanical means,
(i) that shows a person engaged in or is depicted as engaged in
explicit sexual activity, or
(ii) the dominant characteristic of which is the depiction,
for a sexual purpose, of a sexual organ or the anal region, or
(iii) any written material or visual representation that advocates
or counsels sexual activity.
Prevalence of Pornography on the Internet
|
Subject
|
# of Net pages
|
|
Sex
|
14,896,710
|
|
Politics
|
2,996,060
|
|
Wine
|
2,324,620
|
|
Dogs
|
1,893,440
|
This table illustrates how prevalent sex-oriented
web pages are on the internet. Notice that nearly pages focusing on sex
outnumber those focusing on politics approximately 5:1.
The SuperKids site also illustrated how easy it would
be to accidentally encounter cyberporn. Innocent searches can return unexpected
results. For example, a search for "Young Boys Clothes" on Excite! retrieved
four objectionable sites in the top 10 search results. A search for "Zoo
Animals" on HotBot retrieved similarly objectionable results.
Search Terms: "Young Boys Clothes"
Result: 4 out of 10 Objectionable Results
Search Terms: "Zoo Animals"
Result: More Objectionable Results
The
First Amendment vs. Protecting Children
The entire cyberporn can be reduced to this singular issue. Anti-censorship
groups such as the ACLU sides with the power of the First Amendment and
family advocacy groups such as the Family research Council favors protecting
our children.
Recently,
the pendulum of support has swung to the First Amendment side of this issue.
"As the most participatory
form of mass speech yet developed, the Internet deserves the highest protection
from government intrusion."
- Stewart Dalzell, Federal Judge
-
In 1996, the Communications Decency Act—which protected children on the
Internet—was ruled unconstitutionally overbroad by the U.S. Supreme Court.
-
In January of this year, Lowell A. Reed—a federal judge in Philadelphia—issued
on injunction against the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). COPA would
make it illegal for sexually explicit Web sites to be accessible to online
viewers under the age of 17. Additionally, the act would require that the
sites obtain proof of age of its viewers, most likely through credit card
numbers. Members of the ACLU and other opponents of the act claim that
it violates the First Amendment's freedom of speech provision and that
it would target many mainstream sites with some adult content in addition
to porn sites.
Children's groups have looked for alternate means to fight
cyberporn.
"Society has long
embraced the principle that those who peddle harmful material have the
obligation to keep the material from children. Computer indecency should
be no exception."
-
Children's groups encourage parents to supervise
their kids as much as they can while they are on the Internet.
-
They recommend installing software filters such as
Cyber Patrol, Surf Watch and WebChaperone to screen out objectionable material.
-
They take some solace in the fact that two laws in
the past three years have been passed to limit minors' access to sexually
explicit sites. Although both laws have been struck down by the courts,
children's groups realize that at least somebody recognizes the problem
of porn on the Web and is trying to do something to rectify it.
This page was last updated
on 3/24/99
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