Accidental porn: In the wild world of the Internet, it is becoming more and
more difficult to avoid pornography
Some 70 percent of American teenagers have “accidentally”
encountered pornography on the Internet, a recent poll indicates.
That has many observers concerned.
Accidental porn: In the wild world of the Internet, it is becoming more and
more difficult to avoid pornography
Some 70 percent of American teenagers have “accidentally”
encountered pornography on the Internet, a recent poll indicates.
That has many observers concerned.
“Clearly, there is a major failure in adult responsibility
when almost three out of four teens report they have accidentally come across
pornography on the Web,” Morality in Media President Robert Peters said.
“But the biggest failure of responsibility lies with federal and state
prosecutors who turn a blind eye to obscenity on the Internet.
“If obscenity laws were being vigorously enforced, the
last thing hardcore pornographers would want to do is draw attention to their
vile wares by engaging in reckless marketing methods. If vigorously enforced,
there would also be much less pornography to accidentally stumble across.”
Even teenagers themselves are concerned about the issue.
Indeed, 57 percent of teenagers surveyed for the “Generation
Rx.com: How Young People Use the Internet for Health Information” study
by the Kaiser Family Foundation said they believe exposure to pornography would
have a “serious impact on kids under 18.”
Forty-one percent said that exposure is “no big deal.”
Parents shoulder some responsibility for inadequately monitoring
teenagers use of the Internet or not installing screening technology on
their home computers, Peters said.
However, he also acknowledged “no technology is perfect,
and technology on home computers cannot protect kids when they are at school
or work or at a friends house or the library.”
Internet service providers should block illegal pornography
even without a parents request, while libraries and schools should install
screening technology, Peters said.
“Many libraries and schools refuse to install screening
technology, arguing that rules and monitoring computer use can protect children
from Internet porn,” he noted.
To illustrate the problem, some 50-60 high school students
in the Richmond, Va., area recently were disciplined for using school-issued
laptop computers to access and download hard-core pornography from the Internet.
Henrico County school officials said the incidents were few
in number and were handled appropriately, but others say it is a bigger problem
nationwide.
“This is not an isolated incident,” said Gary Beckner,
executive director of the Association of American Educators. “The problem
is that this is something where the kids are ahead of the teachers. Weve
got all this wonderful equipment but the teachers have come out of a system
where they were not trained to use it properly. The kids, of course, are experts
at it because they have grown up with it.”
Henrico County School Superintendent Mark Edwards said technology
has changed, but the problem is an old one.
Students have been bringing inappropriate material to schools
for years, he noted. “I think the key is that we be vigilant in this. I
do think that there is a silver lining, in that it has called to the attention
of the students that we will take severe disciplinary steps to enforce our code
of conduct,” Edwards said. “If students are distributing pornography,
we will bring criminal charges against them.”
Edwards said it is important to remember how few incidents
have occurred. “If you look at it in terms of percent, weve got over
12,000 laptops out and we have had 50-60 cases, so it is a very small percent,”
he said. “I believe that we must focus on the 99-plus percent that are
doing the right thing. It is regrettable that we have had any cases but it is
an issue about individual ethics, morals and responsibility.”
Beckner said teachers must be up to date on the use of the
technology. “Its wonderful technology, but without the proper controls
and the proper training for those in charge of that technology, this is not
going to be an isolated incident. It will continue to happen.”
A spokeswoman for the National PTA said that group has set
a standard for how technology should be used in schools.
“Children should be protected from sexually explicit,
violent, racist, hate-filled and abusive electronic content and predators,”
Jenni Gaster Sopko said. “Parents, the online industry, technology companies,
the Federal Communications Commission and content providers have a responsibility
to monitor and provide quality content for children and youth.”
However, the problem is not limited to schools. Adding to the
issue is the fact that the amount of federal obscenity enforcement in past years
is “downright pitiful,” said Patrick McGrath, director of media relations
for Morality in Media.
“Had the obscenity laws been properly enforced, that percentage
(of teenagers finding pornogrpahy on the Internet) would have been much, much
smaller,” McGrath said. “I couldnt say that it would go down
to zero, but it wouldnt have been 70 percent. It would be a number at
a more rational level.”
An adult entertainment spokesperson said there is nothing wrong
with using obscenity laws to punish those who are producing truly obscene material
such as child pornography – but he defended the material of his associates.
“None of our members are producing anything that would
qualify as obscenity,” said Bill Lyon, executive director for The Free
Speech Foundation. “It is all protected speech.”
Lyon insisted people in the adult entertainment industry “do
everything we can” to keep young people from their sites. However, he also
acknowledged that children do see inappropriate content on accident.
Lyon also questioned the idea that viewing pornography is harmful.
“There really is no scientific evidence that children are particularly
harmed by seeing something like this.”
However, McGrath said previous studies on how images can get
implanted into the brain have shown that viewing pornography is harmful to teenagers.
He said one researcher outlined the fact that pornography is
the “only kind of addiction in which there is no hope for detoxification
because you cant detoxify these images out of your mind.
McGrath warned, “If youre learning about sex through
hardcore porn, you are basically just turning into an animal without any thought
at all to restraining yourself, calmness or rationality.” (BP)
(This article based on information from a pair of stories by Melanie Hunter
and Matt Pyeatt, both with CNSNews.com)