Online Censoring of Pornographic Material: A Threat to our Youth
A Thesis Presented to
Mentor: Richard H. Dery of
Thomas Edison State College
In (Partial) Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for
ENC-102-OL011: English Composition II
By
Ashley Mann
February 2013
“Every second 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography.” (MyKidsBrowser.com) “The pornography industry itself is larger than the revenues of the top technology companies combined: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix and EarthLink.” (FamilySafeMedia.com) The largest group of viewers of Internet porn is children between the ages of 12 and 17. Certain aspects portrayed on the Internet are too explicit and are therefore considered unsuitable for young age groups; censorship is used to regulate what is appropriate for young impressionable minds. Internet censorship is control or suppression of the publishing or accessing of information on the Internet. (Wikipedia.org) Opinions on the topic of Internet censorship vary, with arguments being made both for and against censorship. Although people have a right to decide for themselves what is and is not appropriate however, when it comes to our youth and those innocent to these materials our legislation should protect them from sexually explicit materials. Much of this material can be easily accessed. Nine out of 10 children aged between eight and 16 have viewed pornography on the Internet. In most cases, the sex sites were accessed unintentionally when a child, often in the process of doing homework, used a seemingly innocent sounding word to search for information or pictures. (MyKidsBrowser.com) The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects the rights to freedom of religion and expression from government interface. Under the first amendment, pornographers have the right to produce pornography and consumers have the right to view it but when it comes to our youth our government also has the right to protect them from things that are deemed harmful. The values behind the First Amendment make the costs that accompany free expression worth bearing, but where our children are concerned; the benefits are not as strong as the costs are greater. (McCarthy 81) Explicit material may not harmful in regard to it being with consenting adults viewed by adults but when it comes to our children it is harmful. It should be the responsibility of those people who post such material on the Internet to worry about who will be looking at it! It should also be our government’s duty and responsibility to enforce this and see to it that our minors are being protected. Currently, obscenity is evaluated by federal and state courts alike using a tripartite standard established by Miller vs. California. The Miller test for obscenity includes the following criteria: (1) whether ‘the average person, applying contemporary community standards’ would find that the work, ‘taken as a whole,’ appeals to ‘prurient interest’ (2) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law, and (3) whether the work, ‘taken as a whole,’ lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. (www.law.cornell.edu) The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) is set forth to restrict access by minors to any material defined as harmful to them on the Internet. The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) focuses on the recipient as opposed to the sender which in turn, requires libraries and school districts receiving federal technology funds to enact Internet safety policies for minors that include the use of filtering measures to protect children from access to harmful images. Parents can try to control the concerns of Internet pornography at home by utilizing programs such as SurfWatch that will automatically censor and block access to explicit materials on the web. Major information-highway companies like Microsoft and Netscape are currently working on a rating system for websites much like the one used for movies. (Quinter 45) Anyone for a nice G-rated website? Children are the future of tomorrow; making sexually explicit material available to them not only hampers their development of a strong sense of morality, but it also foretells their behavior (sexual promiscuity) and bodes ill for the world of tomorrow. Children often imitate what they’ve seen, read, and heard. Studies at protectkids.com suggest that exposure to pornography can prompt children to act out sexually against younger, smaller, and more vulnerable children. Experts in the field of child sexual abuse report that premature sexual activity in children always suggests two possible stimulants: experience and exposure. Certainly, parents have the lion's share of responsibility in protecting their children. At no time in our society's history, however, have we expected parents to bear such a burden alone. (Welch) Most of us caring, responsible parents want to instill in our children our own personal values about relationships, sex, intimacy, love, and marriage. Unfortunately, not restricting pornography to children may be educating our children on very important life issues.
Works Cited
Cornell University Law School: Legal Information Institute. .
McCarthy, Martha. “The continuing Saga Of Internet Censorship: The Online Protection Act.” Bringham Young University Education & Law Journal 2 (2005): 83-101. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Dec. 2012
"My Kids Browser: Created With Children In Mind." Kid Safe Internet. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
"Preserving Family Values in a Media Driven Society" Family Safe Media. .
Quittner, Joshua. “How Parents Can Filter Out The Naughty Bits.” (Cover Story). Time 146.1 (1995): 45. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Dec. 2012.
Welch, Shyla. “Some Control Is Needed.” World & I 13.2 (1998): 68. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 27 Dec. 2012.
"Wikipedia." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Jan. 2013. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
