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Over the past decade the Internet has become an essential part of
everyday life. It has provided a common ground for people to interact
all over the world. Whether it is through information exchange or a
simple chat, the Internet has changed the way society operates. Trade,
information, and also a wide variety of entertainment have all become
accessible features with the click of a button.
There is however one
form of entertainment that has overtaken almost every other service
that the Internet provides. Pornography on the Internet has become one
of the most controversial subjects in the history of technology.
Pornography is simply an art form; a depiction of erotic behavior
intended to cause sexual excitement. The question is should pornography
sites on the web be banned in order to protect minors from indecent
material.
There are both positive and negative aspects to allowing
pornography on the Internet. Probably the greatest thing that
Pornography on the web has accomplished is promoting free enterprise.
"Porno sites" have turned this art form into a goldmine through the use
of technology. Sites such as "Private Gold" or "Cybererotica" simply
vend memberships to the public for the privilege of viewing their
material.
Pornography sites were some of the first ones to launch such
impressive business strategies on the Internet such as banners and
Online Purchases. In a way pornography launched a computer revolution.
Now it seems buying, selling and providing services over the Internet
has become a worldwide bonanza. Only few realize that Pornography sites
were providing similar services in the early 1990s, thus being a great
deal responsible for the Internet's booming success.
Ever since the
beginning of Adult magazines and films, the field of pornography has
constantly received opposition from religious groups and concerned
parents that it's to vulgar and inappropriate for anyone's viewing
especially minors. However the First Amendment of the United States
Constitution illustrates the importance of freedom of the press
(expression), otherwise meaning no censorship. It was however agreed
that such material is not suitable for minors therefore declaring the
minimum age 18 for purchasing adult material. The Constitution protects
adult magazines and such; therefore that same material should be
accessible electronically.
Whether printed on paper, or displayed
through the web, pornography cannot be banned lawfully without
violating the Constitution. It promotes freedom of expression, speech
and the press. Pornography on the Internet has also positively affected
the adult population. Since Computers are now in almost every home
across America almost all adults have access to the web. Pornography
now being accessed ten times easier then before has educated men and
women on their own sexuality at a rapid pace. It seems as though
everyday people are becoming more open about their sexuality, as
opposed to fifteen years ago when sexuality was never discussed openly.
It seems as though pornography being easily accessed electronically has
resulted in the adult population being more sexually oriented and much
more nonchalant about topics that would seem inappropriate some years
ago. All of these positive aspects of pornography on the Internet are
however only one side of the argument. Many protestors have complained
about Pornography on the Internet being so easily accessible and
corrupting minors at a young age, organizations such as Victims of
Pornography fight to keep Pornography out of the life of Christians.
This is the main reason why adult sites on the net are constantly
persecuted.
Regardless of the age requirements that these sites post,
minors still access pornography on the net. This is the biggest problem
with pornography being accessible on the Internet. Ninety percent of
all hits on the University of Texas computers are pornography sites,
most of these are students that most recently turned 18 meaning there
is a high probability that adult sites were being accessed long before
their 18th birthday. Minors however aren't being held responsible for
their actions, the sites that display X-Rated material are said to be
ruining America's youth. Pornography is also said to produce rapists in
that it gives people an overactive imagination.
Overaggressive sexual
tensions produce the majority of sexual crimes that take place,
therefore it is said that pornography has no positive place in society.
Another problem with adult sites on the Internet is that they have
become outrageously uncontrollable. They seem to be attempting to
monopolize the Internet in a way that is unacceptable; for example, if
one wants to view the America Online Website at www.aol.com and mistypes the URL and types www.aol.comm
the screen will shoot right to a porn site. Trying to pull in more
customers by taking advantage of a typo is a crafty business strategy,
however many minors have probably viewed that page inadvertently and
that is when adult sites begin to cross the line. It seems that keyword
searches are affected too, a simple online search at Yahoo! or
AltaVista search engines can yield adult site links all over the screen
just because a word is taken out of context.
In this debate however the
positive seems to outweigh the negative, which shows that Pornography
on the Internet should not be banned. Adult sites opened the door for
electronic commerce, are protected by the Constitution, and have
contributed to the open nature of men and women's sexuality in the
1990s. It is true that it does provide less than appropriate viewing
for minors but that issue is constantly becoming more and more
nonexistent due to anti-adult site software, which aids in protecting
youth from X-rated material. Programs such as NetNanny are designed for
parental use in shielding their children from material they are not
mature enough to handle.
The issue of pornography contributing to sex
crimes is no doubt the most disturbing of all, however this issue is no
different than the issue of violence on television because in today's
society their will always be negative influences. The manner in which
those influences are being dealt with is however the only real threat,
because an idea can only go so far but the negative actions behind that
idea are the crimes that have become the fear of sex crime victims
everywhere. Taking all of this into account the conclusion is made that
online pornography has had a positive affect on society as a whole and
therefore should not be banned.
Bibliography
www.safernet.net/page4.html
www.victimsofpornography.com
nhd.heinle.com
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