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Reading, Writing, and Cyberporn 1/2/1998 Critics of the Communications Decency Act, meant to protect children from the dangers of pornography on the Internet, would tell you it is the parents' responsibility to protect their kids from pornography, not the government or binding restrictions in the law. You would receive no argument from Concerned Women for America that parents have a tremendous responsibility in protecting their children from the dangers that exist in cyberspace. Parents do need to become computer savvy. Parents do need to monitor their children when their kids are on-line. Parents do need to set guidelines for children, such as cautioning them not to give out personal information to anyone on the Net, and not to agree to face to face meetings with 'friends' they meet over the Net. Parents need to install blocking and filtering software on their home computers. But what happens to parental control once their child is dropped off at school? Who's responsible for the child's safety during school hours? And what about the local community library? Can we count on our child's safety as they do research under the supervision of the friendly, but busy librarian? A 1996 study reported that nearly 30 percent of U.S. public libraries were connected to the Internet and the number today is probably closer to 45%. And, President Clinton is committed to all children being on-line in the schools by the year 2000; a commitment shared by members of the Internet industry who are actively involved in wiring the schools. Currently, 70% of kids accessing the Internet do so outside the home. Although installation of filtering software might seem to be a simple solution to protecting our children, surprisingly, there is no consensus within the librarianship community on whether libraries should use such technology to limit children's Internet access. Similarly, in the school setting, while some schools are adopting filtering or closed systems to their students, others prefer unfiltered access regardless of the student's age. What are the consequences of unlimited access? Let me share just one of many real life examples. A man from St. Bonifacious; Minnesota wrote saying, “I am a 23 year old male, currently on probation for sexually assaulting children. Before my conviction and my serving two years in a juvenile facility, I became addicted to pornography. I had not, however, seen any type of child pornography until I went to school, where there was an Internet connection. In a moment of weakness, I searched for it ...and came across a link that had quite a few different categories...I don't want anymore victims because of this.” School, library, and community access to the Internet play an important role in our children's on-line development and education. But, parents want their children to be safe no matter where they are. Concerned Women for America believes that schools and libraries must share the responsibility of protecting our kids. We expect there to be clear policies regarding Internet access and we expect those policies to be proactively communicated to the parents. Parents will then have the opportunity and the responsibility to voice their concerns or acceptance of those policies. Internet service providers have a responsibility to stand behind a code of ethics that insures safety for our kids. We must hold them accountable should they stray from their recent agreement to report child pornography to law enforcement officials and to remove child pornography from their own bulletin boards and services. Finally, Federal obscenity laws prohibit importation, mailing, interstate distribution, broadcasting, computer transmission and retail local sales of obscene materials. Yet, pornography is a multibillion dollar business that is growing by leaps and bounds, due in part to computer technology, but more likely due to a lack of law enforcement. Prosecutions for federal obscenity have plummeted under the current administration to less than 20 prosecutions in 1996. It is time to hold this administration accountable for the ongoing abuse of our kids. |
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Concerned Women for America 1015 Fifteenth St. N.W., Suite 1100 Washington, D.C. 20005 Phone: (202) 488-7000 Fax: (202) 488-0806 |
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