Pornography Online

Bruno Mori
09/24/02

Pornography Online
I remember when I was in junior high. Kids used to bring a Playboy magazine to school and the whole class was fighting to see the magazine. It was crazy. Today, my brother's friends don't need to bring a Playboy to the class because everybody can see it at home whenever they want. The Internet changed how children see pornography, so parents, government and schools have problems trying to stop them.
Fake Identification Cards or older brothers used to help children buying porn magazines or videos. Nobody ask for your ID in a porn site. A nine year-old child can enter with innocent intentions; the other hand some children will enter to see the girls. A text in the first page of the site says that you must be over 21 to enter; however a “click” of the mouse on the button "Enter", you can be a 21 year-old child.
"The unanimous by a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia found the Children's Internet Protection Act unconstitutional" (The Buffalo News), so a law says that all libraries in Philadelphia must install a Internet Access Filter was approved. In public places the situation is easier to be controlled; however, parents have to control their child at home. Children would sit in front of a computer and watch these porn sites if they are not supervised. Parents get upset and surprised getting home and see their child in these sites. America Online server has many levels of blocks that can help parents to control their child; however this is not enough.
Porn sites are all over the Internet. Thousands of new sites are added everyday, so filters are starting to become not useful anymore. They have to be updated every five minutes to work perfectly; of course this is not possible. Advertisements of porn site can be found all over the Internet too. Searching about a different topic a porn site can pop-up. "Then all of a sudden I saw a picture of a strange man come on to my screen, and he was performing an obscene sexual act" Ms. Fischer said The Cincinnati Post. A child could “click”, and enter in the porn site.
The main problems are the chat rooms. They seem to be just a chat you can talk and have fun behind your computer with all security of your home. However predators enter these chat rooms, and try to talk with children obscene ideas. Sometimes they invite them to go somewhere telling they are just a young girl/boy. These predators go somewhere to have sex relationships with the children or abuse of them. “While there have been few reported cases of Internet stalkers in most areas, there may be more cases that are not reported”, said Police Officer Pete Kersey The Cincinnati Post.
Solutions for these problems couldn’t be found yet. However parents can monitor the children while they are using the Internet. Children won’t go to porn sites all the time if supervised. Advise children not to send address, phone number or real name in the chat rooms. Schools should give lectures about Internet security, and the computer labs must have monitors to check the children. Filters also are a good idea; they could help a little. Children want to learn new things and try to learn about everything especially sex “the forbidden world”, so they will not stop trying to see porn sites or a girl’s underwear.


Works Cited
“Internet filters and security.” The Buffalo News 13 Sep 2001.
Marc Dadigan Scripps. “Net protection parents are taking responsibility for keeping their kids surfing safe.” The Cincinnati Post. 19 Apr 2002.