S. Levy Resources

Levy, S. (1995, July 3). No place for kids? A parent’s guide to sex on the net. Newsweek, pp. 48-50.

OVERVIEW

After Nebraska Democrat James Exon compiled a binderful of images from the Internet that he called "repulsive," he took his binder to the Senate. Based on the materials he had gathered, Exon was able to persuade his colleagues to pass the Communications Decency Act, which places strict limits on all speech in computer networks. It passed overwhelmingly, though it is not clear whether the act will actually be passed into law. Nevertheless, the Senate passage was a huge blow to the Internet empire.

Lately the Internet has gotten a lot of publicity for its "dark side." Parents are suddenly finding their kids surfing the more lurid places on the Net and a number of actual online pornography busts have occurred. There have been stories about sexual predators using the Internet and commercial online services to entice children.

Traffic in obscene materials is just as illegal in cyberspace as it is in the physical world, and authorities are beginning to prosecute vigorously.

The controversy regarding sex on the Net is confusing for parents. On the one hand, the Internet is a useful tool and a productive source of entertainment for children. On the other hand, it also offers access to the messages and images of pornographers and pedophiles.

How much sex is on the Net? Here are some examples:

• Of the thousands of Usenet discussion groups, one of the most popular is the "alt.sex" group. Brian Reid, director of the Network Systems Laboratory at Digital Equipment Corporation, says that between 180,000 and 500,000 users drop in to the group on a monthly basis.
• The digital home of the Smithsonian Institute had 1.9 million visits in seven weeks; Playboy’s electronic headquarters received 4.7 million hits in a seven-day period.
• Marty Rimm, a researcher at the Carnegie-Mellon University, provides solid evidence that there is a ton of hard-core stuff in cyberspace. He wrote a computer program to analyze descriptions of 917,410 dirty pictures that included sadomasochism, bestiality, pedophelia, and a number of other sexually graphic images.

It is true that pornography does not appear uninvited on screens of home computers. A user needs to have a good sense of digital direction to find it. Depending on the software a user has, a mastery of some codes in the Unix computer language may also be needed. There is no way to get to these files by accident. However, the fact remains that kids are typically hungry for erotic materials, and many have already located pornographic materials on the Net.

Sherry Turkle, an MIT professor who is working on a book that includes data about the experience of nearly 300 kids on the Net, says that education is the key. "Better to warn the child and instruct him to say (to a potential pervert on a bulletin board or chat room) ‘I’m not interested,’ and just leave." Despite the potential problems, Turkle believes there are benefits to kids dabbling in monitored chat rooms. She feels that in the talk areas, kids have a forum to experiment with self-presentation. No one gets pregnant in cyberspace. No one contracts AIDS. "The Internet is becoming a way to play with identity, where adolescents can develop a sense of themselves," she says.

Opinions are mixed about ways to handle the problem of kids accessing porn on the Net. Already parents can buy software to block their children’s access to questionable materials. More such software is on the way. Another scheme is KidCode, a means for embedding voluntary ratings on World Wide Web sites. A program called SurfWatch has already hit the market. The software works by matching a potential Net destination to a proprietary list of forbidden sites. The software also looks for objectionable language.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. How would you instruct a child about Internet use to keep him or her safe in cyberspace?
2. What, in your opinion, are the key benefits of the Internet? The drawbacks?

IMPLICATIONS

1. Parents, teachers, and kids all need to be educated about what is available on the Net. This will help to keep kids away from inappropriate materials and safe from potentially dangerous contacts. Criminal use of the Internet should continue to be well publicized so that parents and teachers are aware of the problems and can find available solutions.
2. Considerable controversy has arisen over freedom of speech on the Net. As government and online providers sort out what to do about censorship in cyberspace, it will be up to parents and teachers to stay informed about software and other tools that can keep kids safe on the Internet.