Term Papers on The Internet, Pornography, And Children

Term Paper Title	The Internet, Pornography, And Children
# of Words	2848
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	11.39

The Internet, Pornography, and Children

Why should anyone be concerned about pornography on the Internet? After all, this is a
free country and everyone should have access to anything they want, right? This position would
be true if only adults used the Internet; it can not be true when children also use the Internet.
Most people would agree that children should not have access to Internet sites that are
considered pornographic. Does that mean that children should not be allowed Internet access or
that the Internet should not have pornographic sites? Of course it doesn’t mean that! What it
does mean is that the issues arising from the mixture of children and Internet should be dealt
with and not ignored.
This paper will attempt to intelligently discuss some of those issues. Areas covered will
include what the Internet is, risks to children who are viewing the Internet, what pornography is,
and laws concerning child pornography (in general and over the Internet). Additionally, the
number, content, and accessibility of pornographic sites will be discussed. Lastly, this paper will
discuss what measures can be taken to protect children from pornographic Internet sites.
What exactly is the Internet? It is a global network of computers used to transmit all
types of data between computers. Text, numbers, programs, illustrations, photographs, audio,
animation, and video can all be transmitted over the Internet. Contrary to what some people may
think, the Internet is not a single computer nor is it a single service.  The Internet is not owned by
or governed by anyone. It exists solely through the support of the companies and institutions that
access it.
Though the Internet seems relatively new, its roots actually start in the 1960s. In 1969,
the Department of Defense started the “ARPANET” project. ARPANET was a decentralized
computer network that was used to link military researchers at four universities. The Internet
later evolved out of ARPANET. Funding from the National Science Foundation in the 1980s
eventually led to the Internet being opened to commercial traffic.

Services provided over the Internet include the World Wide Web, electronic mail (the
most popular service), Newsgroups, and Chat. For one computer to communicate with another
computer on the Internet, both computers must be connected to the Internet. Connection to the
Internet can come from commercial online services or through Internet service providers.
Generally, home users connect to the Internet via the commercial online services over regular
phone lines. Some of these services include Prodigy, CompuServe, and America Online.
Businesses, universities, government agencies, and the like, often have direct connection to an
Internet provider over high-speed digital lines. Some of these providers include Netcom and
PSI.1
The number of adults online in the United States by the end of 1998 has been estimated
as low as 44 million and as high as 80 million. 2 At the end of 1997, the number of children
online was almost 10 million. It is estimated that by the year 2002, 45 million children will be
online.3 While it is not clear how many these children have access to the Internet at home, it is
clear what percentage of them have access at school. Currently, about 81.8% of all American
schools have the Internet. It is estimated by the end of the 1998-1999 school year, about 95.9%
of all American schools will be hooked up to the Internet.4
There are risks to a child that a parent should consider before allowing the child to
access the Internet. Some of the risks include the following:
1.     Exposure to material that is sexual, hateful, or violent in nature and the possible
encouragement of illegal or dangerous activities.
2.     The safety of a child and/or a child’s family could be compromised by the child
providing information or arranging to meet a person they have met over the Internet.
3.     A child could be exposed , through e-mail or chat/bulletin board messages, to
disturbing, demeaning, or aggressive material.
4.     Lega...

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