User:Chris McCosker

Chris McCosker

Bachelor of Creative Industries (Media and Communication) and Bachelor of

Business (Advertising)

E-mail: c.mccosker@student.qut.edu.au

Internet Pornography Censorship

Internet Pornography Censorship

Major Project Entries

Internet Pornography Censorship: Access
Internet Pornography Censorship: Censorship in China
Internet Pornography Censorship: Filtering Technology
Internet Pornography Censorship: Arguments For and Against
Internet Pornography Censorship: Regulation and Responsibility

--Chris McCosker 14:25, 26 Oct 2004 (EST)

---

Internet Pornography Censorship - Annotated Bibliography

Legon, J. (2003) ‘Sex sells, especially to Web surfers’ [Online]. Available: http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/12/10/porn.business/ [Accessed: 07/08/04]

This news article is an exceptional all round starting resource on online pornography and arguments are backed by reputable sources and statistics. It highlights the massive growth of the porn industry as a result of going online. As the article points out, the online porn industry is a thriving billion dollar industry. This article discusses the internet as an effective medium for distributing porn, and that due to the low costs of operation anyone can do it. It argues that a once backdoor industry has become somewhat mainstream, due to the easy access and anonymity of the internet. The article continues by raising several negative social and ethical issues, the foremost being the ability of minors to access pornographic content. It then however, also discusses the industries responsibility in its endeavour to protect minors from this content. This article is useful as a platform on which to launch more research into internet pornography, censorship and the social implications of pornography’s exposure to minors.

--Chris McCosker 21:19, 10 Aug 2004 (EST)

Pornography Statistics 2003. [Online], (2003). Available: http://www.familysafemedia.com/pornography_statistics.html [Accessed: 08/08/04]

This web site provides an extensive list of statistics regarding pornography and the internet current as of 2003. This page brings to light many important facts regarding many of the issued addressed. Firstly, the statistics prove how widespread pornography is on the internet, as it is responsible for 12% of the total World Wide Web websites, 8% of daily emails, and 25% of search engine requests. Secondly the webpage reveals more alarming figures relating to censorship to minors. For instance, it reveals that 12-17 year olds are the largest consumer of internet porn, and 90% of 8–16 year olds have viewed porn online, most of which while doing homework. These figures can be used to raise and support many censorship topics (such as minors accessing explicit content), thus making this webpage an invaluable resource.

--Chris McCosker 21:19, 10 Aug 2004 (EST)

White, B. (2001) ‘Fighting The Porn War: The rise of email pornography in the workplace’, Network Security [Online], vol. 2001, no. 11, pp.16-17. Available: Science Direct Journals [Accessed: 08/08/04]

This journal article brings fourth many pertinent questions relating to the censorship of online pornography. Predominantly highlighting one major and inevitable question, “What is porn?� The article is excellent as it firstly discusses the issues facing corporations and employees receiving illicit emails at work. It then discusses the issue of who is responsible for the censorship and filtering of emails. Should it be the Internet Service Provider (ISP), or perhaps it should be the company itself? The article is particularly interesting as it discusses adults as the recipients of illicit online material as opposed to minors. It then analyzes the technological limitations of porn-filtering technology, as no matter how accurate the technology may be, what offends one person, may be enjoyed by another, thus emphasising importance of the question “what is porn?�. What should be and what shouldn’t be let through a filter. This also raises other questions which must be addressed if censorship is to take place effectively, without infringing on peoples right to free speech. Issues such as ‘what is the boundary between pornography and art?’ must be considered. From looking at the problem in the article on a company level, the same logic and theories developed can be applied on a global scale. For example, if a set of worldwide regulations on internet pornography were to be established how would they be enforced? Who would enforce them? As websites viewed in one country could have been established in another, out of reach from domestic laws.

--Chris McCosker 21:19, 10 Aug 2004 (EST)

Thornburch, D., Lin, H. (2002) ‘Youth, Pornography and the Internet’ [Online] CSTB Publications, Available: http://bob.nap.edu/html/youth_internet/

Herbet S. Lin, main editor of the report, is a well renowned academic who has done extensive research into the area of internet pornography. This online report is an invaluable and comprehensive resource which provides an exceptional understanding of the issues surrounding the topic. The report itself is set out logically and coherently, with relevant information focusing on the issues surrounding youth, pornography and the internet. It is also written with no ‘hidden agenda’ or bias towards either side of the arguments. The report was able to define some important, ambiguous terms such as ‘pornography’ and the term ‘protection’. It then made several comparisons between pornography on the internet and it’s presence through other media, and the problems in dealing with censorship online. The report also examined the legal context surrounding censorship debates. Then at the internet as a new technology, and how different economics exist online as opposed to the physical world. Other issues explored were the impact of sexually explicit material on children, the paths of exposure that subject children to online porn, the concept of protection and approaches to achieving protection. Overall this is an excellent well rounded resource.

--Chris McCosker 21:38, 10 Aug 2004 (EST)

Arentez, W., Olstad, B. (2002) ‘Classifying offensive sites based on image content’, Computer Vision and Image Understanding [Online], vol 94, no. 1-3, pp. 295-310. Available: Science Direct Journals [Accessed: 07/08/04]

This research paper investigates and proposes a method for implementing censorship of pornographic images on the internet through new image-content filtering technology. The paper looks at the technology in great depth giving a good and descriptive, yet understandable overview. The paper presents new technology, superior to those currently in existence. It runs on vectors, as opposed to text, based on the colour, texture, contour, placement, and size information of the image. For each picture a genetic algorithm gives the probability that it contains erotic content. This technology is an accurate and effective way to filter content online, ensuring that people such as minors can not access illicit material. This is an important isssue to consider in relationship to online censorship. A key feature of the technology is that it's able to be turned on or off and can be set to varying levels as determined by the user and rather than hard to enforce regulations the image-filtering technology does not infringe on adults rights to freedom of speech and expression.

--Chris McCosker 21:38, 10 Aug 2004 (EST)

Man, M., Chiu, C. (2004) ‘Censorship=mission impossible?’: a postcolonial same sex erotic discourse on Hong Kong porn law’, International Journal of the Sociology of Law [Online] vol 32, no. 1, pp.39-63. Available: Science Direct Journals [Accessed: 07/08/04].

Overall this report looks at many censorship issues. It is interesting as it looks at the issues in Hong Kong, China which has some of the toughest anti-porn internet laws in the world. Evidentially the report has less of a westernised bias towards its arguments. It draws upon a wide range of research from varying perspectives on the issues involved, giving the arguments a lot of credibility. Particular points discussed were the harmful effects of pornography, such as the 'porn is theory, rape is practice' premise, and how the emplacement of strict censorship laws could eliminate these threats. It also discusses the relevant issues of generalising porn, again raising the question of “What is porn?� The report also discusses the dichotomy between anti-porn and anti-censorship arguments. Although it does not look at the internet specifically, it does look at issues surrounding censorship of pornography which can be applied to scenarios on the internet, making it an excellent resource.

--Chris McCosker 21:48, 10 Aug 2004 (EST)

Mears, B. (2004) High court bars internet porn law enforcement [Online]. Available: http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/06/29/scotus.web.indecency/index.html [Accessed: 09/08/04]

This is a recent news article from the 6th of July 2004. It draws attention to the issue of free speech and internet censorship laws ability to infringe on this right. The US Supreme Court has recently blocked the ‘Child Online Protection Act’ (COPA) on the basis that it violated the first amendment in the US constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech by restricting adults access to material they have a right to view. The Act would have authorized fines up to $50 000, and made websites criminally liable for placing material “harmful to minors� on the internet. As the article states, "there are less restrictive ways to protect children without sacrificing communication intended for adults." As it is argued, a more efficient and effective way to control access would be through content filters rather than trying to police and un-police able media.

--Chris McCosker 23:05, 10 Aug 2004 (EST)

Akdeniz, Y. 1997, The Regulation of Pornography and Child Pornography on the Internet, The Journal of Information, Law and Technology [Online] vol. 1997, no. 1. Available: http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/internet/97_1akdz/

This journal is excellent as it discusses an important issue relating to the censorship of pronography on the internet. As there is no settled definition of pornographic content, in a global society this makes it difficult to know what to regulate. The report primarily explores the regulation two different issues, harmful content such as pornography and illegal content such as child pornography, within one context, the internet. The article highlights the differences between these two and the importance that they be separated as regulatory action taken to protect children from exposure to harmful content, should not also be an unconditional prohibition to regulate content on the internet that is freely available to adults in other media, which addresses the issue of peoples right to free speech. The article then draws conclusions and puts forward versatile solutions to the issues it addresses.

--Chris McCosker 16:46, 12 Aug 2004 (EST)

Jerome, R., Fowler, J., Stuart, D., Blonska, J. (2004) ‘The Cyberporn Generation’, People [Online], vol. 61, no. 16, pp. 72-77. Available: Proquest Journals Database [Accessed: 09/08/04]

This article looks at some of the social issues surrounding the exposure of young children to illicit pornography over the internet, such as its impact on their views of sex, love and relationships. It reveals that there are many negative repercussions as a result of children being exposed to graphic content at a young age, particularly impacting their views on relationships. This emphasises the need to try to censor minor’s access of the internet. Another major concern highlighted is that there is a lot of violent, hard-core porn readily available to children online, and even if they are not actively seeking it, quite often it will find them through avenues such as spam email and pop-up windows. The article is good as it actually interviews young children about their online experiences with porn, and how it has affected them personally. It also raises the issue of parental supervision and how many parents are ignorant to the threat, how children can get around filtration systems and proof of age checks.

--Chris McCosker 18:40, 12 Aug 2004 (EST)