Ben Allison, Peter Huene, David Paroulek, Robert Rossman, and Mark Shapiro

US Response To Censorship

Just as every new technology brings more questions of morality, much of the debate about censorship today is centered on the Internet and electronic means of communications. These new technologies make it easier than ever to find and view questionable material without making anyone else aware. An article from Time Magazine by Elmer-De Witt describes 5 new opportunities that electronic communications provide us with when dealing with pornography. "It is clear that pornography is being vigorously marketed in increasingly sophisticated ways and has now found a receptive audience in a wide variety of computer environments. According to industry experts and the pornographers themselves, there are at least five factors in addition to an increased focus on paraphilic content which account for this recent explosion of pornography via computer networks. First, consumers enjoy considerable privacy on computer networks and can easily avoid the potential embarrassment of walking into an "adult" store to acquire pornography. Second, consumers have the ability to download only those images that they find most sexually arousing. Previously, a consumer had to purchase an entire magazine or video in order to gain access to a few desired depictions. Third, easy, discrete storage of pornographic images on a computer enables consumers to conceal them from family members, friends, and associates. Fourth, the prevalence and fear of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases has helped pornographers to successfully market "modem sex" and autoeroticism as "safe" and viable alternatives to the dangers of "real" sex. Finally, new and highly advanced computer technologies are quickly being absorbed into the mainstream, permitting an ever-expanding audience to gain access to digitized pornography available on the "Information Superhighway."

After studying the scenario referred to above, and skimming through web links on Internet censorship, it seems that the majority of Americans are against electronic censorship. An editorial from the Roanoke Times explains that "Lawmakers yielded to the ever-present political temptation to fight smut through any means possible, a noble intention but one wrought with peril to the First Amendment as a restraint on the free exchange of ideas." It seems that most US citizens agree that to censor material from an adult is a violation of the Constitution. However, it also seems to be the norm that children living in the US should not be able to view questionable material until they are of a certain age. The same editorial notes "Parents, through personal supervision or application of blocking technology, should be the first line of defense against their children's exposure to pornography."