Problems with the Internet

The personal computer is fast becoming as much a part of most Western homes as television or radio. Along with it, the Internet, or superhighway, is being used by more and more people. There is a tremendous amount of beneficial purposes the computer and Internet can be used for. But like so much other recent technology, there is also a dark side to its use. This paper will look at some of the less helpful ways the new information technologies can be used, and offer concerned parents proposals for safeguarding their families.

A recent ABS survey found that 3.8 million (54 per cent) of Australia's 7 million households had access to a computer at home, with 2.3 million households (33 per cent) hooked up to the Internet. Australia is now ranked seventh in the world in terms of Internet access from home, with 7.6 million Australians logging on to the Net via home computers. This compares to the number one user, the United States, which has 137 million cyberspace visitors. In addition, about 43 per cent of Australians aged 16 and over have Net access at work. And it is expected that by 2005 one billion people, or 15 per cent of the world's population, will be using the Internet.

In Victoria every school is now online, and a Federal Government report has recommended that every Year 7 student in Australia be connected to the Internet by the year 2000. And the ABS says that 95 per cent of Australian children aged 5 to 14 used a computer during the past year, and 47 per cent of those used the Internet. However, the ready availability of all kinds of pornography, including paedophilia, sado-masochism, and bestiality, should be cause for concern. If every school child will have access to the net, who will monitor the kids? One teacher keeping an eye on 30 students? Such monitoring is clearly needed. There is evidence that as much as 50 per cent of school Internet traffic is not educationally related. Indeed, as but one example, four year 9 students in Melbourne used a school's computer network to access sexual images of a male teacher from his lap-top computer.

Pornography has long been a problem in Western societies. But with the advent of new technologies, the pornography plague is spreading to epidemic proportions. It used to be the case that people who wanted access to pornography had to go to a sleazy part of town, and do so with fear of detection. Not so today. Anyone with a computer and a modem can access an expanding universe of pornography on the Internet in the privacy of their own homes.

Moreover, many of the software programs meant to restrict access to cyberporn are far from fool-proof. They can easily be circumvented. Indeed, one analysis found "profound flaws in the effectiveness of such software". Another survey found that "even the best software programs do not offer complete protection". As one authority put it, "software programs can serve as online padlocks, but there's no guarantee that your children won't find a way to pick the lock".

Such concerns are not imaginary. A recent study has found that sex is the most popular topic on the Internet. Indeed, one sex counsellor said this is going to be "the next sexual revolution". One estimate states that there are over 75,000 sexually explicit sites on the Internet, with 260 new pornographic sites added every day. One ISP executive said it was estimated that 70 per cent of downloaded volume to households is pornographic. It has also been estimated that the number of visits to pornographic sites is more than 4 million - per night.

A recent study has found that Australians are the greatest consumers of online pornography in the world in terms of the proportion of the population visiting adult websites at home. Some 33 per cent of Australia's Internet users accessed pornography from home in December 2000.

Back in 1997 Playboy's Web site alone received five million online visits every week. And according to the Guinness Book of Records, one softcore porn star was downloaded more than 841 million times between February 1996 and June 2000. More than 100,000 images of the star are downloaded every day; on average since February 1996, images have been downloaded at the rate of six a second. Indeed, one could download images of her every day for more than 11 years without having the same image twice.

A New York researcher said "sex drives the technology of the Internet and the world wide web." The editor of Australian Net Guide magazine said up to half of all Internet traffic was sex-related. He said "A lot of people don't have the courage to walk into a newsagent's shop and walk out with a sex book". But on the Net they can find privacy and convenient access.

Sex continues to be the major search subject on the Internet. An international study has found that the Net's most common use is as a source for sleazy pictures and steamy text. "Sex" was the most requested topic search. After "sex", the words "nude", "porno", "XXX", Playboy and Penthouse also helped make up the top ten requests for information. The Economist recently noted that you get more than 10 million matches when you type in the word "sex" in a computer search engine. Even "something specific, such as 'foot fetish', generates an unmanageable 10,000". As one educator put it, the World Wide Web is becoming an international "red-light district".

Even with the best of intentions, parents cannot always control their children's Net searches. One mother recently ran a Web search for her daughter using the words "I love horses". The search results included an essay promoting bestiality. One search for "kids toys" resulted in not just innocuous sites such as "Cabbage Patch Kids" but the following: "SmutKing Domain," "Sex-Hunters - Your Wife Naked," and "Erotic Escapades."

A friend recently told me of his experience. He wanted some slate flooring as he was renovating his home, so he thought he would surf the net for information on slate. The search engine gave him everything available on slate, including one web site where two homosexuals were cavorting in the woods! Evidently one of the homosexuals was named Slate, so their little frolic was included in the search results.

And Internet porn merchants are resorting to ingenious tactics to ensure that Net surfers can even accidentally come across pornographic images. One way is by making Web addresses that are similar to other mainstream addresses. For example, a child who mistypes playstation.com, looking for news about a Sony product, and instead types playstatiom.com will log on to a 24-hour-a-day live sex show. Although those who have created these "typo" sites say they are aiming for adults, those most likely to stumble on them are children.

Simply opening one's e-mail can be hazardous. Recently I received, quite unsolicited, this message on my workplace e-mail: "Free Preview of the Hottest Strip Show on Line!!!" The message went on to describe the "wildest fantasy adventures imaginable," all for the click of a mouse button. Indeed, parents are not alone in their worries; more and more businesses are becoming concerned about how their employees are using their computers. One US survey found that "75 per cent of respondents reported that employees accessed sexually explicit web sites".

And such viewing is resulting in serious sexual addiction problems. In Atlanta a National Council on Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity conference heard that 9 per cent of those using the Internet for sex spent more than 11 hours a week surfing for erotic content. Such addictions are having harmful effects on marriages and relationships. And children are also suffering. As one example, a 12-year-old American boy spent $300 on long-distance phone calls to surf the net. The next month he amassed $1200 on computer-related long distances charges. When his parents cut him off the Internet, he shot his mother six times in the head with a pistol, and then killed himself.

Moreover, those who should be protecting our communities are sometimes themselves part of the problem. A recent report found that more than 450 NSW policemen had been caught using their work terminals to send each other hardcore pornography. The officers had been emailing each other images depicting bestiality and sado-masochism during work hours.

Of real concern is the easy access children have to computer pornography. A recent study found that 10 to 15-years olds can readily access porn sights, and they have a "remarkably blase" attitude towards Internet porn. They even said porn filters were unnecessary and unwelcome.

Child pornography also seems to be escalating. Some have estimated that there are 50,000 to 75,000 images on the Net right now dedicated to child porn. Recently a Melbourne man was sent to jail after he was charged with having more than 10,000 child pornography pictures in his home computers.

One of the really big worries about the Internet is the explosion in the number of sites devoted to paedophilia. Recently Victorian police uncovered a "sex slave market" in which paedophiles were swapping children on the Internet. Some paedophiles were even prepared to offer their own children to other paedophiles. Indeed, some paedophiles are luring their young victims by offering them competition prizes and gifts via the Internet.

Many children have been lured away from their homes by paedophiles using the Internet. Many children are reached via "chat rooms" on the Net. Anyone can join "newsgroups" or "talk lines" where people from around the world with similar interests can be contacted. Subtopics include "homosexual," "brothels," "swingers," "voyeurism," "zoophilia," "necrophilia," "paedophilia," "group sex," "bondage," and so on.

Victorian police have said, "We could lock up any amount of people for the trade of (child) porn. It's like trying to hold back the tide". And in America the FBI admits that most paedophiles operate on the Net without fear of detection and prosecution. The problem has gotten so bad that a new website has been designed to help thwart paedophiles who use the Net, especially the chat rooms, to sexually exploit children. The site can be found at www.kidsap.org

And it is not just adults who are making money off child pornography. A 17-year-old boy from Perth was recently charged with using his home computer to set up a child porn Web site on the Internet. His site featured pictures of children aged as young as 10. And children are also viewing the stuff. A Melbourne teenager was charged with having downloaded almost 300 images of child pornography. The images which the 17-year-old had included pictures of children who appeared under 10 engaging in sexual acts.

Indeed, the proliferation of child pornography on the Net is contributing to some adolescents becoming sex offenders. It is estimated that adolescents committed 20 per cent of all sexual offences and 30 to 50 per cent of all offences against children were committed by other juveniles.

The problem is massive and is growing. According to one American organisation, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, young people who use the Net are at great risk:

Nearly one in five young people received a sexual solicitation over the Internet in the last year.
One in four had an unwanted exposure to pictures of naked people or people having sex.
Less than 10 per cent of sexual solicitations and only 3 per cent of unwanted exposures were reported to authorities.
Only one-fourth of the youth who encountered a sexual solicitation told a parent.

A more recent study of the global child sex trade, Internet pornography and government response, found similar figures, with at least one in five Australian children who access the web being solicited by strangers for sex.

As but one example of this growing international problem, an Italian prosecutor has recently charged almost 1500 people from Italy and overseas with offering or downloading child pornography and torture videos on the Internet. The videos came from a Russian pedophile ring, which kidnapped children from orphanages, circuses and public parks and filmed them while they were forced to commit sexual acts.

Indeed, the problem is becoming so acute that ISPs may have to close down their chat rooms. For example, Yahoo may close its chat rooms because a pedophile used them to meet a 13-year-old girl whom he raped. It is estimated that 150 million people world-wide use Yahoo's chat rooms.

Other Internet dangers abound. Children's involvement with online gambling is one such concern. Although the Federal Government wishes to tighten up laws on Internet gambling, at the moment it is easily accessible. In Tasmania, for example, new regulations allow underage gambling if children use their own money and an adult's log-on.

The dangers lurking on the Internet are often hidden and inconspicuous. One such threat is what is known as spyware, a type of program that embeds itself on a PC's hard drive. Many free programs, including games, that are downloaded from the Net contain spyware. Spyware relays information back to the company, including the user's IP address, which can pinpoint their physical locations.

A host of problems can be mentioned concerning the Internet. Racist and hate-based Internet sites abound. There are around 1000 race hate sites on the Net, many of them designed to seduce young visitors. On-line gambling, on-line stalking, cyber adultery, "flame-mail" (spiteful-email messages), the spread of cults, drug-dealing, drug-recipes and bomb-making instructions are all available on the Net. Recently it was reported that fake Victorian drivers licences are available for sale on the Internet. Two Victorian teenagers were arrested for car theft after they received step-by-step instructions from the Internet.

Other problems include: cyberstalking, adoption fraud, cybersmears, credit card theft, identity theft, hacking and trademark violations. Many of these crimes have existed before, but they simply are multiplied with the Internet. As one example, websites are providing ready-made essays and exam answers for almost every university course available in Australia today. As another example, an elderly couple committed suicide after an Internet site wrongly convinced them the wife had terminal cancer.

The new technologies are creating new problems. Many people are now becoming "addicted" to the Net. One counsellor found that "eighty to 90 per cent of the time it's a sexual addiction. The Internet amplifies the problem. You can act out your fantasies and not have to deal with the shame you would feel otherwise because no-one knows who you are. You do things you wouldn't do otherwise". Recently the Australian Medical Journal reported that Internet addiction disorder is a growing medical problem, with addicts spending up to 18 hours a day surfing the Net. There are even groups like Webaholics Anonymous that have been established to help the growing number of on-line addicts.

In addition, studies have found that spending time on the Net can lead to statistically significant increases in feelings of loneliness and depression and a loss of friendships. Moreover, increased used of the Net results in a reduction of other activities. A survey of 12,000 Australian Web surfers found that 55 per cent are watching less television, 30 per cent are sleeping less and 10 per cent are spending less time exercising. Also, experts say that children are increasingly turning to the Internet, instead of parents or teachers, for answers to worries about sex, relationships and school problems.

With this onslaught of pornography, explicit sex, and related problems on the Net, how can parents protect their children and their families? Focus on the Family offers this helpful advice on 8 ways to help solve the problem:

2) Spend time with your teen on the Internet. Be a participant in this activity, not just a spectator.

3) Don't allow late-night use of the computer after the rest of the family is in bed. There are two reasons for this. First, it becomes harder to monitor children's activity. Second, just like city streets, the Internet (especially in chat rooms) are more hazardous when traversed in the dark.

4) Follow the age-old rule of street safety that's especially true in cyberspace: Don't talk to strangers.

5) Never allow your teen to give out their name, address, phone number or other personal information on the Web.

6) If you do allow your teen to frequent chat rooms, remind them that they should leave the area immediately if anyone ever pressures them to talk, harasses them in any way, or asks for personal information. Suggestive, belligerent, sexual, abusive or degrading messages should never be responded to. Always contact your service provider and seek assistance.

7) Never allow face-to-face meetings between your children and someone they "meet" on the Internet. If you are convinced that it is OK for them to meet their pen-pal or virtual friend, accompany them and make sure it happens in a public place.

8) If you suspect that pornography is a problem, lovingly talk to your child first. Then if you are still suspicious, there are ways to investigate your computer. Review the bookmarks in the Web browser. Search the computer's hard drive for files that may contain downloaded images (look for names that include .gif, .jpg, .tif, .zip and .bmp). Using a graphics viewing program, look at the files contained in the browser's "cache" directory. (This directory stores images from recently visited Web pages.) Some browsers even allow you to see a list of recently explored sites and then link to one that may seem troublesome.

Keep in mind that these steps should be taken only as a last resort. Your teen may perceive your efforts as an invasion of his or her privacy and be less willing to talk and work through their problems. Always try open, loving communication first.

In addition, the various types of censoring software can be utilised. Parents can use this software to block out areas of the Internet, specific language, or specific addresses. Some of the software that can be used includes: SafeSurf, Net Nanny, SurfWatch and TeacherSoft. One Australian product is CVue. But remember, these types of software are not perfect, and may be circumvented by clever Net surfers.

Such parental input needs to be buttressed by Government help. But such help is not always available. The US Supreme Court has recently ruled that Americans have a constitutional right to cyberporn. In a 7 to 2 decision, the court ruled that a law restricting porn on the Internet to protect children was unconstitutional. The ruling overturned a previous year's Communications Decency Act which banned sexually explicit material to anyone under the age of 18. The court ruled that banning sexually explicit material was unconstitutional because it violated the rights of adults from seeing such material.

Tom Minnery, vice-president of Focus on the Family in America said of the decision: "Millions of children will be victimised by the failure of this court to protect them from the most vile hardcore pornography and exploitation on the Internet". Cathy Cleaver of the Washington-based Family Research Council said, "As of today, the floodgates are open and pornographers can invite children in".

This ruling could effect moves here in Australia to tighten up the availability of cyberporn. Tasmanian Independent Senator Brian Harradine had recommended to a parliamentary committee that X-rated and some R-rated material be banned from the Internet. The committee's report makes 15 recommendations, including: "All States and Territories amend their Classification and/or Censorship legislation to make it an offence to transmit objectionable material and to cover the transmission of material unsuitable for minors through computer on-line services". (Recommendation 8) Other recommendations call for a classification system similar to the broadcast media, and the use of PIN numbers to restrict access to minors of objectionable material.

Predictably, the porn lobby and the civil libertarians are outraged. One group, Electronic Frontiers Australia, labeled the report a "clear attempt to inflict its perennial moral agenda" and turn the Internet into "a children's playpen".

These recommendations seem to be a good first step. Pornography on the Internet is a huge and growing problem. With the recent Supreme Court decision, this problem will undoubtedly increase. Whereas sexual addictions were less common before the arrival of the Internet, because people were deterred from being caught in public getting hold of pornography, it is becoming a major problem now, since one can access it in the privacy of one's own home, on one's own personal computer. Simply plug in, via a modem, and a whole world of cybersleaze is available to anyone, anytime.

A step in the right direction was taken by the Federal Government in January 2000 when The Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Act 1999 became law. The new laws ban X-rated pictures from Australian Web sites, and restrict R-rated images to those who can prove they are over 18. Violations will result in $27,500 fines. However, many porn merchants are getting around the Act by using offshore Internet servers. Indeed, the Australian Broadcasting Authority admits that it is unable to act against sites that relocate overseas, During the first six months of the censorship system, 160 complaints were investigated. However, this resulted in only 16 takedown notices issued by the ABA.

The problems of the Internet will not readily go away. Therefore concerned parents need to be diligent. While we can all enjoy the many positive uses of the Internet, we must be careful about the many dangers as well.

As mentioned above, there are a number of Internet filtering devices now on the market to help parents protect their children from unwanted material. The following, adopted from Focus on the Family, is a brief look at how such filtering systems work, and a discussion of some myths that have arisen concerning filters.

1. Blocking Pre-selected Sites: Blocking company employees search the Internet for sites fitting one of their blocking categories. An editor reviews these selections, which are then placed on stoplists (a list of sites that should be blocked). There is an obvious potential for sites to be mistakenly placed on a stoplist, but there is no evidence that the number of mistakes is significant.

2. Blocking by Word: Internet pages are prevented from loading when the filter encounters a word on its list of banned words. Most current editions of blocking software allow for word-blocking to be turned off.

3. Allowing Lists: This type of filter uses a pre-selected list of approved sites. This method is almost 100 percent effective at blocking out porn, but may leave out good sites that selectors have not found yet. This method is best for environments where maximum effectiveness is needed such as with very small children.

4. Blocking Entire Categories Like Chat and Newsgroups: This type blocks entire portions of the Internet such as newsgroups, chat rooms, e-mail, and games.

Fact: In a two-week study of Utah public schools, conducted in October of 1998, 54 million entries of Internet files were accessed. Of these entries filters blocked 205,737 of the files. Only 64 were mistaken blocks, a 99.9994 percent accuracy rate. In December 1997, "The Censorware Project," the same group that conducted the Utah study, examined CyberPatrol's list and found 60 sites that were clearly blocked inappropriately. This is in light of the fact that the number of individual websites is "widely believed to be in the millions." In 1997, a study of 24 public libraries that use filtering software on their computers found an average of 1.6 complaints per month.

Fact: Most current blocking software editions allow for word-blocking mechanisms to be turned off. Furthermore, most software companies do not block sites that may contain nude artwork or nudity on legitimate medical educational sites. Other companies distinguish nudity on sites containing National Geographic or Smithsonian publications, sites hosted by museums, and sites addressing sexual health (unless addressed in graphic examples). Again, the most reliable software companies allow for the unblocking or reclassifying of sites that are mistakenly placed on their stoplists."

Fiction: This Is a Slippery Slope - Next We Will Have to Filter Politically Disfavored Materials.

Fact: A library is being asked to filter out only the same material that it would not acquire in print or video format.

Fact: To allow material (regardless of whether it has received constitutional protection) into a library via the Internet is itself a value judgment - that all "speech" should be accessible to everyone. Those who support filtering and blocking technology in schools and libraries are asking only that the standards used by schools and libraries to determine what material will be selected are consistent with Supreme Court precedent and with federal and state polices. Furthermore, educators routinely impose values when they make determinations regarding curricular content.

Fact: Wrong - most libraries do censor pornographic magazines and videos. Of the 8,921 public library systems in the United States, none subscribe to Hustler or own any copies of common adult videos.

Fact: Librarians have always relied on vendors to pre-select, buying books on approval plans and buying "full-text magazines" on CD-ROM. This will only continue as the list of potential materials a library may wish to offer grows.

Fiction: Filters Rely on Secret Lists of Banned Sites, Allowing for Hidden Agendas.

Fact: Of those products recommended by experts, no bias or agenda can be proven. All of the leading blocking software programs allow users to access sites containing material covering such controversial topics as AIDS, feminism, and abortion.

Fiction: The Internet Changes Too Quickly for Filters to Be 100 Percent Effective.

Fact: No filter program will be 100 percent effective, but the best score in the 90s at blocking out pornography.

Fact: Librarians have always dictated what material and behavior is appropriate for their libraries. Although librarians refrain from telling users which materials the library carries that they may access, they have always restricted what materials the library will offer its patrons. This is the very same choice librarians would make by providing filtered Internet access.

This information is important to have on hand, because even if you can get your home or school protected with filtering and blocking technology, there is still the problem of public libraries. At the moment, Australian professional librarians are opposed to the use of filters in public libraries. Therefore children are still at risk of gaining access to any kind of Internet content. Parents therefore must be forewarned.