| The proliferation of home personal computers (PCs), easy access to online Bulletin Board Services (BBSs) available through public access information networks like the Internet, and increasing computer literacy among young, often unsupervised children combine to create a situation wherein young people increasingly are being exposed to online pornography. Pornography is readily accessible to children because the Intenet is neither restricted nor regulated. Unlike a retail outlet, movie theater, or video rental shop, there is no one on the Internet to check a child's age physically before granting access to what many people consider age-appropriate material.; To date, little is understood about the technical aspects of controlling unwanted or illicit material on public access information networks such as the Internet. This study uses exploratory research methodology to determine real-world factors associated with regulation of electronic networks. Exploratory research was chosen because of its appropriateness to newly emerging environments. Utilizing non-directed information gathering interview techniques, the researcher queried selected "elites" and influence makers in the fields of technology, joumalism, academia, law, psychology, and the online environment to assess the technical practicality as well as the social and political feasibility of regulating online pornography.; The findings point to three potential technical impediments to effective regulation: transnational borders, encryption, and anonymous remailers. Commercial software packages grant parents some degree of online access control at the local level, are coming to market. These packages indicate a trend toward private industry's providing localized solutions. One alternative is formulating national policy in support federal regulation. This immediately clashes with one well established tenet: freedom of speech and with the historical judicial standard of defining pornography based on "local" community standards. |
