The Storm of Internet Porn

The Storm of Internet Porn

In the most recent issue of the Christian magazine, Ensign, Gordon B. Hinkley, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, brought up the topic of pornography and the internet. He named his talk, "A Tragic Evil among Us." Just by the title alone, one can see that Hinkley is extraordinarily against the porn industry. In the very beginning of his article, he states, "[Pornography] is like a raging storm, destroying individuals and families, utterly ruining what was once wholesome and beautiful." As a Christian myself, I also share this view about pornography. I share it so much that I decided to become a sexual addiction psychologist. Through my own religious affairs and through earnest studies, I have found that pornography does nothing but harm to its audience. Because of this, my wife and I have chosen to leave pornographic material outside our home. We do not pay for cable; we carefully choose our magazine subscriptions, and we even try to not watch movies that are rated-R. We have also chosen to cancel our internet service so our children cannot surf the web for porn. However, this is what troubles me. I need the internet for school work, shopping, information, etc. Even though I can drive to school to access the internet, being without the internet has really been hard. Yet, getting rid of it completely seems to be the only sure way of ridding us of the pornography it can contain. How else can we as parents gain absolute control over the pornographic content that seems to seep into every webpage that we and our children look at? Since AOL, MSN, and the other larger ISP (internet service provider) companies have not yet been able to offer any sure solutions, I believe that our government should take drastic measures on our behalf. I believe that the U.S. should start a revolution, making webpages illegal in the U.S., unless given a rating. Furthermore, all web browsers should have similar laws placed on them. No web browser in the U.S. should be allowed to view unrated webpages any longer. Since the U.S. is such a large super power of the world, I am convinced that if the U.S. started, the rest of the world would follow.

I recently read that pornography has become a $57 billion industry worldwide. $12 billion of this is in the United States. It has also been reported that it produces more revenue in the United States than the "combined revenues of all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises or the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC" ("Internet Pornography Statistics: 2003," Internet, http://www.healthymind.com/5-port-stats.html).

The National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families states that "approximately 40 million people in the United States are sexually involved with the internet... One in five children 10--17 [has] received a sexual solicitation over the internet... Three million of the visitors to adult websites are 17 or younger... Sex is the number 1 topic searched on the internet" (NCPCE Online, "Current Statistics," Internet, http://www.nationalcoalition.org/stat.html).

The matter is plainly and obviously serious to many people in the world. Statistics have been created by many other organizations but the problem still remains. What product exists that we as parents can use to keep this material away from our computers?

Since I have no desire to become a computer programmer and design something myself, I must buy the programs or subscribe to the services that claim to block sex on the Internet. For some less savvy computer users, these programs are remarkable products. However, my experience with computers has made it relatively simple for me to crack into these programs or find loopholes. Sure, I can control myself, but what if my son or daughter cannot? My son is getting older and will surely know more than I will soon about computers. Just thinking of his future is exciting. However, his mind may also be warped with false concepts and expectations about sex from such places as the internet. Since the computer industry has reasonably been dominated by the Windows operating systems, it would be fair therefore to look to Microsoft for an answer.

A lot of operating systems come with browsers that include internet content tools.