Internet Pornography :: Essays Papers

Since the internet is so easy, accessible and essentially unregulated, it leaves room for many controversies, including electronic commerce, credit card fraud, invasion of privacy and more. One of the most controversial problems is internet pornography. Imagine receiving unwanted e-mail and suddenly get sent nude pictures of people and links which invite you to more of what they have already shown. Think about your son, daughter or even yourself being on a music site and you accidentally click a link and before you now it you are being subjected to hard core pornography. It just became apparent that pornography on the net not only encompasses controversies about pornography itself, but also all the other controversies and problems the internet already has. Sex has always been something which has intrigued people, and that is probably in essence how pornography became to be. As society developed in the 21st Century red-light districts flourished which centralized anything which had to do with sex in one geographic location. As sex and pornography became a more and more pertinent issue, the supreme court ruled in 1976 that cities could use their zoning powers to keep out sex-oriented businesses, and that more or less was the end of red-light districts in America. Nowadays with the Internet coming along as a more widespread medium the issue of pornography resurfaces and along with it, it carries many other disputes. One of the main controversies about pornography on the web is if it should be permitted in first place, since it is morally wrong to some people, and because it allows adolescents to access pornography, both willingly and unwillingly. Since there are no specific laws for the internet, a simple disclaimer is the only barrier between a user and X-rated material, in addition some pornographic sites have addresses which are similar to popular sites, such as www.whitehouse.gov (the real site) and www.whitehouse.com (the porn site), causing people to be lured to their sites through a simple misunderstanding or even a minute typing error. Before one can come to a consensus about what is right, there has to be found a way to enforce any laws, which would be written for the Internet. This aspect is so critical, because otherwise any laws would be in vain.