Gov't Report on Youth, Pornography, And The Internet

Frisky070802 writes "I don't recall seeing this already, nor am I finding it when searching for it ... the National Academies commissioned a report on how youths are affected by child pornography, predators, and other threats on the net. They've issued a 400-page report on their findings, which are very extensive, and were used to support the argument for the new kids.us domain."

Comments

Wrong report

[GuyMannDude]

From the conclusion in section 14.1:

The Internet has enormous potential to contribute to public welfare and private well-being. One dimension of that potential involves the use of the Internet to enhance and transform education for the nation's youth, and many public policy decisions have been taken to provide Internet access for educational purposes. Easy access to the Internet (and related online services) has many advantages for children--access to educational materials; collaborative projects, publications, online friendships, and pen pals; access to subject matter experts; recreation, hobby, and sports information; and so on.

It might be useful for someone to produce a 400+ page report examining the above stated and widely-held belief that Internet access is going to magically "enhance and transform education for the nation's youth". I, for one, am not sure that filling cash-strapped schools with computer equipment is somehow going to result in brighter children than if we just stuck to the basics.

GMD

Re:Sex vs. Violence

[neocon]

Umm, you haven't seen too many American movies, have you?

Showing actual non-simulated sex is pornography, and is legal with age limits. Showing actual non-simulated murder would be a snuff film, and if anyone did it, they'd go to jail.

Hell, nudity and sex won't even get you past a PG-13 any more, as demonstrated by the new film of Solaris.

Re:Sex vs. Violence

[neocon]

Actually, that's not currently correct -- while there are many arguments whether the law should ban simulated sex with minors, it does not at the moment, as per a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year.

And snuff films (if they existed) would be illegal -- see here for the snopes.com write-up of the furor surrounding the US release of the fake snuff film `Snuff' in 1976.

Why .kids.us isn't a great idea; why I'm for it

[Ethidium]

Having a .kids.us domain won't be the greatest thing since the www, and I think we all know it.

As many people have pointed out in this forum already, Adolescents often _want_ to see the porn that's out there, and are smart enough to just close the window when (if?) they don't want it. While some adolescents may be traumatized by having porn made of them, looking at it certainly won't hurt them. If it broadens their horizons a bit, I would call that a Good Thing (TM).

Now, here's why I'm all for doing this:

Congress has been trying to censor the internet longer than I've been using it. Every time, the supreme court whacks them down, but they just don't seem to get the picture. Instituting .kids.us will placate congress and allow everybody who votes for it to go home and tell their constituents "Yes, I voted to save out children from the internet!" While not infringing on the free speech (and access to speech) rights of adults. On top of that, it has the potential to be a great place for putting fun/educational sites geared at children--real children, like elementary schoolers, as opposed to teenagers who are generally most competent to use the internet in its full capacity. It can't hurt, and it looks like it'll help. Write your congresscritter today and tell them you support .kids.us!

Re:Sex vs. Violence

[Sylver Dragon]

I have to agree, I've found this particularly disturbing myself.
For example, look at the venerable Loony Toons. How many times does Bugs make Fudd shoot himself? Or cause other bodily harm to Fudd? But this is just normal good slap-stick comedy.
Also, how many TV shows do we have out there now that have no problem showing a shoot-out In all its gory detail?
But God help us if a breast pops out. Personally I'd much rather we turned this sort of thing around a bit. Lets go ahead and show naked people on TV, both women and men. I don't mean hardcore porn, that is probably a bit too much, but why not allow TV shows to show nudity? And, at the same time, lets start treating violence with the draconian measures we have used for sex. No more showing people getting shot, no more blood everywhere, save that sort of stuff for the cable channels and movies. Sure they would still be able to imply violence, (i.e. you see a guy with a gun pointed at him, camera pans to a window, you hear a gun shot.) but not show it.
Afterall, sex is a natural thing, and a good thing. Teenages shouldn't be made to feel ashamed for wanting to explore it. And it shouldn't bother parents to discus it with thier children. If anything, the parents should be the ones who control the child's introduction to it. A teen-age boy is going to get a hold of porn. He's going to find something to look at while he masturbates his willy raw. You aren't going to stop them, so why not make a descion as to what it will be?
Let me stop and ask a question, how many of us searched our parents room when they were out? How many of us found the Playboy or Penthouse, or better yet the movie Dad had stashed away somewhere? I did, those were my first experiences of human sexuality. And, if I am cursed with kids, I have every intention of having a few items "hidden" in the house. I'll make sure those items are carefully selected to present a view of sex, to my child, that most agrees with my beliefs. If I have a kid, I it want to know that sex is a good thing, and that violence should be used only when other methods fail. One way to do that is to control what input that child gets, and I intend to do just that. And it would be nice if the media helped out just a bit.