Too much porn

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
9 Mar 2003

The Australia Institute has just released a disturbing report on young Australians and pornography on the Internet. Tens of thousands of websites show pornography, some of it very extreme, which are easily accessible by children. As one teenager commented "You name it, it's there". The internet filters used by the largest service providers are often ineffective, used extensively by companies to try to prevent staff wasting time at work. Too many parents seem unaware of, or uninterested in, the problem for their children.

More disturbing than all this, the Report found that the Australian Broadcasting Authority, which has the responsibility to regulate sexual content on the Internet, seems more concerned to promote use of the Internet than to protect children from its dangers. NetAlert is a group set up by a 1999 Act of Parliament to promote safe use of the Internet. After consultation with the Internet industry, this group is even proposing to change its name to "Growing Australia Online" to remove the "alarmist" element in its name.

The ISPs (Internet Service Providers) want people to download as much information as possible to make money. That is their business, but it is no business of NetAlert. They have abandoned the hares and are running with the hounds.

The Report found that nearly three quarters (73%) of boys and one-tenth of the girls have watched an X-rated video. The differences between girls and boys are also found with Internet use, where forty percent of the boys admitted to deliberately using the Internet for sexually explicit material, but only two percent of the girls pleaded guilty. Both figures could be underestimates.

Images of almost any sexual practice are easily available to children; extreme material including images of rape, incest, bestiality and sadomasochism.

Of particular concern in the research literature is the link between certain types of violent and extreme pornography and sexual aggression, especially by impressionable boys and young men. Violent pornography is also liable to produce bad and harmful long-term effects on young people.

It is false to claim that nothing can be done to prevent pornography coming in from overseas and claims that any new set of regulations would be unworkable and too costly should be taken with a grain of salt. Particularly objectionable is the unsolicited advertising of darker and weirder pornography enticing or shocking unsuspecting young viewers.

The Report proposes to reverse our present situation so that internet service providers would be required to filter all internet content for pornography. Adults would be able to opt out of this filter system and gain access to X-rated pornography by providing evidence, through a card, that they were over 18 years of age. This is a useful compromise.

However the first responsibility for teenagers remains with their parents. Open discussion between the generations about Internet use should help. Computers are also better placed in a lounge room, where it is easier for parents to check the history file for recent website visits.