Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!labrea!rutgers!apple!voder!kontron!optilink!cramer
From: cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Net.Porn ?
Keywords: porn, underage, lawsuit
Message-ID: <509@optilink.UUCP>
Date: 27 Sep 88 23:14:10 GMT
References: <1278@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Distribution: na
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA
Lines: 36

In article <1278@cbnews.ATT.COM>, wbt@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker) writes:
> Given recent court action in matters such as Dial-a-Porn, and a
> growing "moralist" objection to mature subject matter, I feel that
> unless some measures are taken, the net stands at risk of becoming
> a future target of "anti-porn" crusaders. All it would take would be
> one closed-minded fundamentalist finding out that 12-year-olds with
> computers and modems can get access to alt.sex, soc.motss, soc.women,
> and other "adult theme" groups.

I doubt it would take a "closed-minded fundamentalist" -- it could be
almost any parent concerned that a 12-year-old lacks the maturity and
understanding to make rational sense of sexually explicit materials.

I speak from my own experiences, getting my personality warped around
by reading such materials as a teenager.  (Of course, everything is
normal now. :-))

> Is this a serious potential problem, or am I paranoid ?
> Bill Thacker						cbosgd!cbema!wbt

The potential problem is serious, and it would be a darn good idea
for the public access sites to make sure that they aren't exposing
themselves to potential legal liability (consider the various
lawsuits pending against some of the 976 sexphone services) and
opening the net to annoying problems from organized boycotts.  One
solution: verify the ages of your subscribers, and make sure that
potentially suit-generating groups (alt.sex, soc.women, soc.motss)
aren't available to the under-18 set.

No, I'm not saying that these groups should be unavailable to
adults -- but minors are in an entirely different category legally,
and I'm inclined to agree with the general reasoning of why, though
not necessarily all the details.
-- 
Clayton E. Cramer
..!ames!pyramid!kontron!optilin!cramer