Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncrcae!ece-csc!ncsuvx!gatech!cwjcc!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!osu-cis!att!cbnews!wbt From: wbt@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker) Newsgroups: news.admin Subject: Net.Porn ? Keywords: porn, underage, lawsuit Message-ID: <1278@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 22 Sep 88 14:37:22 GMT Reply-To: wbt@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker) Distribution: na Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus Lines: 34 One spinoff of the recent debate about Portal has made me aware of what could be a Real (TM) problem for Usenet. This is no joke, and has very little to do with Portal, per se'. The problem lies with the availability of newsgroups such as alt.sex to public-access sites, where these groups can be read (and even posted to) by youngsters. Is Usenet in jeopard of legal action on the grounds of pandering obscenity or contributing to the delinquency of minors ? 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. Were the net to be thus targeted, the most likely approach, given the chaotic structure of the net, would be for the activists to focus attention on the larger corporate contributors. Many of our employers would thus find themselves in an unpleasant position; the effect on the net would be obvious. Is this a serious potential problem, or am I paranoid ? ------------------------------ valuable coupon ------------------------------- Bill Thacker cbosgd!cbema!wbt "C" combines the power of assembly language with the flexibility of assembly language. Disclaimer: Farg 'em if they can't take a joke ! ------------------------------- clip and save --------------------------------