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Internet Pornography: Freedom Of Press Or Dangerous Influence?

Internet Pornography: Freedom of Press or Dangerous Influence?


The topic of pornography is controversial many times because of the
various definitions which each have different contexts. Is it nudity, sexual
intercourse, art, or all of these? Is it magazines, videos, or pictures? For
the purposes of this paper, pornography will be defined as any material that
depicts erotic behavior and is intended to cause sexual excitement. With all of
the arguments presented in this paper, it seems only a vague definition of this
type can be applicable to all views on the subject. Pornography on the Internet
has brought about difficulties pertaining to censorship. All of the arguments
in this paper can be divided into one of two categories: those whose aim is to
allow for an uncensored Internet, and those who wish to completely eliminate
pornography from the Internet all together.
All arguments for an uncensored Internet all cite the basic rights of
free speech and press. While arguments in this paper are international, almost
everyone of them cites the First Amendment of the United States. In many of the
papers it is implied that the United States sets precedent for the rest of the
world as far as laws governing the global world of the Internet. Paul F. Burton,
an Information Science professor and researcher, gives many statistics showing
that presence of pornography on the Internet is not necessarily a bad thing. He
gives one example that shows that "47% of the 11,000" most popular searches on
the Internet are targeted to pornography. This fact shows that pornography has
given the Internet approximately half of its clientele (2). Without this, the
Internet would hardly be the global market that it is today. Most on the
Internet are not merely the for pornography either. It is just a part-time
activity while not attending to serious matters.
At another point in his paper, Burton cites reasons why the Internet is
treated differently than other forms of media....