Offensive Material and the Media

Paper Summary:

This paper explores the issue of child pornography and the Internet. The paper begins with a discussion of the recent spurt of offensive material readily available to anyone who wants to access it via the Internet and suggests that serious legislation needs to be established to control who can view these sites. The paper mentions a number of bills that have been passed by various states to try and curb the spread and use of these sites. The writer also looks at the conflict between censoring such material and the constitutional amendment to allow freedom of speech.

From the Paper:

"It is illicit to be in possession of child pornography. Child pornography is a visual portrayal of a child (person under 18) who engages in actual or simulated sexual behavior. Sexual behavior has an inclusion of lascivious exhibition of the genital or pubic area, nudity or partial nudity in concern with sexual arousal, touching the genitals, pubic area, buttocks or female breast, or outward representation of defecation or urination. The legality of child pornography is explicit in the visual portrayal of children under eighteen who are associated with sexual behavior that is illicit. Congress and every state have legalities that associate with child pornography, and the Supreme Court in New York v. Ferber, (1982) and Osborne v. Ohio (1990) has upheld them."

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