Positive and Negative Impacts of Internet Censorship

Censorship of pornographic materials avoids the corruption of children’s mind Internet pornography is sexually explicit content that is accessible over the internet in many formats such as images, video files, video games, streaming video and so on. According to Internet pornography statistics, 12% of the websites on the internet are pornographic, that is 24,644,172 sites. 35% of all internet downloads are pornographic. Every second, $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography and 28,258 internet users are viewing porn (Stats on Internet Pornography, 2013). These statistics are not simply numbers, they indicate real people, and most of them are children and teenagers. The average age of the children’s first exposure to Internet pornography is 11 and the largest group of viewers of Internet pornography is those between ages 12 and 17 (Family Safe Media, 2005)! For parents who are busy with their works, it is hard for them to check what children are exposed to when there is so much out there on the internet and parents hardly spends time with their children. This increases the risk of their children being exposed to sexually explicit content.

Evidence clearly states that pornography has harmful effect on children and teenagers including premature sexualization, negative body image and unhealthy notions about relationships (Protecting our children’s innocence online). To better protect children and teenagers, censorship to internet pornography is necessary. Some of the websites like YouTube prevent the access to videos judged to be inappropriate for youth. By filtering those phonographic materials, parents can make sure that their children are safe from obscene contents. This could prevent underage sex too as some children may become more adventurous about sex after watching those inappropriate contents. In this way, we can avoid the corruption of children’s mind and protect them. Some countries have or currently plan on censor the internet pornography, etc Kuwait and Iceland. Pornography is forbidden in Kuwait due to religious aspects. Internet Companies in Kuwait have censored pornographic website since right before the end of the milliemun.

Some Internet cafes within Kuwait have used proxy servers to get around the censorship. Kuwait’s Ministry of Communications have been doing random checks on Internet cafes, and closed down the cafes that allow access to pornographic materials (Kuwait shuts porn internet cafes, 2002). Iceland may become the first democracy in the western world to ban online pornography. The Icelandic government is planning to introduce Internet filters to prevent citizens from downloading or watching pornography online. Ogmundur Jonasson, Iceland’s interior minister is drafting legislation to stop the access of online pornographic images and videos by young people through computers, games consoles and smart phones (Alexandra Burlacu, 2013).

References

1. Anonymous, 2013. Stats on Internet Pornography. Retrieved February 18, 2013, from http://www.onlinemba.com/blog/stats-on-internet-pornography
2. Family Safe Media, 2005. Pornography Statistics. Retrieved February 18, 2013, from http://www.familysafemedia.com/pornography_statistics.html
3. Anonymous, 2002. Kuwait shuts porn internet cafes. Retrieved February 18, 2013, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1986838.stm 4. Alexandra Burlacu, 2013. Internet Porn Ban: Iceland May Lead The Way. Retrieved February 22, 2013, from http://www.mobilenapps.com/articles/7392/20130217/internet-porn-ban-iceland-online-pornography.htm