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Access to the Internet has increased exponentially over the past few years and so has a Webmaster’s potential liability if their adult content is exposed to children.AVS FORUM

Access to the Internet has increased exponentially over the past few years and so has a Webmaster’s potential liability if their adult content is exposed to children.

A study conducted by Nielsen/NetRatings and released in August 2001 reported that the number of people with Internet access at home is up 30 million from the first three months of the year to 459 million worldwide. The number of children using the Internet has also increased dramatically and it is safe to assume it will continue to grow. According to the latest United States Department of Commerce figures there has been a 39% increase in Internet use among children 3-8 years of age and a 24% rise in use for children between 9-17 years of age. In fact, schools around the country are increasingly providing Internet access and computer laboratories to their students. Some schools are even requiring that students purchase laptops.

Increase of Children’s Use of the Internet between 1998-2000

AgesPercentage of Increase3-839%9-1724%U.S. Department of Commerce figures.

So useful, easy and quick is communication and work on the Internet that it has become a must have for most people who can afford it. In fact, where in other times, a gas stove, an automatic clothes washer, a telephone or a car was the object of possession that symbolized the separation between the upper and lower classes, today it is the computer and Internet access. This of course has changed rapidly as prices for electronics have lowered more and more but nevertheless there is a perception out there that since one of the big differences between the richer and lower poorer classes is that the richer classes use computers it follows that all the poorer classes need to stop being poor is for them to have computers.

As a result of this perception there is a strong push among government social services to increase computer and Internet use among the poor. It is possible that in the foreseeable future all American’s who desire to will have Internet access provided to them at taxpayer expense if they cannot afford it and that all children in public schools will be provided with it as well. As a result of its inherent popularity, and of the government’s foreseeable encouragement to increase its use among all people, it can safely be assumed that Internet use growth will continue to be strong until it is almost universal.

The general growth of Internet users is of course a potential goldmine for Webmasters but the growth of child age Internet users is a potential liability for individual Webmasters and could be the cause of a government and popular backlash against the Internet adult content industry. A study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) reported that one in four children between the ages of 10 to 17 have had an accidental encounter with online pornography within the last 12 months. Figures such as this hurt the reputation of the adult content industry because even people who would otherwise be sympathetic to it would stop being so if they suspected it was hurting children. As it is, many people inherently have negative feelings toward the adult content industry, even if they consume its products, and statistics like those reported by the NCMEC are likely to make them be sympathetic and even supportive to having more government control and a higher taxation of it if they see it as a threat to children.

At the present time, most of the efforts by government to block adult content from children has centered on promoting the use of filters that prevent a user from accessing adult websites. For example, legislation proposed by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) requires that schools apply filters that block out adult content sites from computers that are being used by minors in public schools and libraries. Representative Bob Bank’s (R-NJ) legislation was passed by the house of representatives as an amendment to the Juvenile Justice Bill requiring schools and libraries to verify that they have installed filtering or blocking devices on all computers with Internet access. These measures give an indication of the public’s concern over these issues and they help to address them but they will not solve the problem completely for several reasons. One reasons is that there are people that oppose the use of browser filters in public libraries because they interpret it as a violation of civil liberties and another is that filters are simply programs that block out web sites with certain words, they don’t really “understand” if the content is pornographic and that means it can block out a perfectly appropriate web site just because it contains words that are often found on adult web sites.

How well the adult content industry handles problems with children’s access to their content will have far reaching consequences in this industry for ever after. Currently, studies indicate that less than 3% of the people who choose to stop using the Internet cancel their subscriptions out of concern for their children. This number indicates that people are not overly alarmed by the potential problem of children accessing pornography for the present but of course it doesn’t mean parents don’t care about this issue at all. Parents certainly are concerned, and those who are computer savvy install filters on their browsers and monitor their children’s use. However, not all parents are proactive and there is a growing movement of parents who lobby against the Internet adult content industry in hopes of trying to protect all children.

It is important that the adult content industry recognizes these concerns and takes them seriously. It is common sense, and there is ample psychiatric research that indicates that, exposure to adult sexual acts is bad for children. It can cause them to lose their innocence and become sexualized and sexually active too early in their development. This can lead to teen pregnancy, sexual deviancy and crime and to the host of other problems that comes with these issues.

That children should be shielded from adult content is a point that everyone should be able to agree on. Even Larry Flynt the notorious publisher of Hustler magazine has been quoted as having said “there’s an awful lot of material on the Internet that children should not have access to. There is material that even I, in my wildest imagination would not consider publishing.”

It should be safe to say that all webmasters should not want to provide children access to adult web sites with sexually explicit material. Webmaster’s who do not take responsibility for blocking children’s access hurt children, themselves, and the adult content industry in general. The government has enforced laws against companies that are not willing to take the necessary precautions that are involved in keeping minors away from sexual content. The punishment can vary in severity from costly fines to imprisonment.

So the question now is what steps should a Webmaster take to block children from their content and protect them from liability at the same time? Unfortunately, there is no foolproof method because a minor determined to see adult content could be infinitely resourceful. But there are some steps that can be taken to greatly reduce the likelihood that a child will come across adult content accidentally.

Some possible steps a Webmaster could take are to:

1. Issue a “content-free” warning page that makes it clear that going forward will expose the user to adult content before the user sees any of the content.
2. Provide a button to exit the site, which returns the user to where they came from.
3. Make sure that the site doesn’t prevent the user from utilizing the browser’s back button or by the use of automatic pop-ups or in any other way.
4. Use an Adult Verification System (AVS).

The AVS system is a time-tested method that has been used for many years by the adult magazine publishing companies. Using a potential member’s credit card, which they obtain over the telephone they are able to separate adults from minors. The AVS is the Internet version of this method. An AVS screens potential users to see if they own the credit card they submit before they are given access to the contents of the site. Only adults are legally able to own credit cards so the AVS assumes that a person who owns a credit card is old enough to gain access to adult content. After the credit card transaction has been approved a password is generated and full access to the site is granted to the user. This method seems to be an adult Webmaster’s best solution to conduct business without sacrificing ethics.

As of yet, the government doesn’t promote this method of verification but it is the only tool the adult community has to prevent the distribution of pornography to minors. An AVS cannot solve the problem of a minor misrepresenting himself, stealing and misusing an adult’s credit card but it will screen out children who accidentally come across a site.

By following these few steps webmasters can reduce the risks involved by a good percentage, especially in the case of very young children who are less likely to try to outsmart the system and in the case of a minor who has accidentally come across an adult content site. This world is not a perfect place. It is difficult for Webmasters, the government or even parents to prevent minors from getting exposed to sexually explicit material not only because is it prevalent in songs, movies and even in Saturday morning cartoons but because children and teenagers are curious and fascinated by it and seek it out without understanding that it can hurt them. This is a challenge to all people including Webmasters but with a few preventative measures the risks can be minimized. It’s the right thing to do for everyone: children, the adult content industry and Webmasters who can be held liable for exposing children to their content, it’s also smart.

ProJoey is Director of Marketing for ProAdult (aka DrewNet). ProAdult is widely regarded as one of the leading AVS operations in the adult Internet arena.

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