They are, of course, failing to answer the question of why encouraging people to consume _computer-generated_ child pornography should be considered a justification for legal intervention, not to mention that such an effort would also make putting _Lolita_ on the Internet illegal (text could drive up demand for it as well, after all), or even political speech such as from NAMBLA. (It's political speech just as much as material from neo-Nazis... or from the Demopublicans.) There is also the lack of realization that someone can't be "exploited" except in the Marxist sense on the Internet... only when the material is originally made. Another point is that countries do differ on when is considered old enough for voluntary participation in making pornography - Tracy Lords material is legal in much of Europe, for instance. I'd also point to the media bias evident; they only quoted from people who were in favor of governmental regulation. Fortunately, as even one of the people at this "world congress" admitted, governmental regulation of free speech on the Internet will ultimately fail. Prevent actual harm - the _production_ of child pornography. -Allen
Centura WORLD CONGRESS TO FIGHT INTERNET CHILD PORN Copyright © 1996 Nando.net Copyright © 1996 Reuter Information Service
STOCKHOLM (Aug 11, 1996 12:29 p.m. EDT) - Distribution of child pornography on the Internet seems destined to top the issues at the world's first conference against sexual exploitation of children opening later this month in Stockholm.
Activists are trying devise ways of keeping pedophiles from peddling such material on the global computer network, which is already used as a billboard to advertise prostitution and sex tourism and to exchange adult pornography.
"The Internet is like heaven for the pedophile," said Toby Tyler, a United States police officer who lectures at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) academy on child abuse.
"As far as our ability to restrict the distribution of child pornography and stop the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet...it's not something that can be done."
Campaigners are concerned that unless urgent action is taken to stamp out the Internet's distribution of child porn, whether it features real children or just computer generated images, it could spark greater demand for child pornography.
Tyler said the Internet has ended the days when pedophiles had to make costly cross-border runs to buy child pornography in countries where laws were laxer and penalties lighter.
Now they can obtain and distribute films and photos from their own homes on the Internet with little risk of capture.
But not everyone agrees that regulating the internet or its 20 million users worldwide is the right move.
Some advocates say the Internet represents free speech.
Others argue that the distribution of child pornography on the Internet is not that widespread.
Margaret Healy from Bangkok-based End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT) said in a report prepared for the five-day Stockholm conference which opens Aug. 27 that the regulation of child pornography on computers presents special challenges and called on governments to fund better training.
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