Kids' Ability To Access iPod Porn Raises Concerns
Explosion In Porn-Casting Makes It Harder For Parents To Control
POSTED: 7:13 pm EST February 6,
2006
CLEVELAND -- IPods and other MP3 players are all the rage, but these devices can hold a lot more than music.Digital dirty talk that's free and accessible to anyone at any age is known as porn-casting, and its exploding in popularity, reported 5 On Your Side's Curtis Jackson.The power of porn has grown with the development of the Internet. Images once limited to adult movies and magazines are now practically at anyone's fingertips.Protective software and indecency laws can block your child's access to hard-core porn on the home computer."Parents should be equally concerned about the exposure of inappropriate, sexual images, adult images, on the wireless handsets as much as they were on the Internet years ago," said Jack Samad, of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, a Cincinnati-based pornography watchdog group.Pornography Webcasts such as Open Source Sex, Whorecast and Podnography are transmitted over the Internet through free Web sites, but can be found on mainstream music sites like iTunes.Samad said dirty downloads available through iPods and MP3 players are making it more difficult for parents to protect their children from cyber-porn."Kids have total anonymity of when they do it, how they do it, and where they do it," said Samad.Samad also said, "It's addictive behavior. The consumption of this stuff will lead you deeper into activities that you normally would not progress to."Music Web sites such as iTunes have policies against distributing or posting pornographic material. But oversights do happen. There's also the issue of enforcement: When it comes to the law, what is considered obscene is in the eye of the beholder.Case Western Reserve University law professor Raymond Ku is an expert on cyber-law. He said that while there are no state and federal laws governing porn Webcasts, the rules are open to interpretation."You have to fall within some very careful definitions of what it means to be obscene as well as being in violation of local community standards," said Ku.Porncasts like Open Source Sex walk a very thin line between sex education and pornography."A jury would ultimately have to decide whether or not it violated the local community standards … whether or not it lacked serious social, artistic value," said Ku.Opponents say its up to parents to know what and who their children are listening to."It's a new market emerging and parents need to be concerned," said Samad.Ku said, "We need to be more vigilant in knowing what our children are up to."Pornography opponents say porn-casting should not be taken lightly. They point to studies that show kids who consume pornography on a regular basis are more likely to become sexually active six to seven years earlier.
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