Blocking of Internet Porn: a legal dilemma?

Internet pornography has always been a hot potato. Should states legislate towards the filtering or blocking of pornographic internet content or should these decisions be taken by the parents or the employers?

According to internet service providers in the UK, the plans to block internet pornography at source, as suggested by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, is doomed to failure especially due to the large scale filtering that will be involved.

Pornography is as old as civilization itself. A visit to the large scale excavations at Pompeii immediately reveals that ancient cultures where already consuming erotic art or depictions which some may consider immoral. With the mass introduction of VHS in the late seventies the consumption of pornography moved away from the small dark adult cinemas and into our homes enabling individuals to view pornographic material in private. This was the golden age of the pornographic industry. More and more films were being released and some of them involved huge budgets. But the internet changed all that. The advent of the World Wide Web, especially high bandwidth technology and applications such as video streaming, peer to peer networks as well as the proliferation of various adult websites meant that everyone with a good internet connection could have access to limitless amounts of pornography. The industry had again managed to revolutionise itself and fully make use of these new distribution channels.

The legal position regarding internet pornography varies between various countries as there are no international statutes as yet dealing with this subject. With the exception of child pornography and the depiction of extreme sexual acts, only a few states have actually legislated or controlled the viewing of pornographic material online. There were various campaigns in different countries to try to install mechanisms to restrict the availability of internet pornography to minors. But is the law the best tool to solve this problem? The viewing of internet pornography is not illegal but the internet does not distinguish between adults and minor internet users and therefore the control of what our children are able to view online has been the subject of debate from when the internet was first created.

The proposed plans by the UK Government to introduce a national pornographic filtering scheme would include the setting up of an age verification scheme which will control access to pornographic sites.

The response from the ISP community to these plans has been vociferous. Any internet access and control schemes should be managed by parents with tools ISPs provide and not imposed top-down. Whilst ISPs in the UK currently block child abuse content which is clearly illegal, the blocking of 'lawful' pornographic content would entail a more complicated discussion as this would lead to the blocking of legitimate content in order to ensure that there is no inadvertent access. This would essentially mean that the UK would join the ranks of countries like Iran and China were government is actively filtering the internet and deciding for its citizens what should be seen and what should be blocked.

Looking within our shores, there are present discussions (or investigations) relating to the availability of pornographic films being aired on demand in some hotel rooms. Article 208 of our criminal code states that whosoever for gain puts in circulation or introduces into Malta any pornographic photograph or film shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment from six to twelve months or to a fine ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 Euros. Under our laws 'pornographic' is defined as something which its dominant characteristic is the exploitation of, or undue emphasis on sex. Surely two things can be drawn out of this. Firstly, the definition of what is pornographic is very subjective. Secondly, it is highly debatable that Maltese ISPs, through the internet connectivity services they offer, can fall under Article 208 and be held as doing anything criminal by allowing access to pornographic sites. They are solely acting as mere conduits of the content and nothing more. Locally, no discussions have been initiated regarding the blocking of pornographic sites by local ISPs leaving the parents or employers to decide what should be and what should not be blocked. These measures are technologically driven and the law should have nothing to do with it. Just as much as employers can block any website to their employees since this is company property, parents could and should monitor the usage of the internet by their children as well as block and filter any content which would not be considered appropriate for minors.

Whilst any plans to ensure that our children do not get access to pornographic material are surely laudable, I do not think that legal impositions from Government is the way to go. Technology will always be a step ahead and the best way to protect oneself and our children against the dangers of the Internet is through self-help and technology itself. There are various products available even as shareware, freeware and open source versions which can help parents control and filter their children's internet.