The Internet, pornography, and our kids - what is a parent to do?

by Jim Kinyon, courtesy of West River Catholic , Rapid City, SD

Recently during supper I asked my fourth grade daughter how her school day went. Her answer caused me to take notice. With tears in her eyes, she said, "Something went bad in computer class." She told me, "Something really bad" came upon her computer screen after she typed in the web site the teacher wrote on the board. Her teacher hurried across the room, covered up the computer screen and ordered the class to stop typing NOW!" With tears in her eyes and a frog in her throat, my daughter asked me to check with the school and find out what happened.

My daughter goes to a local school, and I have tremendous confidence in the teachers and administration, but because of my daughter’s request I mentioned the incident to a friend employed at the school to make sure they were aware of it.

The principle of the school overheard our conversation and invited me into her office. She was concerned about the computer incident and wanted to investigate the matter further. Before the day was over, the school informed me the site was a "pop up." While I am no computer whiz, even I know that a "pop up site" is the equivalent of a paid commercial on the Internet. The commercial "pops up" automatically before allowing you to access the web site that you have requested.

The site that my daughter typed in was an educational site about the U.S. capitals. The teacher had taken time to preview the site before class to make certain it was appropriate. The school informed me that they had paid for a firewall and a filter, which should block inappropriate sites. Unfortunately the porn industry has the cutting edge technology that can slip their trash past anything but the latest equipment. I found that my confidence and trust in my daughter’s school was well placed, and have since learned that all schools struggle to combat such filth.

I am amazed at the tolerance our society has for the toxic waste that the porn industry pipes into our communities and homes. Nearly everyone I have talked to receives unsolicited porn e-mails. Most of us have unintentionally stumbled into porn sites when trying to access appropriate web sites.

Because of this, I recently began to investigate the Internet sex indus-try and was amazed to learn that things in "cyberville" are worse than I could have imaged. I dis-covered that the sex industry and the sexual predators they breed are targeting our kids. Here are a few facts to help illustrate the fact that this industry is targeting our kids:

- One eighth of all of the 1.4 billion domain sites are porn sites.

- 25% of kids (9-17) with Internet access at home have been solicited for sex online.

- "Children’s chat sites" are frequented by sex offenders preying on unsuspecting children.

- Last year 17,000 web sites were identified that primarily distributed child pornography.

- Porn sites use popular children’s programs, activities, and interest to expose kids to their wares. (By misspelling the name of a cartoon 15 ways, you may be taken to 15 porn sites.)

Internet porn is a multi-billion dollar industry and is among the top growth industries. Since the world wide web was created, there has been a rapid explosion of sex crimes. The sex industry seeks new consumers all the time and knows that unsupervised kids and teens are easy prey.

By marketing to this vulnerable population, they insure their own future and profits. They also exploit kids who are develop-mentally struggling with the proper use of their sexuality. In essence, the porn industry is training, breeding, and developing the next generation of sexual predators and victims.

As parents, we know that no matter how hard we try we cannot protect our children from all the evils in the world. My wife and I used this computer incident as an opportunity to teach our nine year-old daughter about the sick industry that decided to force this pornographic picture on her.

Despite her parents and the school’s best efforts, the porn industry decided what my child should view. We assured her she had done nothing wrong and indeed she did the right thing by telling the teacher and telling us about what had happened to her. We decided we need to learn more about the Internet, as there are many who are using this as a vehicle to do children harm or to profit by exposing and exploiting children at a vulnerable point in their lives. We also joined a local grass roots organization called Concerned Citizens, which seeks to regulate our currently unrestricted local sex shops.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that the Ku Klux Klan was not the greatest threat to racial justice: the greatest threat were the moderates who refused to get involved.

As parents, we must all get in-volved and stand up for our children by limiting the sex industries access to our homes, communities and children.

Together we can provide a healthier environment for families and for the future of our children.