Access by children to pornography:

Pornography which is legally restricted to adults in the physical world can easily be accessed by children on the Internet. Also, children can easily access obscene materials, which are illegal even for adults in the United States. Children can be exposed to this content intentionally or unintentionally and can also receive unsolicited links to adult sites.

Children can inadvertently view sexually-explicit content in several ways:

• Mistaken or mistyped URLs (Uniform Resource Locators): The press reported the NASA.gov and NASA.com confusion, where many children seeking the Mars Mission photos found themselves confronted with a banner pornography site and direct free links to hard core sexual photos. While that site has been shut down, it is not an isolated incident and other such examples still exist.
• The constant need to say "no." Using common search engines to lookfor quite innocent information often brings in links to pornographic sites as well - for example, searches for "toys,""pets,""boys,""girls," and even "Barney®" (the purple dinosaur) all bring links to porn sites among others. The need to constantly say "no" battles with a child's natural curiosity.
• Misdirected searches: Many search engines use hidden computer code to identify sites, relying on keywords and descriptions which are coded by the website operators, but are not visible to the people viewing the site. Again, in an effort to increase traffic to their sites (and thus advertising revenue), pornographic website operators use popular terms. When children search for favorite search terms, these sites pop up along with the sites the children are searching for. The website traffic statistics don't distinguish between an adult hit and a child's hit.
• "Push" pornography and e-mailed links. With recent developments intechnology, content can be "pushed" to intended recipients either through special interactive applications, such as Java® and Active X®, or as links contained in e-mail. Children open their e-mail and find direct access to adult content sites. Some browsers display enclosed images automatically. These e-mails may bear subject lines that can be very deceptive, and children can't determine their contents merely by looking at the subject line.
• If a child, out of curiosity or carelessness, clicks on such links, the result will often be either a pornographic image (such as a commercial website "freebie") or heavy four-letter language (for example, in the description of newsgroup or website contents). Once children are exposed to the material, it can never be erased from their minds.

Distribution of child pornography:

Child pornography is different from other pornography, and consequently receives more stringent legal treatment. It is distinguished as an issue of child abuse - in its production and/or in the way it is used by pedophiles to desensitize their victims. The growth of the Internet has provided child pornographers with a distribution vehicle which is perceived to be relatively anonymous. In its project "Innocent Images," FBI personnel acknowledged earlier this year that the bureau has a database of at least 4,000 cases of child pornography being distributed online.

Much of the media message to parents has been devoted to the dangers, as opposed to the educational and communication benefits, of the Internet. It must be remembered that the Internet is composed mainly of "good" content, which is one reason why the potential of the Internet is so exciting. Pornography sites make up only a small fraction of the sites on the Internet. The percentage of pornographic to good content doesn't tell the whole story, however, since the "bad apples" are the most heavily accessed.

Everyone agrees that it is important for families not to have reason to be frightened away from the Internet. It is, therefore, incumbent on the Internet industry, responsible corporations and commercial sites to work with parents, educators, advocacy groups and law enforcement to create a safe online environment for children.

4. COMMUNITY EFFORTS

Parents bear the primary responsibility for teaching their children to be wise and safe Internet users. To do that, parents need to be aware of practical and helpful resources, safety tips and technology. Especially in an era of two-career families and single-parent families, however, parents cannot do the job alone. It is not possible (or even desirable) for parents to be with their children constantly, and the home is not the only point of access to the Internet. The problem is further complicated by the fact that some parents are not yet computer savvy.

To meet this challenge, parents need to be educated and to become more familiar with Internet uses and risks. They also need and deserve the joint commitment and creative support of the Internet industry, responsible corporations, community groups, schools, libraries, and law enforcement. The need for increased public awareness was the catalyst for the joint efforts of the Summit participants in creating a Public Education initiative, which is expected to be announced at the Summit.

Responsible corporations and commercial sites can develop more child appropriate content. In addition, several community groups have started to develop pre-approved site lists and focused search engines that prescreen content of included sites, to allow groups to select their own desired content, based upon their community values and standards.

By combining parental involvement with technology industry solutions, enforcement of current laws, and public education, the entire community can join forces to develop the full potential of the Internet while also protecting our children.