Keeping out the Pornography
Pornography. This word can create so much emotional debate. On the one hand are concerned parents and employers who want to ensure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. On the other hand are freedom of speech advocates who argue against censorship, claiming that what goes on between consenting adults is no one's business. Either way, one thing is certain, and that is that the
So what is Pornography anyway? A dictionary definition states that it is the depiction, either graphically or in literature, the activities associated with prostitution. Today the definition would generally be broadened by most people to include any depiction of human sexual activity.
Like it or not, not all pornography is illegal. On the other hand, NZ like many other countries, has strict laws about the age at which people may voluntarily view legal pornography. Not taking adequate precautions to prevent under 18 year olds viewing pornography is illegal under NZ law. Technically this means that anyone sending out junk emails with pornographic content without checking the age of the recipient, is in breach of NZ law. Unfortunately since most of this material originates offshore, and is often hard to trace, prosecutions rarely occur.
Some forms of pornographic material are illegal for people of any age in NZ. Material that falls into this category includes paedophilia, rape, torture, bestiality, and coercion. If you access material of this nature, and especially if you allow it to be stored on your computer, you risk a prison sentence.
Most people want to know how to protect their families or their employees from having access to pornography. Even if you are and adult who is legally entitled to view pornography, it can be a good idea to consider means to remove the temptation, as even accessing legal material can often lead to damaging effects on relationships or employment. Upholding your right to freedom of speech is not much good if other people don't agree with you, and you lose your job as a result.
There are a number of content filtering packages on the market, and the good news is that most of them are not particularly expensive. Some ISPs such as Maxnet and Ihug offer content filtering for an additional charge on top of your monthly internet access. Many ISPs also offering spam (junk email) filtering, and this will block out the majority of sexually explicit email, however you will need to check your junk mail periodically to ensure no legitimate mail has been blocked. Spammers are getting more and more cunning to get around spam filters, so you can't rely 100% on blocking undesirable emails.
A good thing to do to prevent viewing of sexually explicit images in email, is to turn off loading of images from the web in your email program. If it does not support this, there are free programs such as Mozilla or Pegasus Mail which you can use for email that do support this feature.
If you want more control of what web sites are blocked, you can purchase content filtering software such as Norton's Internet Security, which combines spam filtering, web site blocking, a personal firewall, and antivirus tools all in one package.
If you are on a LAN (Local Area Network), you can install a proxy server with content filtering. Most versions of Linux will allow you to do this. You will need a spare older PC to dedicate for the task. Squidguard is a content filter that works by maintaining a blacklist of banned sites. A far more powerful option is DansGuardian, which uses a range of techniques to block sites, so that even sites not on a blacklist can be blocked if they meet certain criteria. This product is free if you choose to install it yourself for non commercial use, however if you want to pay for support to install and configure this program, or use it in a commercial environment the author requires that you purchase a commercial licence. At the time of writing this costs about $150. All up, CreateIT can provide a commercially supported firewall and content filter for around $700. This can provide protection for up to 99 PCs. If you can provide an old Pentium class PC, this cost can be considerably less.
So far I've focussed primarily on technological solutions to pornography, however there is one more area that is important. This is looking at social solutions. If you don't want your teenagers looking at porn, think twice about buying that glossy magazine from the supermarket with "10 tips to better orgasm" on the front cover, or "Britney Spears confesses", etc. If you surround your family with material that promotes sex as cool, and fun, don't be surprised if they start doing their own 'research'. You need to be open to talking about sex within your family, but if you have certain values you want to promote, you need to be consistent about them. The boundaries between mass media and pure pornography can often be quite blurred.
If you or someone you know has already fallen for the lure of pornography and want to be free of it, you need to talk to someone about your problem. One group that is offering a practical solution to pornography is xxxchurch.com. These guys are promoting a Christian message, but even if you're not interested in Christianity, they have a useful tool as a free download that you can install that will automatically email a designated person whenever you give in and visit a porn web site. This is transparent, but helps keep you accountable.
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