In the 1950s, many males would sneak a copy of Playboy into their house. That was about the most racy material available. There was certainly worse out there, but it was not easy to acquire. Playboy you could lift from a relative or get from a friend who had a relative who subscribed. There were ways. And one day you would probably get caught with it, and get yelled at, and that was about it. Parents as a rule were indulgent about youthful curiosity, so long as it went no further than a mass circulation pinup magazine.
But times have changed, and so have the problems teenagers can get into without even leaving home. Imagine that you are a parent, and you come home one afternoon and find your son or daughter a seeming slave to a computer screen. You might think they are doing their homework, or wasting time on the latest computer game. And they might be. But they might also be enthralled by images of raw sex that would make Hugh Hefner blush, up to and including sex with children, sex with animals, homosexual acts, and other acts you might have trouble imagining. You might think that is the worst that could happen, but you would be wrong. Your son or daughter might be in the wrong chat room, meeting a wide variety of perverts without knowing who they are, what age they might be, or what they really have in mind. We hear about more and more cases where young people are lured away by pedophiles using a computer.
Now, if you are going to be able to do anything about this, or to understand the debates taking place concerning possible government involvement, means for parents to protect their children, and related issues of internet censorship and control, you are going to have to understand the nature of the computer, the values and dangers of online computer use, the different proposals that have been made, and the arguments of various groups concerning the future of the Internet and how to shape that future. Young ...