As wonderful as the Internet has been in making knowledge accessable and expanding personal networks, it has brought things into our homes that would have been unimaginable to past generations. It shouldn’t have to be this way. We need to have a choice.
According to the London School of Economics in 2002, nine out of 10 children aged between eight and 16 had viewed pornography on the Internet at some point in their lives. A study published in “Pediatrics” in 2007 concluded that 42% of children aged between ten and 17 had been exposed to online pornography during the “previous 12 months.” In most cases, the sites were accessed unintentionally when a child, often in the process of doing homework, used a seemingly innocent sounding word to search for information or pictures. This is completely unacceptable. One of our basic human rights should certainly be to have our children do their homework without our having to worry about pornography!
Nothing has happened since those studies to allow families and others to have access to the Internet without having to worry about inappropriate material showing up. And nothing will happen, unless we take a stand and pressure Congress to give us a safe alternative.
Please take a stand today by signing the petition and forwarding it to others. If you can, put the website/petition on your Facebook, Twitter account or an organizational website. Thank you for charging forward!