Sex and the Internet

	Will Doherty Electronic Frontier Foundation and Online Policy Group

Sex and the Internet Star J

Outline

	Introduction and Disclaimer
	Controversy and Community Resources
	Censorship Legislation and Policies:
		Governments
		Internet Service Providers
		Circumvention
		Digital Divide
	Discussion
	Bibliography

Will Doherty Bio

	Media Relations Director of Electronic Frontier Foundation focusing on Internet blocking and censorship issues.
	Founder and Executive Director of Online Policy Group (OPG), with the motto “One Internet With Equal Access for All”
	Formerly Director of Online Community Development at Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
	Twenty+ years of experience as a computing consultant and online activist
	In the early 1980's, worked on ARPANET, precursor of the Internet
	Served as the Globalization Operations Manager at Sybase, Inc., and as a Localization Program Manager and a Technical Writer for Sun Microsystems, Inc.
	Designed and implemented Internet strategies and websites for many nonprofit community and advocacy organizations
	MBA from Golden Gate University and a BS in Computer Science and Writing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Disclaimer

	This presentation is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice nor does it create an attorney/client relationship.
	Consult an attorney if you are considering anything that may engender a legal risk.

Sex and the Internet:
Controversy Attracts Attention

	Child Porn (illegal and hard to find)
	Adult Porn (easy to find)
	Prostitution (escort services)
	Stalking
	Scams
	Stings (police entrapment)
	Infidelity
	Fantasy Dating
	Porn Spam
	Chatroom STDs

Internet Chatrooms and
Sexually Transmitted Disease I

	AOL SFM4M chatroom Syphilis “outbreak” in mid-1999:
	AOL refused to provide contact tracing information to San Francisco Department of Public Health without court order
	Voluntary contact tracing online through screen names identified additional syphilis cases (40%+ tested)
	Privacy of chatroom users respected
	Sex online obviously carries no STD risk

Internet Chatrooms and
Sexually Transmitted Disease II

	JAMA publishes articles in July 26, 2000:
	CDC study suggests Internet-related sex may carry a greater risk of exposure to sexually transmitted diseases
	Gay and bisexual males meeting online for sex more frequently than other groups
	More oral and anal sex with more partners
	Twice as likely to have sex with HIV+ people
	Study didn’t check for risky and risk reduction behaviors

Sex and the Internet:
Resources for Healthy Sexuality

	Many people find the Internet a great source of information on sexuality and health
	A multitude of resources
	Accessible anonymously (at least in theory)
	How to distinguish reliable resources?

Internet Resources on Sexuality: Common Categories

	Categories of information available include:
	Abstinence/Safer Sex
	Adolescent Sexual Development and Puberty
	General Sexual Info
	Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer, and Questioning (LGBTIQQ)
	Sex Education/Teaching Sex
	Sexual Health/non-STD
	Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD)
	Teens and Sex
	and lots more…

Internet Resources on Sexuality: Specific Sites

	Go Ask Alice: Columbia University's sex and health information site at goaskalice.com
	Coalition for Positive Sexuality: sexual education with a positive attitude at positive.org
	SAFETeen Project for GLBTQ at gayplace.com (may be defunct)
	gURL.com, a Webzine for teenage girls
	Sex, Etc., an award-winning newsletter produced by and for teens at Rutgers University’s Network for Family Life Education, at www.sxetc.org

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“The Internet has been a lifeline…”

	“To me, the Internet has been a lifeline to other gay, lesbian and bisexual youth. It’s not easy finding resources for youth. The Net has been a place where I know I am not alone and there are resources to help us on our adventure through life that at times can be extremely difficult.” — Marie, age 17
	[This and the next slide quoted from Access Denied, published by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).]

“The Internet really helped the rest of us…”

“I was totally ostracized after coming out, and I almost went crazy. All my friends at school dumped me. I didn’t do any work at all. I stopped going to any activities I was in, like sports because there I was not welcome either. I gained weight, and was mercilessly hounded because of that. I was teased, rejected, and taunted because I was different. Then I found people like me, teenagers across the country who were fighting themselves, trying to be different to make people happy, and being miserable themselves. One of my friends committed suicide. But, the Internet really helped the rest of us, and now I’m out and happy with it.” — Sea, age 13

Sex and the Internet:
Censorship!

	Q: So with all these great resources, what’s the catch?
	A: Sorry, it’s been censored!

US Censorship Legislation

	No broad Internet censorship yet found constitutional:
	Communications Decency Act (CDA)
	Child Online Protection Act (COPA)
	Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
	Legal focus on:
		Obscenity
		Child Pornography
		Harmful to Minors

Children’s Internet Protection Act

	Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) of 2000 requires schools and libraries that receive certain federal funding or discounts to install a “technology protection measure” like Internet filtering software.
	The U.S. Supreme Court should decide soon on an appeal of the library portion of CIPA.
	No one has filed a legal challenge against the school portion of CIPA that requires schools to install filtering software, damaging the educational opportunities of millions of U.S. students.

Blocking Policies: United States

	Local Jurisdictions:
		Holland, MI (referendum requiring Internet blocking defeated by popular vote)
		Livermore, CA (Kathleen R., mother whose son brought porn home from library, non-blocking policy upheld by court)
		Loudon County, VA (strict adult blocking requirement overturned by court)
		San Francisco, CA (against blocking)
		Santa Clara, CA (blocking in children’s area only with access to adult area)

Legal Background / Key Cases

	“Harmful to minors”: Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U.S. 629 (1968)
	Obscenity:  Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973)
	Child pornography: New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747 (1982)
	CDA and Internet speech: Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844 (1997)
	COPA: ACLU v. Ashcroft, 217 F.3d 162 (3d Cir. 2000)
	CIPA: Multnomah Co. Library v. USA combined with American Library Association v. USA (2002)
	Blocking: Mainstream Loudoun v. Bd. of Trustees of the Loudoun County Library, 24 F.Supp.2d 552 (E.D.Va. 1998)
	Library’s role: Kreimer v. Bureau of Police, 958 F.2d 1242, 1255 (3d Cir. 1992) (“quintessential locus of the receipt of information”)
	Library liability: Kathleen R. v. City of Livermore and librarian working conditions case

Blocking Technology Limitations

	Don't block all they are supposed to block
	Block lots they are not supposed to block: collateral damage
	Bias through categorization and categorization scheme
	Humans can't cover the entire gigantic evolving web or keep up with all the changes
	Software cannot judge due to complexity of human culture and language
	Cannot distinguish legal materials from illegal materials
	Circumvented by clever “children”
	Reduce system performance with crashes, etc.

What Gets Blocked?

	Some illegally obscene, child pornographic, and harmful to minors materials
	Lots of “controversial” content: Activist groups, civil rights groups, reproductive and child abuse info, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community sites, Democrat more than Republican sites, critics of blocking products, etc.
	Lots of totally “non-controversial” materials US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Koran, Smithsonian Institution, San Diego Zoo, the American Red Cross, Republican Congressional Candidate Pollock’s site, blocking product sites themselves, etc.

EFF/OPG Study:
Internet Blocking in Schools

	Extracted all topics from state-mandated curriculums for CA, MA, NC
	Generated Google search results
	Checked against two Internet blocking products most commonly used in schools
	Tens of thousands of web pages blocked inappropriately
	For every web page blocked as advertised, collateral damage of at least one other page improperly blocked
	Sexuality sites targeted especially for blocking, even if strictly educational and non-pornographic

EFF/OPG Study:
Web Pages Blocked I

	“Adolescence and Abstinence Fact Sheet” from SIECUS blocked by SurfControl using “Adult/Sexually Explicit” block code
	“Sex: Contraception: Natural Methods” on thesite.org blocked by N2H2 Bess using “Adults Only, Pornography” block codes
	“Identities” from sextalk.org blocked by N2H2 Bess using “Electronic Commerce” block code
	“Emotional Changes” from kotex.com blocked by SurfControl using “Sex” block code

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EFF/OPG Study:
Web Pages Blocked II

	“Sexual Harassment and Discrimination - Legal Process” on sexharassment.net blocked by N2H2 Bess using “Pornography” block code
	“Power and Love” bulletin board blocked by SurfControl using “Adult/Sexually Explicit” block code
	Search for “GLBT* Employee Groups” at Rainbow Query blocked by SurfControl using “Adult/Sexually Explicit” block code
	Search for “Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual: Family and Relationships: Domestic Violence” at dmoz.org blocked by N2H2 Bess using “Tasteless/Gross, Jokes, Profanity, Sex” block codes

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EFF/OPG Study:
Web Pages Blocked III

	“Does Sex Education Work?” from SexAbouT.net blocked by N2H2 Bess using “Pornography, Sex” block codes
	Family Health International home page blocked by SurfControl using “Sex Education” block code
	Redbook’s “Guide for Infertile Couples” blocked by N2H2 Bess using “Tasteless/Gross” block code
	“Testicular Cancer” self-exam page designed for males 15-25 years old by safe-sex.co.uk blocked by SurfControl using “Adult/Sexually Explicit” block code

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EFF/OPG Study:
Web Pages Blocked IV

	“Youth Services” page at Family Planning Victoria blocked by N2H2 Bess using “Pornography” block code
	“Sexuality” at about.com blocked by SurfControl using “Adult/Sexually Explicit” block code
	“Sex, Are You Thinking About It Enough?” designed for under age 18 readers by ruthinking.co.uk blocked by N2H2 Bess using “Sex” block code
	Rape Crisis Center of Central Massachusetts home page blocked by N2H2 Bess using “Pornography” block code

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Kaiser Health Information Study I

	70% of 15-17 year olds in US have used Internet to access health information (not necessarily sex-related)
	December 2002 study by Kaiser Family Foundation found blocking software settings important
	Low settings: 1 in 10 health sites related to “condoms,” “safe sex,” or “gay” blocked, although all but 1.4% of health information available and 87% of porn blocked
	Intermediate: 27% of health sites related to “condoms,” 20% of health sites related to “safe sex,” and 24% of health sites related to “gay” blocked
	High: 24% of health info, 50% of sexual health info, 59% of “gay” and “lesbian,” and 91% of porn blocked

Kaiser Health Information Study II

Alternatives to Internet Blocking

	Media Literacy Education
		Parents, teachers, librarians, administrators, students, patrons
		New technologies often engender fears due to speculation and unknown outcomes
		Education reduces fears that children know technology better than adults
	Internet Use Policies
		Fashioned with local community input and according to local community standards (already adopted by 95% of US libraries)
		Respecting community diversity and constitutional protections
	Supportive Supervision (non-invasive)
	Referrals for Problem Cases

Government Censorship:
Other US Cases

	On March 9, 2002, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removed a National Prevention Information Network (NIPN) website link to positive.org, the Coalition for Positive Sexuality (CPS) website, apparently due to pressure from the right-wing Physicians Consortium and Focus on the Family.
	Positive.org explains to youth how to protect themselves from disease by engaging in safe sex practices, such as wearing a condom to prevent HIV transmission. The site also offers information about birth control, abortion, and sexual orientation.
	United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) spokesperson said USDA to remove links to positive.org and possibly others from cyfernet.org
	Online Policy Group issued an action alert and the community responded with phone calls, faxes, and emails to CDC and USDA.

Government Censorship: International

	Governments intentionally censoring sexuality materials:
	Australia (nationwide Internet blocking law)
	China’s “Great Firewall” (sexuality and other materials)
	Saudi Arabia (sexuality and other materials)
	South Korea (mandatory rating system)
	United States (sex, drugs, and “terrorism”)
	United Kingdom (House of Commons email filtering)
	Governments intentionally censoring only other materials:
	Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain)

US Internet Service Providers

	US Internet service providers refuse service:
	MSN “breast” searches prohibited (following a long tradition begun by AOL and others)
	AOL booted Triangle News gay newspaper site
	Yahoo account closures: sexuality and gender support groups (AEON, Guerilla Queer Bar, SF Queer Longhairs…)
	Growing trend of corporate censorship

Circumvention I

	Seemingly contradictory to CIPA, U.S. Representative Christopher Cox re-introduced in Jan. 2003 the Global Internet Freedom Act (H.R. 48), which would provide $100 million over two years to help private companies circumvent censorship by foreign governments. Bill status: under review by House International Relations Committee.

Circumvention II

	Attempts to subvert censorship by penetrating government firewalls have included efforts from Peekabooty.org and Hacktivismo.com (6/4).
	SafeWeb’s last remaining client for the TriangleBoy blocking circumvention software is one of the Voice of America’s projects to drill holes in the Great Firewall of China.
	Peacefire.org distributes circumvention tools for commercial blocking products.

The Digital Divide

	The gap between those who have computers and rich Internet access and those who do not
	Economic and racial gaps to bridge
	CIPA’s Double Whammy of Internet censorship:
		Hits schools and libraries in lower-income areas
		Students and library patrons in lower-income areas least likely to have alternative access at home
	Censorship gap for sexual and gender communities

Anti-Censorship Bibliography I

	American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/index.html
	Ben Edleman and Jonathan Zittrain at Harvard University: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/
	Censorware: http://www.censorware.net
	Chris Hunter at Annenburg School: http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/chunter
	Electronic Frontier Foundation: http://www.eff.org
	Electronic Frontier Australia: http://www.efa.org.au
	Electronic Privacy Information Center: http://www.epic.org
	Freedom of Expression Network: http://www.freeexpression.org
	Freedom to Read Foundation: http://www.ftrf.org
	Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (Access Denied): http://www.glaad.org
	Global Internet Liberty Campaign (GILC): http://www.gilc.org/

Anti-Censorship Bibliography II

	Judith Levine’s Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex,  pp. 15-17, 143-150.
	Karen Schneider’s “A Practical Guide to Internet Filters”: email kgs@bluehighways.com
	LSSI Campaign in Spain:http://www.ugr.es/~aquiran/cripto/tc-lssi.htm
	Online Policy Group (Online Service Provider Assessment): http://www.onlinepolicy.org
	Peacefire: http://www.peacefire.org

Pro-Censorship Bibliography

	American Family Assocation: http://www.afa.org/
	Enough Is Enough: http://www.enough.org/
	Filtering Facts: http://www.filterfacts.org/
	Filtering Info: http://www.filteringinfo.org/
	GetNetWise: http://www.getnetwise.org/
	NetMom: http://netmom.com/ikyp/samples/ask_protect11.shtml
	National Law Center for Children and Families: http://www.nationallawcenter.org/

Acknowledgments

	Ryan Berg, EFF Intern
	Francis Ho, EFF/OPG Volunteer
	And all the other EFF and OPG staff, interns, and volunteers who assisted with the forthcoming Internet Blocking in Schools study