There has been a broad welcome for the Government's proposed new legislation to deal with child pornography. For the first time, it will be illegal to possess images depicting the sexual exploitation of children, whether photographic, on video or the computer based images common on the Internet. Few people could argue against outlawing images which depict a crime - the sexual abuse of children. It is unfortunate, however, that this initiative is capable of being seen primarily as a matter of policing the Internet. Children's welfare groups have stated that only 5 to 10 per cent of paedophilia relates to the Internet. Eliminating this, if possible, is of course to be welcomed, but paedophilia may not be the best starting point for a general debate about regulating the Internet.
On the same day as the antipornography amendments to the Children's Bill were announced the Taoiseach set up an inter departmental working group on "illegal and harmful use of the Internet". The rise of the Internet as a means of low cost international communication has stirred contradictory responses. On the one hand, it has opened up possibilities for dialogue, interaction and education that were unthinkable a decade ago. Against this, there are concerns that a function traditionally regulated by governments mass communication - is now open to anyone with a personal computer, a telephone line - and a modem.
Over 40 million people world wide now have some form of access to the Internet. The combination of a new medium, more talked about than understood by the majority of people, and the excesses of some users has created a climate of suspicion which threatens to dominate all discussion of the Internet. Ireland is not alone in having concerns about this new medium. China and other countries in Asia and the Middle East have succeeded in establishing tight controls over what their citizens can access on the Internet, imposing censorship of political and religious opinion, as well, as of indecency. In the US a wide ranging Communications Decency Act has been found unconstitutional on the basis that it imposed higher standards on the Internet than on other media protected by the constitutional right to free speech. This decision is under appeal.
Even with the provisions of the Children's Bill, it will not be a simple matter to prevent access to paedophile material. Some Irish companies which provide access to the Internet have already taken steps to curtail access to this material in public areas within their own computers. What they, and the government, cannot do easily is halt person to person transmission of such material via electronic mail, or block access to overseas sites where it may be available. Powerful encryption programs for personal computers mean that files can be locked, or contraband images can be disguised as innocent files. The question of safeguarding children from abuse in the creation of pornography is a straightforward one and this is being addressed in the Children's Bill. Much less clear cut is the issue of protecting children from what they might come across as users of the Internet, a question likely to be addressed by the new inter departmental committee.