AMERICANS STILL WANT FEDERAL OBSCENITY LAWS ENFORCED AGAINST HARDCORE INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY, ACCORDIN

March 18, 2004 - 12:00 PST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK (18 March 2004) -- Americans continue to believe that the Federal laws against Internet obscenity should be vigorously enforced, according to results of a new poll conducted by Wirthlin Worldwide for Morality in Media.

Eighty-two percent of adult Americans surveyed in March 2004 said that the Federal laws against Internet obscenity should be vigorously enforced. In a virtually identical question asked by Wirthlin in March 2002, 81 percent said yes to that question.

The question read as follows:

"Since 1995, the World Wide Web has expanded rapidly and is now estimated to contain as many as 40 million websites. A large number of these Internet websites contain hard-core pornography. The Supreme Court has said that those who distribute hard-core pornography can be prosecuted under obscenity laws. In 1996, Congress expanded federal obscenity laws, making it a crime to distribute obscene materials on the Internet. In your opinion, SHOULD the federal laws against Internet obscenity be vigorously enforced? And do you hold that opinion strongly or just somewhat?"

[MIM note: In the 2002 poll, the question cited "20 million" World Wide Web sites, instead of "40 million" in the 2004 poll. Otherwise, the questions in 2002 and 2004 were identical.]

The following table shows how those surveyed responded in the 2002 and 2004 Wirthlin polls:

2004 poll 2002 poll
Yes - Strongly 72% 70%
Yes - Somewhat 9% 12%
No - Somewhat 6% 9%
No - Strongly 12% 7%
Don't Know/Refused 1% 2%

The Wirthlin Worldwide national telephone poll of 1,001 Americans over age 18 was conducted from March 5th through 8th, 2004 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

"In essence, the vast majority of Americans continue to believe that federal laws against Internet obscenity should be vigorously enforced," Wirthlin said. This held true across the demographic spectrum. Here are sample demographic categories:

Percentage saying "Yes" to vigorous obscenity law enforcement

2004 poll 2002 poll
Women, overall 89% 90%
Men, overall 73% 72%
Republicans 83% 82%
Democrats 82% 81%
Independents 78% 79%
Registered voters 83% 82%

Some H.S. education 81% 80%
High school grads 88% 86%
Some college ed. 82% 81%
College grads 73% 79%
Postgraduate ed. 80% 73%

Robert W. Peters, President of Morality in Media, commented:

"The Wirthlin poll results is yet another indication that a large majority of the American people is offended and concerned about the distribution of hardcore pornography, particularly on the Internet. And, in recent months, the President and Members of Congress have taken note of that popular opposition.

"In October, President Bush proclaimed 'Protection from Pornography Week.' In November, the Senate adopted by unanimous consent Concurrent Resolution 77, expressing the sense of Congress that Federal obscenity laws should be 'vigorously enforced' throughout the U.S. (an identically worded H. Con. Res. 298, with 79 sponsors, awaits a vote in the House Judiciary Committee).

"Defenders of hardcore pornography say that that the widespread availability of hardcore pornography indicates community acceptance of it. Undoubtedly, there is a large market for hardcore pornography; but just as with any other addiction, a large percentage of hardcore pornography is consumed by a relatively small percentage of people who are addicted to pornography (young and old).

"Furthermore, the mere fact that an individual looks at pornography does not mean he approves of the materials viewed (many are ashamed of themselves) or of the full array of degrading, perverse and violent hardcore sex materials available on the Internet.

"According to an article in USA TODAY ('Online porn often leads hi-tech way,' 3/9/04), 'one in four Internet users in the USA visited porn sites in December.' What the article didn't say is that many visits were by individuals who are addicted to pornography, who are under 18 years of age, or who accidentally went to porn sites while looking for other sites. Even then, 75% of Internet users (a large majority) didn't visit a porn site."

___________________________

MORALITY IN MEDIA is a nonprofit national organization, with headquarters in New York City, which works to curb traffic in obscenity and to uphold standards of decency in the media. MIM operates the ObscenityCrimes.org Web site - where citizens can report possible violations of federal Internet obscenity laws to Federal prosecutors - and the National Obscenity Law Center, a unique legal resource for legislators, prosecutors and others.

Contact

Morality in Media
http://www.moralityinmedia.org
NY, US
Patrick McGrath - Director of Media Relations, 212 870-3222

Keywords

Pornography, Internet

Category

Morality

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