From=20gcairns@mtpost.apana.org.au Wed Sep 27 15:03:46 PDT 1995 Newsgroups: alt.internet.media-coverage,alt.culture.usenet Subject: Re: Usenet, Rimm, and Lotsa Dirty Pictures (Was: Rimm Invest Date: Tue, 26 Sep 95 06:09:58 +0900 References: <432va9$7pm@panix.com> <432irb$j= qv@latte.eng.umd.edu> <430il4$38g@newsserv.cs.sunysb.edu> <427bri$46t@panix= .com> <43ivvc$55j@doc.jmu.edu> Organization: MountPost, Mansfield QLD. [...] It may have been noted many times .. but allow me to quote from a radio=20 interview conducted in Canberra, Australia: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Transcript from ABC Radio (2CN) 13:05 18 April 1995. Elaine Harris: And if so, how? Let=92s bring Alan Wakeley in now and find= =20 out where you stand on this - Alan, Public Affairs Director of the Church= =20 of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, have you read the reports?=20 Have you been party to these debates and where do you stand on the issue? Alan Wakeley: Yes, I=92ve certainly read the report and have been a party= =20 to the debate. In fact each of your interviewees today attended the Senate= =20 Select Committee hearing about two weeks ago where we addressed the problem= =20 of inappropriate material on bulletin board systems including the Internet.= .=20 Our view is that we need to take a calm and reasoned approach regarding the= =20 problem, but we also say that it is a problem.=20 Without being hysterical, I would say to you now that a child is able to=20 use a home computer or the laptop to dial up electronic bulletin boards=20 including the Internet that functionally have the equivalent of an entire= =20 adult bookstore online. And in fact we would say that that is a generous=20 understatement; that some of the material that is available on the Internet= =20 and other bulletin board systems is far worse than that. We=92re talking=20 about hardcore and even child pornography. Elaine Harris: Have you got proof that this is actually happening then? Alan Wakeley: Yes, the proof is there. In fact a research associate of=20 Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburg late last year did a study which=20 has not been disputed in any way shape or form and found about one million= =20 images in all, some of which were available on the Internet, some on other= =20 systems, and he tracked down how many times each image had actually been=20 retrieved by computer users and found a total of 6.4 million downloads in= =20 the USA alone. And of course if those images were available over there,=20 they were available here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, ignoring the fact that he doesn't seem to know the difference between= =20 the 'net and a BBS, I found it disturbing that the report he was quoting (Rimm's, I assume) was touted as "not .. disputed in any way shape or form"= . --=20 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |gcairns@mtpost.apana.org.au ((|)) Mansfield, Qld, Australia. | |Communications trainer, broadcaster, journalist & all-round nice bloke!| -------------------------------------------------------------------------= =20