An ecological systems approach to reduce children's encounters with obscenity on the Internet.

摘要

This dissertation explores how to reduce children’s encounters with obscenity on the Internet. Congress has been trying to shield children from encountering online obscenity and some of Congress’ attempts failed because of unconstitutionality. The courts have been clear, however, that children have limited constitutional rights when the issue is obscenity even though they have trouble defining obscenity.;This study modified Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Systems Model and named it the Internet Ecological Systems Model to solve the problem of children’s encounters with online obscenity. The ecological systems perspective is a framework for recommendations and solutions. When each environmental system from the model collaborate in effort toward a common goal, the solution becomes effective. The government, the business industry, the community at large, the school system and the family should work together in order to achieve an ecological solution at tackling the problem of children’s encounters with online obscenity.;The author proposed that the government should subsidize the cost of filtering software, set the age of minor at below age 15 for future online obscenity laws shielding children, expand CIPA to increase library supervision and tax Internet access. The business industry should build safety features into Internet computers and be responsible for consumer education. Local communities should increase skill-development programs. Law enforcement personnel, industry experts and parents should teach children about Internet safety.;Congress and future researchers can use the Internet Ecological Systems Model for finding solutions to reduce the possibility of children encountering pornography and obscenity on the Internet.