THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 11, 1995 TAG: 9507110049
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 147 lines
ANDREW COPLON'S eyes got big. Then he strolled over to his father, grinning from ear-to-fifth-grade-ear, holding out an open copy of ``The Internet Yellow Pages.''
The 10-year-old had been using the book, a popular guide to the global computer network, to hunt for science-fiction sites. Then he'd turned the page, and unexpectedly leaped from ``Star Wars'' to sex listings, including computer addresses for material on bestiality, bondage, the Kamasutra and amputee fetishes. This last site was promoted by the come-on, ``Join the discussion and find out what's so attractive about the person who doesn't have everything.''
Young Andrew knew enough to go to his dad with his discovery. This led to a father-son discussion about which Internet areas are appropriate to visit through the family computer. And to yet another furrowed brow on yet another parent.
``We're concerned - that's for sure,'' said Stephen J. Coplon, a Norfolk educational consultant. ``And we haven't figured out what to do.''
The concerned-parent line forms to the right, Mr. Coplon.
The recent uproar over online sexual fare, much of it disgusting and much of it accessible to kids, has parents scrambling.
For years they've been encouraging their children to explore the Internet and learn how to use this vast information and entertainment resource. Their children's schools teach online-search techniques.
And suddenly it seems that parents and schools have been dumping kids unchaperoned on the electronic equivalent of a street corner in a seedy red-light district.
There's no getting around it - there's a lot of stuff out there most parents wouldn't want their young children to see or read or order through an online catalog.
Some of it is clinical. Some of it is humorous. Some of it is pretty rough, well beyond the simple naked bodies of Playboy or Playgirl magazine that today's parents might have peeked at when young.
True, the sexually oriented material represents a small fraction of the thousands of sites available on the explosively growing computer network, and you have to hunt around to find the racy stuff.
But that doesn't mean kids can't - or don't - reach the more-explicit sites, only some of which come with warnings about what they contain. Word-of-mouth still is a common source of these addresses, and many youngsters have better computer skills than their parents.
``You cannot squelch curiosity. To think you can is naive at best,'' said David Katzner, president of The National Parenting Center in Woodland Hills, Calif., which has been flooded by Internet-leery parents' calls.
``The whole point with the Internet is you've got to know a little bit. And most of these kids do,'' added Kurt J. Maly, chairman of Old Dominion University's Computer Science Department and father of an 11-year-old Net surfer.
``It's easier than looking up a word in a dictionary. . . . That's the whole problem - once you have access, it's very easy to find things.''
The situation has captured the attention of lawmakers. Last month the U. S. Senate passed an amendment to a telecommunications bill that would make it a crime to create or transmit ``obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy or indecent'' materials on commercial computer networks, such as CompuServe and Prodigy, or on the Internet. Violators would face up to two years in prison plus $100,000 fines.
The chief sponsor of the amendment, Nebraska Sen. James J. Exon, argued that it was the only way to protect children from the ``smut'' that's freely available through the family computer.
``It is no exaggeration to say that the most disgusting, repulsive pornography available is only a few clicks away from any child with a computer,'' Exon told the Omaha, Neb., World-Herald.
Critics, including ODU's Maly, counter that such a law is probably unconstitutional and likely unworkable, since the Internet encompasses 30 million users in 150 different countries, all with varying ideas of what's ``indecent.''
There's also concern that such a law would chill the unfettered ``free market of ideas'' on the Internet, reducing it to a forum suitable only for children. The House of Representatives takes up the Exon amendment this month, but Speaker Newt Gingrich already has said he won't support it.
Meanwhile, children's advocates say parents should monitor what their kids see and do on their computers, just as parents should monitor the books their children read, the TV shows and videos they watch and the friends they make.
``We don't think parents should just buy computer software, sit their kids in front of it and think they'll be taken care of or entertained,'' said The National Parenting Center's Katzner.
So, what should parents do? Yanking the phone lines from their PCs might protect their children - temporarily - from the bad on the Internet, but that also would deny them the good.
Instead, according to the experts, parents should get involved.
Parents should explore the Internet with their children, see what sites they're visiting and steer them toward the sites they feel are most appropriate.
They should talk with their children, as Coplon talked to young Andrew, about what they feel is a good way to use the computer, and why.
Parents also need to warn about the dangers of the Internet. Just as they prepare their children to walk home alone from school, they need to point out what they should and shouldn't say to strangers they meet online.
Some children have been shocked and scared by suggestive or threatening messages after they revealed too much about themselves on interactive chat lines. And there have been a few reported cases of youngsters being lured off to meet their new computer friends - who turned out to be adults.
Since no one's going to turn back the technology - indeed, the children need to master it to ensure their own working futures - technology is being developed to combat the concerns.
Several commercial online services offer restrictive features, such as America Online's ``Parental Control,'' which can be programmed to block access to certain areas.
Software is starting to become available to similarly block access to areas chosen by parents, with periodic updates for the ever-changing Internet available for an additional subscription fee. Two of the better known are SurfWatch from Los Altos, Calif., and Net Nanny from Vancouver, British Columbia; both sell for about $50.
``Things are really busy,'' said Ann W. Duvall, president of SurfWatch, who has been receiving 100 phone and e-mail inquiries a day.
``Actually, a lot of schools are calling. I'd say 80 percent of the calls are from schools. Schools and businesses.''
Net Nanny was developed to block violent computer games, said Gordon A. Ross, the company's president.
``What we've done is give parents and schools tools they can use,'' he said, ``but let them call the shots.''
Also being developed is KidCode, a voluntary rating system for sites on the World Wide Web sites, one of the Internet's most popular and accessible areas.
That would suit Tina D. Moses fine. Both her daughters - Danielle, 6 1/2, and Michelle, 4 - use the family computer for games and educational activities, and Danielle uses America Online to send e-mail to friends.
But Moses hasn't given Danielle the password to their online service. Mom plans to steer daughter toward its ``Kids Only'' area, and is grateful ahead of time for the ``Parental Control'' blocking feature.
``I feel better about that, knowing it's geared more to kids, and not showing porno flicks,'' said the Virginia Beach physical therapist.
She and other parents are facing the 1990s version of teaching children to safely cross the street. At some point, they know, the kids have to be allowed to go on their own. Parents need to prepare them.
``It's all part of the parenting process,'' said Katzner of The National Parenting Center. ``The parenting process is becoming more complicated. . . . The world is shrinking, and we can access the whole world from our living rooms.''
So can our children. That's what scares parents. ILLUSTRATION: ADRIANA LIBREROS/Staff
KEYWORDS: INTERNET by CNB