September 27, 2007 – Australia Leads Out in Fighting Porn Scourge

www.familywatchinternational.org

September 27, 2007

Australia Leads Out in Fighting Porn Scourge

 
Dear Friend of Families,

The government of Australian Prime Minister John Howard recently announced nearly $200 million in additional funding for its national program to combat Internet pornography and other Web-born threats.  The Australian program will provide free filtering software both at the home level and at the Internet Service Provider (ISP) level.  The new funding will also be used to hire additional police officers to track child sexual exploitation online and to expand Internet safety education programs.

Australia is just one of a number of countries that have become concerned about the pernicious impact of pornography and that are beginning to take steps to deal with it. 

Ireland has recently formed an Office of Internet Safety and an Internet Advisory Council.  A number of African countries, including Zimbabwe where the possession of pornography is illegal, are leery of expanding Internet access to their citizens because of the threat.  China has directed ten governmental departments to coordinate their activities as part of a major effort to limit access to pornography.  Other countries are taking similar actions.

All are taking action because they are increasingly recognizing the mounting evidence of the damage that pornography is causing to families, societies and individuals.

Family Watch International has recently published a Policy Brief on Pornography to help you better understand this important issue and to provide you with an effective tool to promote laws and policies restricting pornography wherever you may live.  It summarizes how pornography affects the brain and how its addictive nature can desensitize the user to deviant and violent sexual behavior.  This information is powerful and should be used to combat arguments that pornography should be protected.

Just as the threat of pornography is global, the only truly effective solution must also be global as well.  The nature of the Internet is that it is difficult for a country such as Australia to protect itself because they cannot control the entire World Wide Web.  One global alternative that appears promising is to restructure the way that information flows through the Internet.  A proposal, known as CP80, would globally segregate all Internet traffic into different “channels” similar to the way cable television works.  Under this plan, all pornography would be carried on its own “channel,” making it much easier to block.  Now, all Internet traffic travels over the same single “channel,” even though there are some 65,000 other channels available.

However pornography is dealt with, it is essential that societies and nations get a handle on this growing and very pernicious problem.  Australia is to be commended for taking such an aggressive stance.  Let us hope it is an example the rest of the world will quickly follow.

Sincerely,

Sharon Slater
President

PS.  If you have not yet signed the “I Stand for the Family” petition, please do so by clicking here. By doing so you will join a growing global movement to protect the family, marriage, life and parental rights.  Please encourage your family and friends to sign the petition as well!

News From Family Watch International

Family Watch Files Amicus Brief in California Case

In cooperation with the Marriage Law Foundation, we have filed an amicus brief in the critical same-sex marriage case before the California Supreme Court.

As our brief states, “This brief’s major and largely unique contribution, however, is its rigorous assessment of the competing packages of marriage facts and thus the answer it gives to this determinative factual issue: ‘What is marriage in contemporary America in general and in California in particular?’  Those promoting the redefinition of marriage from the union of a man and a woman (‘man/woman marriage’) to the union of any two persons (‘genderless marriage’) present an answer aptly referred to in the literature as ‘the narrow description’ or ‘the close personal relationship model.’  In contrast, man/woman marriage proponents present ‘the broad description,’ which encompasses much but not all of what the narrow description depicts and then quite a bit more.  This brief demonstrates that the broad description is quite certainly the much more accurate answer to the determinative factual issue.  Although the narrow description is not wrong in some communities, it is wrong across California and the Nation generally.  Genderless marriage proponents have simply failed to show otherwise, despite ample opportunity to do so, whereas the on-going accuracy of the broad description is now well established.”  The complete brief is posted here.

Other News Items of Interest

U.S. Survey Says Lasting Marriages Disappearing

Marriages aren’t lasting as long as they once did.  A survey by the United States Census Bureau has revealed that for the first time since World War II, married couples had less than a 50/50 chance of being married 25 years later.  The average length of a first marriage that ends in divorce is eight years, but experts say that divorce is still a threat even after 10 years of marriage.  Americans are also marrying later.  Read more here.

Poland to EU:  Opposition to Death Penalty Must Include Abortion and Euthanasia

Poland has refused to participate in the proposed October 10th World Day Against the Death Penalty which states that the death penalty is a “cruel and inhuman punishment and a violation to the right to life.”  Instead, Poland wants a “right to life day” celebrated instead which will also include consideration of abortion and euthanasia.  Read more here.

Cell Phone Porn Invasion on the Way

If the adult entertainment industry has its way, your cell phone will be the next window to the world of pornography.  They are often at the forefront of technology, looking for the cheapest and easiest way to distribute their films.  In parts of Europe, cell phones are already used to market pornography, but in the United States, the concept hasn’t caught on yet.  Companies like Vivid Entertainment hope that individuals, mostly men, will send each other short pornographic clips.  Read more here. 

U.S. Federal Appeals Court Says Transsexuals Not Protected Class

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has ruled that transsexuals do not qualify as a protected class under Title VII employment discrimination provisions.  A male employee who informed his employer, the Utah Transit Authority (UTA), after he was hired, that he was undergoing female hormone therapy insisted that he be allowed to use the women’s bathroom.  The UTA was concerned about the privacy of its female employees and refused his request.  The Court recognized the concern as legitimate.  Read more here.

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