Are you aware that you are just a few clicks away from viewing free hard core pornography on your computer? There will be no age verification apart from a possible but unlikely button you can click on to say "Yes, I'm legally old enough to view this".
Are you aware that you also have free child pornography at your fingertips? I learned this quickly when I searched for the site of the publishers of "Understanding Loved Boys and Boylovers". This publisher offers a variety of books such as the above, including "Male Intergenerational Intimacy", "Sexual Experience Between Men and Boys", and a two book series called "Loving Boys". While searching the SafeHaven forum I found a link to other message boards, most of them advertised as being for "boy lovers". Some of the messages give links said to be erotic photographs of young boys, but they could not be accessed without a credit card. However, there appear to be chatrooms to which you can go and receive links to view child pornography sites for free.
There appears to be an easier way though. Go to a hard-core porn site for free. Follow the pop-up ads to child pornography. It seems to be that simple. I didn't have the heart to try it, but a friend of mine busted her boyfriend with child porn on his computer. He claimed they automatically loaded and that his homepage was reset to a child porn site when he had viewed a regular pornographic page. The site was dedicated to giving photographs of half-Asian children in sexual explicit poses. The age range she said they appeared to be was between 7 and 12. I called her service provider for her as she stated she believed him. I didn't think it was possible for this to happen if a person didn't specifically click on a link, but the provider verified that yes, without your desire or permission this can happen to anyone.
So not only is it easily available, it can be provided whether you like it or not.
Another trap for children that everyone should be aware of is searching for smilies and emoticons online. There are usually cute little images of smilie faces usually used on message boards to add emotion to a post, but try a search for them. Very often the sites listed contain links to graphic pornographic pictures. The second site I clicked on the first time I did a search contained a photograph of a man penetrating a female. Then an automatic download of a pornographic movie started, while pop-ups advertising more porn sites kept appearing. I had to shut down my computer to stop it all. THIS on a type of site that is very likely to attract kids!
Another problem I had was with AOL's internet service. I had no problems with my mail accounts for them. The problems started when I set up a screen name for my daughter and set her account up as a child's account, which is supposed to be child friendly. Automatically e-mails advertising sexual aids, lotions, and toys came in, with a number of the sites they linked to containing either porn or links to it. I complained to AOL, but the problem was never resolved. I set her up with a regular adult account and the problem was resolved, although I only did it to see what would happen. We never used the name again and I decided that there is very little safety for a child on the internet.
Does anybody have any thoughts on why this is all possible? Hard core porn may not be illegal, but child porn is. Surely law enforcement agencies are aware of the easy availability of it on the internet. Why isn't it at least a little harder to find?
It makes me sick and angry. What about you?
Chrys