Youth, Pornography, and the Internet

Citation: National Research Council, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, "Youth, Pornography, and the Internet" (Dick Thornburgh & Herbert S. Lin eds. 2002).

Overview
The report, also referred to as the "Thornburgh Report," examined the issue of children’s exposure to sexually explicit material online from multiple perspectives and reviewed a number of approaches to protecting children from encountering such material. The report concluded that


 * developing in children and youth an ethic of responsible choice and skills for appropriate behavior is foundational for all efforts to protect them – with respect to inappropriate sexually explicit material on the Internet as well as many other dangers on the Internet and in the physical world. Social and educational strategies are central to such development, but technology and public policy are important as well – and the three can act together to reinforce each other’s value.

The report encapsulated this finding into the oft-quoted and succinct “swimming pool analogy,” acknowledging the protective value of fences around pools while asserting that such “technology” could never replace the life-long protection of teaching kids how to swim.