Facilitating safer choices: use of warnings to dissuade viewing of pornography on the internet

There are many facets of child safety on the internet. Here the interest is in two scenarios: firstly, protection of children using the internet from viewing pornographic images; and secondly, the prevention of damage to children through adults viewing child pornography disseminated via the internet. The aim is to explore whether warnings or informational advice attached to sites would dissuade individuals from visiting them. Consideration will be given to the practicalities of attaching these warnings as well as to their success/failure in other media and across other products before assessing their utility in these scenarios. In essence, their use to protect children against viewing pornography is probably of little value, and may be counterproductive except in helping carers to guide safe use on the internet. Use of informational advice attached to child pornography sites may have more success and be worth pursuing, as might realistic warnings of prosecution. More research needs to be conducted into automatic means of assessing the nature of sites, into the mechanics of successful warnings on the internet and into their effects in this medium and for this material.