Salt Lake City, Utah [Daily Herald]- A government study last year showed about 1 percent of Web sites are dedicated to it, but more and more employees -- and children -- are stumbling across it, and looking for it.
On Tuesday, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. will hold a ceremonial signing of House Concurrent Resolution 3, which urges the U.S. Congress to step up and join the fight in keeping Internet pornography away from children and out of workplaces.
The measure stresses technology-based solutions to keep porn out of the hands of children and off work computers, though the idea is not without its critics.
The resolution states that current filtering technologies cannot do enough to stop access to porn, as some employees and children actively seek ways to bypass filters on their computers.
Instead, lawmakers have suggested that Congress work to change the nature of the Internet and allow for an "adult content channel" and a "family content channel", which would separate out the different types of content and allow filtering at its source.
The CP80 foundation, a longtime Internet pornography foe, was directly involved with the legislation. Its Internet pornography solution is part of the resolution.
Rebecca Jeschke, a spokeswoman for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the idea of two channels has been brought up several times in the past 10 years, but hasn't happened because "it's a bad idea."
Jeschke said that the problem comes down to what content will be considered adult, what won't be, and who gets to make those decisions.
"There's always situations where an art site or a history site gets blocked," she said. Her group referees to the channel idea as a form of censorship, one that Jeschke thinks is very dangerous.
Both Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, the sponsor of HCR 3, and Matt Yarro, of the CP80 foundation, say they are not set on any one particular solution.
"We're interested in whatever works," Daw said. Yarro echoed a similar sentiment, saying that whether or not the solution he suggested gets implemented, it will at least "get the debate going."
Daw pointed out that this resolution has no legal effect, but is instead designed to put pressure on national lawmakers. He said he has spoken with some of Utah's congressmen, but said more can be done with the resolution in hand.
According to Yarro, the key part of this resolution is that it shows more than just a few groups are pushing to address the problems of Internet pornography. Yarro said that the goal is to let legislators know "that people are crying out. ... That this is the community."
"There is this assumption that you can't control it (the Internet)," Yarro said. "It's a toaster, we made it, we can fix it. ... We can solve the Internet pornography problem tomorrow if we decided to."
The movement to block the Internet porn seems to be gaining traction, with 13 other states, according to Yarro, putting forth similar resolutions.
Daw hopes that a ceremonial signing will encourage federal leaders to begin making changes.
Though Daw says that this will be an ongoing fight without an end in sight, he intends to find a way to "put another arrow in people's quivers."
