Online Smut Peddlers Using Dirty Tricks to Lure Kids, Pastor Warns

Agape Press ^ | 5/25/06 | Ed Thomas

[wagglebee]

(AgapePress) - A black pastor affiliated with a ministry that trains churches and low-income or underprivileged citizens in computer literacy is sounding the alarm about how Internet pornography websites often use deceptive tactics to target certain demographic groups.

Pastor Bill Mooney-McCoy is director of TechMission's Safe Families program, which provides filtering software and educational materials at its website -- resources designed to help children and families stay safe online. He is also a member of the Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston, a group that recently sponsored an online safety workshop.

During this information session, Mooney-McCoy took the opportunity to warn listeners about some of the sneakier practices of porn peddlers, including using disingenuous web addresses or false website descriptions in efforts to target particular ethnic communities or age groups.

"Basically, pornographers don't care how you get there," the pastor points out. "They just care that you get there, and so they will use many, many deceptive tactics. One of them is the actual use of misleading URLs or misleading descriptions."

For instance, Mooney-McCoy points out, some Internet pornography sites lure web surfers with universal resource locators (URLs) named after well-known black leaders or historical figures. "MartinLutherKing.com and JesseJackson.com are classic examples of that," he says. Unsuspecting web surfers, possibly even students looking for material for a school report, may go to these sites expecting to find information about the individuals named but instead find themselves linking to obscene material.

And sometimes, the minister adds, Internet pornographers are even bolder in their efforts to entice and entrap kids. "There was another case of, I think, almost thousands of names of children's cartoons that were used for the same kind of thing," he notes.

These practices, as well as spamming and many other unethical tricks, are designed and used by Internet porn profiteers specifically to pursue the youth market, Mooney-McCoy warns. Online purveyors of filth have all kinds of "dirty tricks," the pastor notes, and he urges parents to utilize all the Safe Families tools to educate and protect their families.

[wagglebee]

Yet many just want to bury their heads in the sand and keep saying that their obsession with pornography doesn't harm anyone.

[wagglebee]

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DISCUSSION ABOUT:

Online Smut Peddlers Using Dirty Tricks to Lure Kids, Pastor Warns

The only way that kids are safe on the internet is when their parents are constantly monitoring them.

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[atomicpossum]

JesseJackson.com

Sounds like a site out to screw you to me.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

The pastor should be more concerned with black-on-black crime and the high proportion of blacks incarcerated than porn.

Another example of media grandstanding instead of trying to resolve real issues.

[wagglebee]

So, if it was a white pastor with an affluent white suburban congregation, what would you say?

[Antonello]

Just one question: Why would pr0n sites really waste the effort to lure in a demographic that can't pay?

[wagglebee]

Obviously, many are paying or they wouldn't be doing it.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

So, if it was a white pastor with an affluent white suburban congregation, what would you say?

Strawman argument.

I would say you're still crazy, BTW.

[Richard Kimball]

Went to one of the links mentioned, and sure enough, redirect to a porn site. Whitehouse.com used to be a porn site, but it's a political forum, now. I've also heard that many porn and warez sites are very heavily laced with viruses and worms.

Even Playboy, which is supposedly respectable, got bounced by Amex for charging people inappropriately. I believe you were supposed to give your credit card number to prove your age for a free sign up, and they would charge you for a membership, and also autorenewed without permission. That was according to the press.

[wagglebee]

Strawman argument.

How?

Why is it "crazy" for a pastor to want to protect children from vice?

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Why would pr0n sites really waste the effort to lure in a demographic that can't pay?

I'm sure the porn industry uses pop-up ads for Jordan sneakers or Phat Farm clothing to lure black web users in.

[MineralMan]

"Yet many just want to bury their heads in the sand and keep saying that their obsession with pornography doesn't harm anyone."

---

Well, the article doesn't seem to discuss the harmful nature of porn. It discusses how porn sites use deceptive stuff to get people to their sites.

That's a different question, really. I don't view pornography, but I understand that many adults do, from time to time.

The answer is going to be a specific identifier for porn sites. The .xxx idea was a good one, but seems to have gone by the wayside.

If all porn sites had to use the .xxx extension, then it would be simple enough to block access to porn on the browser level.

Trouble is, the web is not under the control of any particular group, so forcing sites to adopt a particular web extension is not feasible.

It is still, as it always has been, the responsibility of parents and caretakers of youth to prevent their access to porn. One cannot pass that responsibility off on anyone else.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Why is it "crazy" for a pastor to want to protect children from vice?

He's already protecting them with the software filters and educational materials. He should defer this to the parent or legal guardian instead of subtley appealing for more big government regulation.

[Richard Kimball]

The pastor should be more concerned with black-on-black crime and the high proportion of blacks incarcerated than porn.

That's a classic dodge. No matter what someone is doing, you say "You should REALLY be concentrating on something else."

'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.'

It's a great way to avoid addressing the issue.

[wagglebee]

Well, the article doesn't seem to discuss the harmful nature of porn. It discusses how porn sites use deceptive stuff to get people to their sites.

By definition, porn sites that are targetting children are harmful.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Is internet porn really a serious issue facing low-income or underprivileged kids?

Don't you think the pastor is putting the cart before the horse.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

By definition, porn sites that are targetting children are harmful.

How are porn sites targeting children?

Are they to blame when little Johnny surfs the Net with no parental supervision?

[peyton randolph]

If all porn sites had to use the .xxx extension, then it would be simple enough to block access to porn on the browser level.

---

The primary issue with that is the sheer volume of sites located in other countries with extensions like .de, .ru, .hu, etc. Getting American .com to switch to .xxx much easier than convincing Russian mob porn sites, for example, to move from .ru to .xxx

Due to labor costs (i.e. cheap Eastern European, Asian, and Latin American models), the bulk of content is being produced overseas...now the hosting is increasingly "over there" too.
 

[MineralMan]

"By definition, porn sites that are targetting children are harmful."

I would agree that viewing pornography is not good for children. That is why parents and caretakers of children need to carefully control their children's access to the internet.

What you don't seem to understand is that there is no possible way to prevent pornography from appearing on the internet. No law can prevent it. The USA could pass a law making internet porn illegal, and that law would have no effect on any site located outside the USA.

I'm not sure what you'd like to see done about this. You rail against internet porn frequently on Free Republic, but I don't see any suggestions from you on how to deal with it.

I have such a suggestion: Parents and others responsible for children should control those chidren's access to the internet. I am unwilling for any group controlling adults' access to the internet.

What you consider to be harmful pornography might be something I consider quite innocuous. I've seen people define something like a prime-time network television show as pornography. That's ridiculous.

Keep kids away from pornography. That is the only answer. You will not eliminate pornography. That cannot be done, so keep the kids away from it.

[MineralMan]

"The primary issue with that is the sheer volume of sites located in other countries with extensions like .de, .ru, .hu, etc. Getting American .com to switch to .xxx much easier than convincing Russian mob porn sites, for example, to move from .ru to .xxx

"

You're absolutely correct, of course. Given the international nature of the internet, it will be impossible to eliminate pornography from the internet. There is no controlling legal entity for the entire internet.

Again, keeping kids away from porn is a lot easier than trying to eliminate the porn.