Before the explosion of the internet there were natural barriers to acquiring pornography. Book stores had a special sections on the top shelf of the magazine rack where magazines wrapped in plastic were displayed. The really hard stuff could only be purchased from adult book stores or through mail order. By contrast, the internet allows anyone of any age to access hardcore pornography with just a mouse-click. In the view of many, this is basically like taking those top-shelf porn magazines and putting them unwrapped on the bottom shelf of the children’s section.

The question of regulating pornography is not an easy one. In the United States, there are Constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of expression. Most agree that these protections extend to adult material. It is a slippery slope to begin suppressing First Amendment rights, regardless of personal distaste.

One of the more interesting proposals to solve the problem of adult content on the internet is from a group known as The CP80 Foundation. This group proposes a simple technical solution.

Internet traffic is transmitted through computer channels known as “ports.” You can think of these ports as channels on your television. The default port for web traffic is port 80. CP80 proposes that the international regulatory body for internet domain addresses, known as ICANN, segment traffic on port 80 to be community-safe content only. Adult content would be channelled into another computer port, termed the “open port.”

Presently, the best way to block adult content is by using a web filter. However, filters are far from perfect and often inconvenience users. While a little inconvenience isn’t terrible in my opinion, filters definitely are not a perfect solution. With the CP80 solution filters become obsolete. All that would be necessary to block adult content is to shut off access to the “open port” and allow access to the “community port” (port 80). It would be as easy as blocking a certain channel is with your cable television.

I’m not sure if this idea will ever come to fruition, but it is one of the more interesting and simple solutions I have seen.

You can learn more by visiting The CP80 Foundation’s website.