BRANDON, Man. – The three pictures of children and adults involved in sex showed Manitoba Women’s Institute members just how far pornography has gone.
Some of the women were shocked, others were grim as they examined the evidence during a workshop at their annual meeting here last week.
Two Winnipeg police officers told them that anyone with a computer, a modem and a phone line can pull similar pictures of child pornography off the internet.
Rural areas used to feel they were protected from the seamier side of life but they are no longer isolated, said detective sgt. Wayne Harrison.
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Quoting Statistics Canada figures, he said 2.6 million households in Canada had a computer in 1994 and a third of them were hooked up to a modem.
“It’s a great tool but it needs some rules,” said Harrison. “You can get on the internet for $1,500.”
The member of Winnipeg’s vice squad said police are laying more charges but “we’re at the tip of the iceberg.” More people are creating and distributing pornographic images and words and the style of the internet makes it difficult for police to catch them.
“The anonymity is scary.”
He said with computers connecting with each other around the world, there is a problem determining jurisdiction.
“Where is the offence taking place? Is it Sweden where the pornography is made? Is it Nashville where the pictures are put on a site and the billing is made? Is it Canada where they are downloaded?”
Harrison told MWI members about a recent charge laid against a 17-year-old Winnipeg boy who created his own site that he allowed 186 others to access with a secret password.
Informing parents
While most of the images on that site were of nude women, there was some material he had downloaded from the North American Man-Boy Love Association. That was what left him open to an obscenity charge. Harrison said the Winnipeg police are now sending 80 letters to parents telling them what their teenagers had seen.
“There’s a lack of awareness of what’s there,” Harrison said. If people actually saw the type of acts depicted in child and other pornography they would be more vocal about it publicly and more vigilant about what their children are seeing on the internet.
He urged parents to talk to their children about use of computers and learn about new technology. There are software packages to lock out certain sites by keywords and some internet service providers will charge a filter fee to do the same thing. Adults should also check charges on their credit cards or hours on their internet bill.
Most importantly, do not place a computer in a child’s bedroom. Put it in the family room or somewhere out in the open where an adult can monitor what’s being viewed. Pedophiles have been known to make contact with their teen victims by pretending to be a fellow youngster on a chat group.
“You can set standards for what comes in on your computers.”
Community standards are the traditional measure of what is regarded as obscene but “Melita or McCreary will be different than in Toronto.”
Police often have to wait for a complaint before investigating books, magazines, shows or artworks that offend someone.
But Harrison said there are many grey areas and courts judge each obscenity case on its own. He said in his time on the police force some pornographic acts are no longer regarded as obscene.
MWI president Barbara Stienwandt said her members were not aware of the extent to which pornography is available on the computer or how sophisticated it is now with the technology.
Important issue
“I was very pleased to see our organization was open to holding such a workshop and good numbers attended.”
The MWI passed three resolutions about this subject, including that the fashion industry discontinue its use of young girl models as sex symbols, that a toll-free phone line be set up to register complaints about overly sexual or violent television and that obscenity laws be amended to remove the defence of pornographers that they did not “knowingly” distribute illegal images.
