| Paul Vasquez from Citizen’s Voice speaks at the chamber of commerce luncheon. |
The issue of what can be done about internet pornography was discussed at the March luncheon for the Emery County chamber of commerce. Paul Vasquez from Citizen’s Voice and Clean Internet Channel introduced a national campaign to protect children, homes, schools and businesses from internet pornography through technology, legislation and enforcement.
Vasquez said pornography is a trap and that children 12-17 are the largest viewers of pornography. Promoters and distributors of pornography will deliberately misspell words which allows pornography to inadvertently be brought up and stumbled upon. “Pornography is as addictive as cocaine. What goes into the brain has a lasting impact. The 18-25 year old group is the largest producer of pornography. Pornography causes problems, it causes problems in marriages and contributes to divorces.
“There is a simple technology available that Republicans and Democrats alike can support. There are 65,000 ports available for transmission on the internet. We are proposing one port for pornography and the broadcast of pornography on any port other than the one legal port would be illegal. If you don’t want to view pornography and have it available then you simply do not subscribe to that port. The port would also be unavailable to schools. This would keep pornography out of the reach of children.
“We need a lot of help getting this legislation passed. We need everyone to write to their senators and congressman and express the need to control pornography. This is a simple system that will work. We need an international campaign, but 80-90 percent of the pornography produced comes from the United States. Spam is illegal, but that doesn’t keep anyone from emailing pornography. Access also comes through chat rooms. Chat rooms are a playground for internet sexual predators.
“If this channel is not coming into your home, then pornography won’t just pop up,” said Vasquez.
Those present at the meeting asked Vasquez questions about their concerns, Betty Hatch wondered about the enforcement part of the legislation. Vasquez said illegal porn broadcasting on the unauthorized ports can be traced and those broadcasting it will be criminally charged.
Hatch also wondered why something isn’t being done right now. Vasquez said the pornographers always claim that freedom of speech and first ammendment rights allow them the freedom to broadcast pornography.
People will call their internet provider and tell them they don’t want the porn port and that port will be blocked. There are no laws available now to protect people. “The technology is in place to stop pornography now,” said Vasquez. “People need to speak up and say this is what we want. The porn people make more money than the NBC, ABC and CBS combined. The bill to introduce this legislation is being written now and needs sponsors. We need to get the information out and get our congressmen on board. We need to speak out. People addicted to porn need help. We only started our campaign a month ago and we are receiving good support. People are tired of being bombarded with pornography. There is a lot to be done and we are a small organization. We call and contact people and go out and speak to groups. We need help getting the word out. We also need monetary contributions to aid our effort. What value do we place on keeping children safe and free from porn? We are sponsoring an advertising contest at BYU for the students to come up with commercials promoting a porn free internet. We hope to introduce the legislation in Congress in the next six months. Proposed penalties would include a $50,000 fine for the first violation and jail time. We need to get our voices heard. The silent majority can’t be silent any more,” said Vasquez.
Vasquez invited those present to visit the website www.cleaninternetchannel.com. There is an online petition you can sign to voice your support and also information on contacting congressmen.
Vasquez was also concerned that with the deep pockets of the internet pornography broadcasters, they would not go down without a fight and will be lobbying legislators to continue the free reign they have had in broadcasting pornography into homes, schools and libraries. They don’t want to lose their customers and will fight to keep hooking children on pornography.