First Monday · 2008 · 153 citations · 0 references
Social SciencesCommunicationPolitical CommunicationMass CommunicationMedia StudiesMedia TheoryChild Exploitation OnlineDigital MediaMedia EthicsMoral PanicsNew MediaChildren's Media ProtectionFirst Amendment AdjudicationFirst Amendment JurisprudenceFirst Amendment ScrutinyHarmful Content RegulationInternet Content RegulationInternet Moral PanicsOnline Predation
Internet content legislation is driven by media‑fueled moral panics that portray technology as harmful to children, as illustrated by the 1996 cyberporn panic and the current debate over the Deleting Online Predators Act. The study examines how media coverage of technopanics, exemplified by the cyberporn panic and the MySpace predator panic, shapes internet content legislation. The analysis finds that legislation aimed at curbing technopanics is an overreaching, misguided response that often obscures the underlying problems.
This paper discusses moral panics over contemporary technology, or “technopanics.” I use the cyberporn panic of 1996 and the contemporary panic over online predators and MySpace to demonstrate links between media coverage and content legislation. In both cases, Internet content legislation is directly linked to media-fueled moral panics that concern uses of technology deemed harmful to children. This is of particular interest right now as a new internet content bill, the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), is being debated in Congress. The technopanic over “online predators” is remarkably similar to the cyberporn panic; both are fueled by media coverage, both rely on the idea of harm to children as the justification for internet content restriction, and both have resulted in carefully crafted legislation to circumvent First Amendment concerns. Research demonstrates that legislation proposed (or passed) to curb these problems is an extraordinary response; it is misguided and in many cases masks the underlying problem.