Taipei City councilors yesterday demonstrated the ease with which pornographic Internet content could be accessed through online chat rooms and called for better measures to protect youngsters against adult content.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) and Lee Chien-chan (李建昌) demonstrated at a press conference how easy it was to get hundreds of millions of results, many of which contained adult content, by entering seemingly innocent keywords such as “chat room” into search engines.
“Although the Web sites indicate that the site contains adult content and requires the user to click a button, saying ‘I am over 18,’ if children want to access the site, they will click it anyway,” Hsu said.
The councilors showed that even when filling out an online form to register for an account, there are no methods to verify whether the person is aged 18 or over.
Hsu said that many sites allow users to purchase online points to have one-on-one online chats with young, scantily clad women who take off their clothes and perform sexual acts in front of a Web cam.
“This is not only harmful to young people’s morals, but puts a strain on their financial condition as well, because each minute [in the adult chat room] can cost as much as NT$50,” she said.
Some people have also been victims of sexual assault or fraud as a result of meeting “online friends” in real life, the city councilors said.
“Current laws are unable to penalize adult content providers if their Web sites are set up in other countries,” Lee said.
Coupled with the Web’s nature of anonymity and difficulty in determining whether the user is indeed an adult, there are too many ways for young people to be exposed to adult content, he said.
Lin Chun-yi (林浚奕), a chief at the Criminal Investigation Division of the Taipei City Police Department, told the press conference: “If the IP address is in a foreign country, it is difficult for us to investigate.”
The city councilors urged the government and schools to increase education efforts aimed at teaching students how to appropriately use the Internet, as well as for parents to install software to filter inappropriate content and require their children to use the Internet in open areas where parents can see.
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