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I wanted to respond to this post a few days ago when I first read it but I was on the run and had to go. If I may, I’d like to interject a whole new line of attack here for everyone to consider. This is actually a subset of thinking that I was going to approach FSC with in an offer to create/maintain a page of a similar purpose as is being talked about here.
IMHO (with some experience from the PR field) though the goals stated are lofty, the approach is all wrong! We must step outside of ourselves as adult WM’s and the concerns we have and think about the goals AND audience you are trying to reach.
The goals: reduce threat from government and private censorship, mainstream hostility to perceived attacks of CP upon the unwary, religious fanatics, improve image as hardworking, productive members of society, reduce hostility from financial organizations, increase confidence that we as an industry are responsible and are capable/willing of self policing or regulation.
Audience: mainstream citizenry and politicians over disparate time zones and cultures.
OK! Unfortunately, to be successful you have to adopt the same tried and true methods that the pros do (see decades old classic and first year student required reading: “The Hidden Persuaders” Vance Packard) which may at first glance seem shady or duplicitous.
What I mean is that a certain amount of “spin” and disinformation techniques have to be mixed with the message you are trying to deliver. In other words you can’t just preach to the choir and achieve any meaningful effect. This is because the choir already agrees with you and many avid porn surfers will never admit to it, and never admit to supporting it under any circumstances for fear (which propels a great deal of humanity towards one action or another) of rejection from their peers. Therefore they will never engage in activity that will assist in achieving the desired outcome stated in goals. Then you have the people who don’t like porn period and will never accept any message at the outset discounting it immediately because of its source.
What one must do is to attach the desired goals to a message that is acceptable to a widespread audience to consider both in content and from source. So, getting to the bottom line, that would mean wrapping the porn message within a tasty cover. I would suggest that this cover should be couched in two ways.
First: Censorship as a topic in and of itself. Political, literature, especially the arts, etc. Any improvement in atmosphere surrounding these topics will ipso facto improve the porn picture. Porn is easily characterized as the low hanging fruit which needs the greatest protection. Showing how porn is the place of choice for knee jerk reactions to an inevitable slippery slope that leads to onerous government efforts to controlling individual choices in ones general life is a message that “average people” can grasp without wrestling with moral choice. I would be focusing on all types of historical censorship and the fiascos they have lead to (the earth is flat, scientific knowledge, communism, etc., etc.)
Second: Fear of government. It’s a relatively easy target to pick on people’s natural fear of encroaching government control.
Third: Have to have the ever present “Code Of Ethics”
Fourth: Have to endorse strict adherence to every technical ability (rating systems, IE blocking, whatever) available to restrict porn from minors with in-depth explanations and links to plenty of tools available as a parental resource.
Fifth: Constantly reference that greater technical solutions are just around the corner and the matter will solve itself.
Sixth: Create an image of the perfect technical solution (which does not now exist) and endorse that this solution be adopted as quickly as possible.
Seventh: As Mattinblack referenced, a focus on the economic numbers and just how large they are. Billions are brought in by mainstream hotel chains and cable operators. Fortune five hundred companies are heavily profiting from porn. Put the heat on them by showing how widespread and how much money is involved. Take the focus off of the internet and put it on cable and publicly traded companies. Lessen the impact of internet porn by comparing it to the same concerns that existed 10, 20, 30 years ago. The world didn’t end then and won’t end now.
IMHO
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