Request copies and reviews of Cyberporn studies for Senate

[Tom Worthington]

"Report on Regulation of Computer On-Line Services Part 1" from the Senate
Select Committee on Community Standards refers to a claim that 6.4 million
downloads of sexually orientated images had occurred in the USA. The source
of this and related claims may have been called into question.

The content of the Senate's report is from the Senate Select committee's
Public Seminar on the Regulation of Bulletin Board Systems, 4 April
<URL:http://acslink.net.au/~tomw/acsirg.html>.

The "6.4 million downloads" claim appears to be based on a study from
Carnegie Mellon University. It has just occurred to me that this may be the
same study subsequently reported in Time magazine, which was the subject of
some controversy and the validity of which has been questioned.

In a later hearing (22 September) I was asked by the committee about a study
by Professor Thimbleby of Middlesex University, which it was said suggested
that the first eight categories of information on the Internet related to
pornography. I was not aware of the study at the time and so could not
comment on it.

Could anyone assist me with:

* References for the original papers are and where I could obtain copies,
* Reviews of the papers.


Tom Worthington, e-mail: tomw@acslink.net.au  http://acslink.net.au/~tomw
Director of the Community Affairs Board & President-elect for 1996
Australian Computer Society Inc, GPO Box 446, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
Ph: +61 6 2474830   Fax: +61 6 2496419   AH/Pager: 041 1182326