Indeed, it would mean the end of the free and open internet as we know it, and would go way beyond porn. Even then, porn would simply migrate to the Dark Web and be accessible by anyone who downloads Tor, just like all other illegal stuff would be.
It would be easier to shut down social media (which is not very easy to do) than it would be to eradicate online porn.
To really tackle demand, you would also have to criminalize the possession and consumption of porn as well, and set up reverse stings (fake porn websites run by law enforcement) to catch them as a form of legalized entrapment. That comes with it's own can of worms. Keep in mind that a good chunk of porn consumers are women, so they will undoubtedly get caught in the dragnet as well.
And defining it? No one has ever been able to legally define it beyond "I know it when I see it", lol.
Slopes are MUCH slipperier than they appear, in other words. Be very careful what you wish for.
For better or worse, porn is here to stay, both online and off. The best one could do is to jam the culture, I think.
You can't eradicate online porn, but you can definitely ensure the industry shrinks enormously, make it harder to produce and profit from, etc. Doing that doesn't equate to more abuse, that makes no sense as the abuse in porn now is endless, on account of there being a multi billion dollar industry and billions of consumers.
The less of it and the harder to make/access the better...
We could indeed make a law that makes it illegal to profit from the exploitation of others, across the board, for example. Problem solved. Well, kinda. Of course, that would effectively result in the end of capitalism, a system in which exploitation is literally a *feature* rather than a bug. Fair enough. So what are we waiting for?
I think as a society we decide on practices that are unacceptable, then address those practices through legislation: murder, rape, domestic abuse, slavery... The argument that everything made illegal will make it worse doesn't make sense because we also, for example, have made it illegal to breed and kill tigers for profit (for anything, really). This has created a black market in places like Thailand, but would you argue we should simply legalize?? I mean, that's insane. The argument that prostitution and porn are jobs like any other (i.e. all exploitative in exactly the same way) also makes no sense, considering having sex for money is like no other job... We all *know* porn is abusive and degrading. We can all see this. Why do we pretend otherwise?
Indeed, it would mean the end of the free and open internet as we know it, and would go way beyond porn. Even then, porn would simply migrate to the Dark Web and be accessible by anyone who downloads Tor, just like all other illegal stuff would be.
It would be easier to shut down social media (which is not very easy to do) than it would be to eradicate online porn.
To really tackle demand, you would also have to criminalize the possession and consumption of porn as well, and set up reverse stings (fake porn websites run by law enforcement) to catch them as a form of legalized entrapment. That comes with it's own can of worms. Keep in mind that a good chunk of porn consumers are women, so they will undoubtedly get caught in the dragnet as well.
And defining it? No one has ever been able to legally define it beyond "I know it when I see it", lol.
Slopes are MUCH slipperier than they appear, in other words. Be very careful what you wish for.
For better or worse, porn is here to stay, both online and off. The best one could do is to jam the culture, I think.
You can't eradicate online porn, but you can definitely ensure the industry shrinks enormously, make it harder to produce and profit from, etc. Doing that doesn't equate to more abuse, that makes no sense as the abuse in porn now is endless, on account of there being a multi billion dollar industry and billions of consumers.
The less of it and the harder to make/access the better...
We could indeed make a law that makes it illegal to profit from the exploitation of others, across the board, for example. Problem solved. Well, kinda. Of course, that would effectively result in the end of capitalism, a system in which exploitation is literally a *feature* rather than a bug. Fair enough. So what are we waiting for?
I think as a society we decide on practices that are unacceptable, then address those practices through legislation: murder, rape, domestic abuse, slavery... The argument that everything made illegal will make it worse doesn't make sense because we also, for example, have made it illegal to breed and kill tigers for profit (for anything, really). This has created a black market in places like Thailand, but would you argue we should simply legalize?? I mean, that's insane. The argument that prostitution and porn are jobs like any other (i.e. all exploitative in exactly the same way) also makes no sense, considering having sex for money is like no other job... We all *know* porn is abusive and degrading. We can all see this. Why do we pretend otherwise?