Customer Reviews

Beyond Tolerance: Child Pornography on the Internet

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The primary focus of this book is addressing the regulation of 'child pornography' on the internet (as part of the wider implications for regulating the internet as a whole) and highlighting the unique type of social organisation involved in the 'subculture' of 'child pornography' on the internet.

The author employs a highly readable style, which makes the book accessible to anyone, rather than purely to social scientists. However, there are various failings which prevent this work from being a valuable resource. Specifically:

- The concept of 'child pornography' itself is never fully explored, and there is no distinct delineation into the very separate constituent aspects involved in that concept;
- The methodology employed in carrying out the research is too narrow to enable wide-scale conclusions to be drawn;
- While socially-emotive topics will inevitably give rise to subjective views, the extent to which empirically unsupported personal beliefs should be employed in the course of a scientific work is debateable;
- While the book ultimately considers regulation desirable, there is insufficient distinction drawn between the various behaviours (possession, production, etc) that it is felt necessary to regulate.

Consequently, the book cannot be recommended to readers interested in obtaining a full understanding of the highly complex, and subtle, issues involved. As an alternative, 'Beyond Hysteria' by David Riegel (ASIN:0967699711) is highly recommended.