Some people prefer to throw up their hands and proclaim the fight against pornography’s massively destructive force and, most recently, the violence it can do when purveyors use deepfake technology to steal moving images of innocent people, as a hopelessly lost cause.
You can’t do anything to stop this growing and largely hidden industry. Technology is moving faster than laws can keep up, they say.
This cannot be the attitude of those in power. Given the lives that are affected by this emboldened and pervasive scourge, surrender is unthinkable.
Utahns should be proud that their state Legislature was the first, three years ago, to proclaim pornography a public health crisis. As a recent Deseret News story reported, 15 other states now have passed similar proclamations, recognizing that pornography in its various forms dehumanizes people and has numerous other deleterious effects.
Read more: 'How Utah's example led other states to address pornography and where the fight is headed'
That has raised the hackles of the porn industry and its apologists. Three years ago, they tried to belittle Utah by making the absurd argument that the state was being hypocritical because of the many young people here who consume pornography.
If the state had a high level of substance abuse or of auto accidents linked to alcohol, would it be hypocritical for it to declare a public health problem and look for solutions? Of course not. Utah was wise enough to recognize pornography for what it is. That was before the #MeToo movement brought sexual exploitation and harassment into greater view and before deepfake technology took things to a new level.
Deepfake technology allows someone to take a person’s facial features and attach them to a different body, making them appear to do things they never have done, and manipulating their facial features to express realistic emotions. This has been described as a form of digital rape. Celebrities are particularly vulnerable, as are children and virtually anyone whose images exists on the internet. Some states have amended laws to specifically punish this behavior. Regardless of how elusive the producers may be, the law should make clear that such things are wrong.
Politicians indeed ought to pay attention to many things, and the growing problem of pornography certainly is one of them.
Getting a clear handle on the size of the porn industry is difficult. It is estimated to produce about $100 billion annually. Studies show it may be addictive and that it harms normal human interactions and expectations. A Time magazine report a few years ago cited a growing number of young men who are forming support groups to help each other kick the habit, given the effects they are encountering.
Critics counter that there are many other ills politicians ought to pay attention to instead, but this isn’t a zero sum situation. Politicians indeed ought to pay attention to many things, and the growing problem of pornography certainly is one of them.
Utah’s resolution was not enacted in an atmosphere of naivete. Its sponsor, Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, is an attorney who handles divorce cases. He understands the free speech issues involved, and he knows the Supreme Court cases that make it impossible to ban all forms of pornography outright. That’s not his goal.
He believes internet providers should be better about making filtering software available and that people should be allowed to sue distributors when it can be shown that their content harmed minors.
Utah and the 15 other states that have passed resolutions represent the idea that people can fight back against societal ills, even if many people willingly embrace those ills. No civilized society should do anything less.