The Internet has always carried a stigma of lawlessness and amorality, but for good reason. In the case of our generation, the Internet represents a space in which normalized ethical expectations do not apply. For example, we would not dream of shoplifting a CD, but we steal music off the Internet without a twinge of conscience. Movies and television shows are a Google search away. Jokes are unedited, uncensored and frequently explore the taboo. Pornography is both shocking and pervasive, accounting for 12 percent of all web pages. What? That is so much porn! Twelve percent is officially a celebration of porn.
A unique oddity in the Internet occurs when people try to apply conventional morality to cyberspace. Craigslist, for instance, recently shut down its "adult services" forum. Previously titled "erotic services," the forum has been scrutinized for much of its existence for allegedly providing an environment conducive to prostitution and sex trafficking. Criticism peaked in August when 21 state attorneys general penned an open letter to Craigslist demanding the forum be removed from the site.
Anyone familiar with the Internet knows the next chapter in this story; prostitution and sex trafficking were not necessarily banished from the Internet forever. Rather, they simply take place on several smaller, but less visible websites. Illegal activity on the Internet is almost impossible to police because the Internet's capacity to grow and adapt to new constraints is only bounded by human ingenuity.
The Internet has taught us several lessons since its creation. Given complete anonymity, immediate accessibility and minimal accountability, for example, people will break the law. What's more, the number of people who break the law on the Internet far exceeds any figure that could be policed. What is law enforcement to do given a seemingly infinite demand for illicit material and infinite supply of illicit material?
One solution is to blame the websites themselves, as in the Craigslist case, but that does not remedy the issue. Sure, there is no longer an "adult services" portion of the site which allegedly hosted the most illegal activity of all areas of the site. But there is still a "personals" section along with a "therapeutic services" section - both of which present opportunities for similar abuse. More likely, users will flock to a variety of smaller sites, thus decentralizing the illegal listings and ensuring that none will have the manual screening every single "adult services" listing undergoes. There's already a historical precedent for this; you cannot get free music off of Napster anymore, but you can certainly go to Limewire, Frostwire, Vuze, Zamzar, Ares and even Kazaa! Seriously, Kazaa's still around. It's where I got all my music for free when I was 10.
Another solution is to prosecute and convict all the perpetrators of illegal Internet activity, but that is like trying to take all the salt out of the ocean to make the water drinkable. Entertain this example: A person posts an anonymous listing to the effect that they're looking for casual sex, but would like to exchange e-mails before the relationship progresses. There are thousands of similar postings on the Internet right now and each one could potentially be a proposal for prostitution. No amount of flagging systems or sting operations could corral that volume.
There is still a third option that could make strides in the right direction, but we are not going to like how it makes us feel. I am of the opinion that, at least in cases like prostitution, the Internet is not creating new crime - it is just making it more visible. The volume of perpetrators seems startling, but only because the Internet has revealed the true extent of the problem. Rather than blaming the wood for the forest fire and taking the fight to websites or individual perpetrators, let us try to actually fix the problems that are associated with prostitution.
While it is on everybody's mind, let us have an honest discussion about new ways to think about and approach this old problem by incorporating lessons that we have learned from the Internet. The dialogue could produce unorthodox ideas or even calls for decriminalization. It is not so unthinkable; prostitution is legal in 50 other countries and Nevada, which has not yet fallen into a sinkhole. Change will be uncomfortable because we will have to face the facts that we cannot enforce a moral code from our laws. But if the Internet has shown us anything, it is that we never really could.
Travis Ortiz is a Viewpoint writer for The Cavalier Daily.
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