Clean Up The Internet

To:  All Webmasters and regular Web users

As the Webmaster of an online women's lifestyle magazine, www.Savvy-Women-Magazine.com, I am appalled by the filth, obscenity, perversion and downright depravity I am faced with on a daily basis simply because I choose to base my career on the Internet.

A seemingly innocuous task like cleaning out my JUNK email file confronts me with vulgarity and the utter baseness some human beings are apparently able to stoop to and it sickens me.

In the offline world, I accept that individuals are entitled to their basic rights under the First Amendment, but to a certain degree we are protected in the "real world" from pornography, vice, corruption, hatred and profanity by containing it behind closed doors, in back alleys and wrapped in plain brown paper packages.

Not so online. Every day, in one way or another, the murky underbelly of the Internet is shoved in my face. All I have to do is accidentally mis-type a URL, or, in my case, do a simple keyword search for "women" on any of the keyword tools (which is a crucial part of my job) to discover phrases I'd really rather not see, thank you very much.

What concerns me most is that as an adult, sure, I can get angry and frustrated about the murky underbelly of the Web, express my opinion then move on, but what about my son? What about YOUR sons and daughters? Why should any of us have to be exposed to text and images we have absolutely no desire to be confronted with? Why should we have to explain what "pornography" is to a 6 year old child because he or she has been exposed to it?

And please, don't get me wrong, I'm NOT a bible-thumping moralist or wowser by any stretch of the imagination. I'm simply a woman, wife and mother who objects vehemently to the obscenities I'm confronted with day after day.

So, what is the answer? I don't know. Maybe a segregated Internet, where the murky element can create websites and send spam to their hearts content, and leave the rest of us to enjoy the delights of the fascinating, fulfilling, enjoyable, stimulating, entertaining and enlightening elements of the Web.

I urge ALL regular Web users, Webmasters and anyone who feels as I do to sign this petition merely as a statement of protest. With enough voices raised in frustration at the price we "good folk" have to pay to simply be online, maybe we can create enough groundswell to prompt the faceless and nameless "powers that be" behind the Internet to take some action, clean up the Internet and make it a nicer place to hang out.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Clean Up The Internet Petition to All Webmasters and regular Web users was created by and written by Olivia Morrow (olivia@savvy-women-magazine.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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