Internet in Daily Life: 1)Porn Spam

Broadcast: Mar¹ 16 2003

In many Internet mailboxes, including some easily accessed by children, what used to be a trickle² of ²⁾unsolicited porn advertisements has turned into a torrent⁴. In part, that's because the Internet has become a major market for ³⁾pornographers. Datamonitor, a New York-based research company, estimates that Internet users spend more than $3 billion a year paying to see porn on increasingly explicit⁵ websites.

Looking for still more customers, porn website owners are inundating⁶ the Net with what is called "porn spam", often laced with graphic⁷ sexual photographs, as a tease to visit paid sex websites. They fire off spam like a random⁸ shotgun blast to millions of e-mail addresses at once.

John Dvorak, a California-based columnist⁹ for PC computer magazine, estimates he gets 500 e-mails a day, with as many as 100 that he never asked for, touting¹⁰ pornography sites. "A lot of spammers put up the message, 'If you don't want to get this spam, click here, and we'll take you off the mailing list.' What that tends to do is put you on a 'hot list,' because now they know that this is a real address because you're using it," he says. "They know for a fact that you exist. You're going to get 10 times more spam than you've ever had before." Mr. Dvorak says many of porn spam's message lines are cleverly written to disguise their true content. "My favorite one is, 'Sorry I missed your call,' and then you open it, and it's a solicitation¹¹ for some porn site," he says.

John Dvorak of PC magazine says moderately effective filters are available to block porn spam from one's electronic mailbox. Some of the filters recognize that the return e-mail address is ⁴⁾fictitious or impossible to trace and prevent the pornographic message from reaching one's in-box.

Of course defining what constitutes pornography is always tricky¹². John Dvorak says porn-site owners have successfully eased the term "adult material" into the lexicon¹³, making even hard-core sexual content seem like harmless entertainment for grown-ups. "The other issue that they keep bringing up is 'free speech.' And I've never understood exactly how a picture of some woman with a goat constitutes free speech," he says. "And it's not like I'm a conservative [fanatic] about this, but I really don't like getting this material unsolicited. If I want to collect porn, it's not that hard to do. But I don't want it being pushed at me."

Particularly, Mr. Dvorak says, when pornography websites are getting darker and darker, displaying scenes of torture, bestiality, and child sexual abuse.

Gail Dines, who directs the American studies program at Wheelock College in Boston, has written a chapter about Internet porn in a new ⁵⁾feminist anthology called Sisterhood is Forever. She notes that pornographers pioneered much of the Internet's ⁶⁾sophisticated technology by introducing such features as video streaming and pop-up ads. She says the effect of pornography, first honed by ever-more-⁷⁾provocative sex magazines, beginning with the soft porn of Playboy magazine in 1953, is that even young boys are accepting the ⁸⁾degradation of women as the norm.

Dines: "Boys are seeing themselves as entitled to use females in any way they want. And girls are beginning to see themselves as products to be used by men in order to gratify men sexually. You're socializing girls to become sex objects."
Landphair: "What are you hearing from your students?"
Dines: "Well what I hear, most interestingly, is that many of the boyfriends are asking their girlfriends to re-enact scenes from pornography. The boyfriends have seen it in pornography, and they want to see what it feels like in real life. And many women are scared of being left alone without a male in their life and will give in to do these things, when in fact their instincts are telling them, 'Don't do it.'"

The only real hope at the moment, Ms. Dines says, is that as more and more people are affronted¹⁴ by the waves of porn on their Internet screens, pornography will again be viewed as harmful, rather than as a victimless crime.

John Dvorak at PC magazine says those who receive Internet porn can be among those victims. He notes that companies have fired employees for accepting porn messages at their workstations, sometimes innocently. "If you've been getting a lot of porn e-mail spam, especially HTML mail that have downloaded images that you don't even know you've downloaded, they could be sitting in a 'temp' file, they could be sitting in the attachment¹⁵ box," he says. "And I believe that if somebody wanted to just go after any employee that they wanted to get rid of, they could say, 'Oh, look at all the porn on their computer.'"

Even though federal laws aimed at Internet pornography have crashed on the rocks of unfavorable court decisions, several U.S. states have dived into the fray¹⁶.

The western state of Utah, for instance, offers a lengthy¹⁷ discussion of Internet porn and porn spam on the website of the state attorney general, Mark Shurtleff. Last year, Mr. Shurtleff says, Utah passed a law aimed at prosecuting¹⁸ companies that, without being asked, send Internet pornography into Utah homes, where children can view it. "I've had several civil libertarians and others say, 'Hey, why are you even trying this? This is impossible," he says. "This worldwide Web is just too big, too huge. You cannot control it.' And I think that's what pornographers count on, that kind of attitude that we can do nothing. And I think that attorneys general and local prosecutors¹⁹, and the federal government, if we work together, we can make a difference."

The State of Utah will soon offer its citizens what it calls a "virtual 911 button," named after the code that people use to call for help by telephone in an emergency. The "virtual 911 button" will enable Utah residents to block further messages from undesirable²⁰ websites while at the same time alerting the state attorney general. Mark Shurtleff says he hopes this new technology will be an effective weapon against Internet pornographers, but he admits he's up against a slippery adversary²¹ that is thumbing its nose and taunting²², "Catch me if you can."

I'm Ted³ Landphair.

1)    Porn Spam色情邮件

2)    unsolicited[5QnsE5lisitid]adj. 未被恳求的, 主动提供的

3)    pornographer[pC:5nC^rEfE]n. 色情作品作者(发行人或出售商)

4)    fictitious[fik5tiFEs]adj. 假想的, 编造的, 虚伪的

5)    feminist[`femInIst]n. 男女平等主义者, 女权扩张论者

6)    sophisticated[sE5fistikeitid]adj. 诡辩的, 久经世故的

7)    provocative[prE5vCkEtiv]adj. 煽动的，刺激的

8)    degradation[7de^rE5deiFEn] n. 降级, 堕落, 退化

 

 

1 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

2 trickle   

vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散

参考例句：

• The stream has thinned down to a mere trickle.这条小河变成细流了。
• The flood of cars has now slowed to a trickle.汹涌的车流现在已经变得稀稀拉拉。

3 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

4 torrent   

n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发

参考例句：

• The torrent scoured a channel down the hillside. 急流沿着山坡冲出了一条沟。
• Her pent-up anger was released in a torrent of words.她压抑的愤怒以滔滔不绝的话爆发了出来。

5 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

6 inundating   

v.淹没( inundate的现在分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• Floodwaters are inundating states up and down the Eastern Seaboard. 洪水淹没了东部沿海各州。 来自互联网
• Their invasion of the city effecttidal wave inundating first the immigrant colonies. 他们的涌入城市，象潮头一样首先淹没了移民地带。 来自互联网

7 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

8 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

9 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

10 touting   

v.兜售( tout的现在分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• He's been touting his novel around publishers for years. 他几年来一直到处找出版商兜售自己的小说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Technology industry leaders are touting cars as a hot area for growth. 科技产业领袖吹捧为增长热点地区的汽车。 来自互联网

11 solicitation   

n.诱惑；揽货；恳切地要求；游说

参考例句：

• Make the first solicitation of the three scheduled this quarter. 进行三位名单上预期捐助人作本季第一次邀请捐献。 来自互联网
• Section IV is about the proxy solicitation system and corporate governance. 随后对委托书的格式、内容、期限以及能否实行有偿征集、征集费用由谁承担以及违反该制度的法律责任进行论述，并提出自己的一些见解。 来自互联网

12 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

13 lexicon   

n.字典，专门词汇

参考例句：

• Chocolate equals sin in most people's lexicon.巧克力在大多数人的字典里等同于罪恶。
• Silent earthquakes are only just beginning to enter the public lexicon.无声地震才刚开始要成为众所周知的语汇。

14 affronted   

adj.被侮辱的，被冒犯的v.勇敢地面对( affront的过去式和过去分词 )；相遇

参考例句：

• He hoped they would not feel affronted if they were not invited . 他希望如果他们没有获得邀请也不要感到受辱。
• Affronted at his impertinence,she stared at him coldly and wordlessly. 被他的无礼而冒犯，她冷冷地、无言地盯着他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

16 fray   

v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗

参考例句：

• Why should you get involved in their fray?你为什么要介入他们的争吵呢？
• Tempers began to fray in the hot weather.大热天脾气烦燥。

17 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

18 prosecuting   

检举、告发某人( prosecute的现在分词 )； 对某人提起公诉； 继续从事（某事物）； 担任控方律师

参考例句：

• The witness was cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel. 证人接受控方律师的盘问。
• Every point made by the prosecuting attorney was telling. 检查官提出的每一点都是有力的。

19 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

20 undesirable   

adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子

参考例句：

• They are the undesirable elements among the employees.他们是雇员中的不良分子。
• Certain chemicals can induce undesirable changes in the nervous system.有些化学物质能在神经系统中引起不良变化。

21 adversary   

adj.敌手，对手

参考例句：

• He saw her as his main adversary within the company.他将她视为公司中主要的对手。
• They will do anything to undermine their adversary's reputation.他们会不择手段地去损害对手的名誉。

22 taunting   

嘲讽( taunt的现在分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落

参考例句：

• She wagged a finger under his nose in a taunting gesture. 她当着他的面嘲弄地摇晃着手指。
• His taunting inclination subdued for a moment by the old man's grief and wildness. 老人的悲伤和狂乱使他那嘲弄的意图暂时收敛起来。