Despite the government's failure to enact legislation, the controversy surrounding child pornography on the Internet has prompted some service providers to take action on their own. Shortly after iSTAR took action, another service provider followed suit. Internet Connect Inc. of Edmonton pulled 15 newsgroups from their service that offered digital child pornography and bestiality. The effects of this kind of abuse on children can be devastating. The harm has been compared to that of the damage caused by incest or sexual molestation.
Children feel an overwhelming sense of guilt and shame.
The knowledge that their images are being distributed to who knows where is very frightening. Pornography poses an even greater threat to the child than does sexual abuse or prostitution. A child who has posed for the camera must go through life knowing that the recording is circulating within the mass distribution system for child pornography. They may see themselves as objects to be sold rather than people who are important. Pornography has a direct relationship to child abuse.