The reality is that X-rated material is but a tiny fraction of what is on the Internet. Yet, reflecting the times in which we live, the porn receives a major part of the media coverage about the Internet. One gets the impression that the Net is a huge adult video and bookstore in the sky rather than a vast information and communication resource, with adult material being just a minor part. The public newsgroups on the Net, mostly in the alt. There is almost no porn on the WorldWideWeb sites, despite what the publicity says.
Kids are unlikely to run across smut by accident.
Most online porn is on private dial-in electronic bulletin boards that you have to pay to participate in. It would be impossible for a youth to get in accidentally as most demand credit cards or upfront cash before allowing access. On the Net, kids won't come across adult-oriented sites unless they deliberately look for them and know how to download and decode the material. And this can be easily prevented by having their access blocked and activity online logged by a program on their home computer such as Nanny. But again, these services are not really part of the Internet and the young person's activity can be easily monitored and controlled by the parents with the service's software.