CONTENT-ANALYSIS OF PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET

We examined the nature and content of 150 randomly selected pornograph ic images available in Usenet newsgroups on the Internet in April 1994 . Using content analysis, we identified themes that appear most freque ntly and explored differences in the type of material posted by commer cial and noncommercial users. Results suggest that commercial vendors are more likely to post explicit pornographic material in public acces s newsgroups to attract new customers to their private, pay-per-use bu lletin board services.