Star of Jennicam responds to attack
The proprietor, Webmaster and star of "Jennicam," a site that gives visitors a front row seat on her life, responded angrily to criticism she received from TCI head Leo Hindery in remarks Thursday before a conference of Roman Catholic bishops in Denver.
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"With sites about things like child pornography, bestiality, and Satan worship popping up by the thousands on the Internet, I find it 'stunningly immoral' that he condemns my site, a site about nothing more than real life, before any of those other concerns," said the 22-year-old Jenni, who prefers not to use her last name.
"Either the TCI president has got his moral concerns rather mixed up in order of importance, or I skipped a little more Sunday School than I thought," she said.
Internet good and bad
"I find comments like those to be very typical of someone who has never actually seen my site," Jenni added.
Hindery told the group of 50 bishops that the Internet can be both "an electronic pew" and a vehicle that is "stunningly immoral," saying "It has the power to corrupt absolutely."
His speech did not specifically refer to the Jennicam site as an example of immorality on the Net. Instead, he referred to it after saying that 'there are also sites on the Internet that demonstrate a profound need for a reinforced relationship with our young people, a bond that you can help to reestablish if you understand what's at stake."
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The Web site gets 500,000 visitors a day, Hindery said. "Jennie has attracted a cult following of voyeurs. It may sound pathetic, but people actually relate to Jennie; they feel they know her personally -- so much so that men worldwide regard Jennie as their 'virtual' girlfriend.'
Hindery, who oversees a cable TV company with 14.4 million customers, advised the bishops to "remind your parishioners that they have the power and the moral responsibility to be the censors for themselves and for their families."
Hindery was not available for comment, but a TCI spokeswoman said that his goal was not to single out sites on the Web, but to encourage the Catholic Church to use the Net to reach the spiritually disaffected.
"The Internet attracts many people who are looking for something, who are spiritually disconnected," the spokeswoman said. "(Hindery) meant it as food for thought" for the bishops.
Parents must be censors
Hindery said parents and not the government must be the censors of what children see.
"There's a great sadness in my heart for her (Jennifer) but also for those who go there to the site because it shows there's something missing from their lives," Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput said when asked to comment about the Jennicam Web site.
The technology conference is taking up such diverse topics as digitally copying the Vatican library to "The search for God in the age of computers."
Reuters contributed to this story