Maran HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman zt"l speaking at a women's gathering about the dangers of the Internet
Maran always insisted that when one seeks to arouse those who must use the Internet for their livelihood, they must insist only on the use of a certified screened version. Nevertheless, one should not relate to it as `kosher' because even if it is not treife, it still constitutes a threat and stumbling block and one must dissuade its use from those who do not absolutely need it.
"The yetzer hora," said Maran, "begins by sticking in one foot by the door so that one will have to keep his house open. In the end, he will have both feet inside. That's why one must be on guard not to even open the door by a small crack."
He also said that in the past, circumstances made many Jews work on Shabbos, and entire generations went down the drain, being lost to Yiddishkeit. Today, the test is not one of Shabbos observance. We have fine educational institutions and kashrus supervisions. But the evil inclination invented the Internet with a camouflage of the same need for livelihood that once led to chillul Shabbos, and people now connect to the open Internet which leads to the destruction of whole families.
The Rosh Yeshiva once sighed and then said very sharply, "The Internet is just like the accursed Haskala which wrought havoc in the vineyard of the Jewish people. It is the Great Destructive Force of our generation."
His outspoken opinion on the obligation to work only in places which have proper screening was reflected in various rulings to private individuals. The grandson of HaRav Gedalya Hoenigsburg tells in his work, "Tzaddik Katamar Yifrach" of a question, one of many similar ones, which came before Maran.
"My wife has been offered a job in a printing house which works with computers connected to the Internet without proper screening. She is a G-d-fearing woman, and the director emphatically declares that she will only have to deal with work-related access. Ostensibly, there seems to be no threat. I want to know if she can be allowed to work there."
Maran objected in a few terse words, "The yetzer hara does not lack ways and means!"
