Everyone has heard of the Internet and how it is going to help set the world free. The Internet is the fastest growing form of communication and is becoming more and more common in the home. Companies these days do big business over the Internet, and online shopping has grown tremendously in the last few years. For instance, the online auction site eBay sells millions of items every year online. Many companies are making even more plans to expand their business to the Internet. Unfortunately, there have been numerous attempts lately to censor the Internet.
If the Internet is controlled, regulated, restricted, or censored it will have harsh effects on its capabilities. In recent years, Americas economy has become increasingly dependent on the need to instantly move large amounts of information across long distances. Computerization has changed everyones life in ways that were never before possible. The global network of interconnected computers allows people to send electronic mail messages across the world in the blink of an eye and stay updated on world events as they happen; the world has become a much smaller place as a result of this global communication and exchange of ideas.
There have also become thousands of online communities of people who share common interests through message boards, chat rooms, and electronic mailing lists (Wilmott 106). Right now, the Internet is the ultimate demonstration of the first amendment: free speech. A place where people can speak their mind without being punished for what they say or how they choose to say it. The Internet owes its incredible worldwide success to its protection of free speech, not only in America, but also in countries where freedom of speech is not guaranteed.
For some, it is the only place where they can speak their mind without fear of political or religious persecution. (Cyberchaos). The Internet is also one of America’s most valuable types of technology; scientists use email for quick and easy communication. They post their current scientific discoveries on online newsgroups so other scientists in the same field of study all over the world can know in minutes. Ordinary people use the Internet for communication, expressing their opinions in the newsgroups, obtaining new information from the WWW, downloading all types of media files, or just surfing for their own personal enjoyment.
Users of the Internet have the freedom to express anything they believe. The fact that the Internet has no single authority figure creates a problem about what kind of materials should be available on the Internet. (Hentoff 12) The largest controversy that surrounds censoring the Internet is what information should be considered offensive. The Internet can be viewed in many different ways. It can be considered a carrier of common data, similar to a phone company, which must ignore what is broadcast for privacy reasons.
Or, it can be considered a distributor and broadcaster of information, much like a television or radio station, which is responsible for what it broadcasts and has to conform to federal standards and regulations. This argument is the main concern of the censorship matter. The Internet is a carrier of information, and not a broadcaster, since it only provides the basic structure for information transfer and sharing. (Cyberchaos) But this angers lawmakers. The current laws existing today do not apply well to the Internet.
The Internet cannot be viewed as one type of transfer medium under current broadcast definitions (Muzzling the Internet). One large difference that sets the Internet apart from a broadcasting media is the fact that one cant stumble across a vulgar or obscene site without first entering an address or following a link from another page. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part, if one wants to find dirty material on the Internet, they have to go out and look for it. The Internet is much more like going into a bookstore and choosing to look at adult magazines than it is like channel surfing on television (Miller 75).
The Internet is a great place of entertainment and education, but like all places used by millions of people, it has some bad influences that people would rather not have their children view. Parents usually try to protect their children, but there are no boundaries to the Internet. For this reason, there have been many attempts at censoring the Internet in the name of protecting children. One example is the Communications Decency Act of 1995.
The Communications Decency Act, also known as the Internet Censorship Act, was introduced in the U. S. Congress in 1995. It would make it a crime to make anything available to a child that is indecent, or to send anything indecent with “intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass. The goal of this bill was to try to make all public material on the Internet suitable for young children. The bill would have made certain commercial servers that carry pictures of nudity, like those run by Penthouse or Playboy, be shut down immediately or face prosecution. The same goes for any amateur web site that features nudity, sex talk, or dirty language.
Posting any dirty words in an online discussion group, which occurs often, could make one liable for a $50,000 fine and six months in jail (Levy 78-79). Why does it suddenly become illegal to post something that has been legal for years in print? If it had passed, the bill would also have criminalized private mail. … I can call my brother on the phone and say anything – but if I say it on the Internet, it’s illegal” (Levy 53). Most Internet users are enjoying their freedom of speech on the Net, which is supposed to be protected by the First Amendment of the United States.
It is believed by many that the Internet provides greater freedom of speech and press than anything before in our history. “Heavy-handed attempts to impose restrictions on the unruly but incredibly creative anarchy of the Net could kill the spirit of cooperative knowledge-sharing that makes the Net valuable to millions” (Rheingold). The freedom of ideas and expression is what makes the Internet important and enjoyable, and it should not be suppressed for any reason. Additionally, only a very small portion of the Internet contains offensive material.
Most people do not use the Internet for pornography. There is no doubt that porn is popular. But the Net is mostly being used for communication and information exchange, and only a tiny portion of the Net contains pornography and other offensive material. While people are concerned about Internet pornography, it is true that it is often perfectly legal; for example, pornography is legal in video and magazines. Therefore, it is contradictory to ban the Internet equivalents (Legal Definition… ). “Citizens should have the right to restrict the information flow into their homes.
They should be able to exclude from their home any subject matter that they do not want their children to see. But sooner or later, their children will be exposed to everything from which they have shielded them… ” (Rheingold). The Internet is definitely not the only means for teenagers to find inappropriate material. If kids want to get a hold of dirty pictures or magazines, there are many other ways to find them besides the Internet. If the purpose of censorship is to prevent minors from being exposed to indecent material, not only the Internet has to be censored.
Censoring the Net will only eliminate one way for children to find this material. Government censorship is not the solution to the problem, and other measures that have the same effects as censorship can be used. For example, there are many software programs that can be purchased or downloaded for free which block out web sites with offensive language or words. Programs such as Net Nanny, Cyber Patrol, and Net Watch can be set up by parents to block access to websites that contain any words, or foul language that may be unsuitable for children.
While these programs have many flaws (a completely appropriate website on breast cancer could be blocked), they are definitely a much smarter and fairer alternative to government censorship (Parental Control Ware). To conclude, the Internet is one of the worlds greatest resources to freedom of speech and expression, and it has the potential to bring education and better communication to every part of the world. All types of people use it, and its free speech and equality has made it incredibly popular.
However, government attempts to censor the Internet in the name of protecting children can only have harmful effects. Censoring the Internet will only contribute to limiting its potential. It also has to be taken into account that indecent or pornographic websites only make up a tiny portion of the Net, and much pornography is legal. The solution to keeping kids from getting into inappropriate websites is to monitor their access, use filtering software, and teach them morals. Censoring the Internet can only be harmful to everyone else who uses it.
