Internet Censorship

The Internet has been a major concern of the American people and government for the last few years with controversies over certain types of web sites displayed over the Internet including pornography, hate group web sites, “inappropriate” literature, and other various kinds of web sites. Their main concern for these types of web sites is that this material is easily accessible to a young, impressionable audience. (Pornography and the Internet in the United States) I believe that censorship of the Internet is not the best solution.

The Internet is unlike any information medium in history. While there may be similarities, the free flow of information that the internet provides makes it a completely unprecedented information medium. The internet allows users to access a breath of information way beyond channel-surfing with a limited number of stations. The capacity of this new medium is only limited by its users. If knowledge is power, then information is king in this technology age. When the masses have access to information, those in power are likely to feel threatened. Just like what a mass-produced book could do in the 18th century. Unlike traditional print media like the newspaper, the Internet is relatively cheap an

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Probably the only viable solution to the problem of children viewing objectionable material on the Internet I have found is the use of a voluntary rating system. ICRA then generates a Content Label (a short piece of computer code) which the author adds to his/her site. Blocking software can also cause problems with computers during installation, maintenance, and upgrades, that negatively impact the performance of the computer. ” Debbie and Michael Lander, for the Lander Family.

Internet censorship on the outside may appear to be an admirable mission, but its consequences impede on our rights of free expression. Parents can subscribe to a parental control program that filters out offensive materials based on a “clean list” of web sites or on key words. This idea would put companies in the business of censoring all communication. An online appeal from an organization called Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) stated the following: “This proposed law could mean the demise of the Seattle Community Network (SCN), a 6,500-member free, public access computer network established to benefit the public. The CIEC case is based on the argument that the only effective and constitutional way to control children’s access to objectionable material on the Internet is to rely on user control. Censoring the Internet will only contribute to limiting its potential. The Government may not, through the CDA, interrupt that conversation. However, a key point is that the Internet Content Rating Association does not rate internet content - the content providers do that, using the ICRA system. This solution might work but legislation would have to be in place to force adult websites into using some sort of AVS.

Approximate Word count = 2315
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

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