Essay, Research Paper: Internet Censorship

The internet was created in the 1960s as a communication tool for the military so that if there was a nuclear attack the military could still communicate according to the internet censorship report. It wasn t until the 1980s that it was opened up to the public. The number of people on the internet has grown from an estimated 56 million in 1995 to over 200 million in 1999 according to the same web site. The internet itself did not become a debatable topic until NBC ran a segment in 1994 on the internet saying that is was nothing but a pornographic dumping ground. According to the web page Internet Censorship by Rawat Neeti, when this segment was aired, Senator Jim Exon saw it and tried to pass an amendment restricting material on the internet, he was unsuccessful. The internet is a place where anyone is free to post whatever they want. This is why it has become such a debate. Parents do not want their children to come across some information that is not appropriate for them and supervisors do not want there employees to look at inappropriate web sites while they are supposed to be working; but is this a reason that censorship laws should be made? Many people think so, but I feel that not only would it be impossible, but also it is not the government s responsibility to monitor what other people s children and employees do and what they look at. One reason that I feel that the internet should not be censored by the government is because it would be impossible. Another word for the internet is the world wide web. Worldwide being the operative words. The internet is world wide and no matter what laws the United States government puts on the internet they will never have control over the internet until they can get all 187 countries in the world to agree to the same laws. Right now, the only law that the government has on the internet is that any Library receiving federal funding to install some kind of filtering device. This law passed the United States congress on December 15, 2000. Besides from being impossible, it is unethical and against the first amendment, which gives us the right to freedom of speech. It is almost like the government is trying to take away the Americans freedom. Like the web site Stop Internet Censoring said The internet is making it possible for new voices to be heard the voices of people who simply could not afford to publish their ideas or display their artistic creative talents to a wide audience using older technologies. America s Founders couldn t foresee the internet, but they knew that government control of information was not only a violation of personal liberty it is a threat to their hopes for a nation based on the principles of self-government so they gave us the first amendment. Many schools and libraries not receiving federal funding do not plan to install filters. According to Ann Curry and Ken Haycock 33% of high schools do not plan to install any type of filter, 41% of middle schools, and 39% of elementary schools. According to the March 2001 issue of consumer reports only two percent of the internet is sexually explicit material. And the actual extent of abduction and molestation of young because of the internet is rare. Michael Males says in his article in the Teacher Librarian that in 1995 only ten or twelve cases out of 135 had anything to do with the internet. According to that same article, in California, juvenile sex offenses, teenage birth rate, teenage murder, drunk driving, rape, drug use, binge drinking, violent crime, property crime, and suicide all has gone down since the internet became popular. While school attendance and SAT scores have gone up during the same time. So is internet filtering really needed? I think not. I do feel that a parent does have the right to censor what their children see on the internet, but just like the government censoring the internet, it is a pretty impossible task. Even if they use a certain program to block inappropriate web sites, it can not block everything. Even the programs that only allow you in sites with a certain ratings do not work because most sites do not rate themselves. Filtering programs also have a tendency to block sites that are not harmful at all like a lot of political and social sites or a site on Middlesex, Ct. because it has a certain word in it. Like Ann Curry and Ken Haycock said in their article in the School Library Journal, Internet filtering lets parents and others think that the inappropriate sights are blocked. In reality, not all of them are it s impossible, it is mainly symbolic. I honestly feel that the best way for parents to control what their children do on the internet is to be around when they are on it, not trust some machine to do it for them. Works Cited Cozac, David and David Tortell. Internet Censorship Report. Online. Avaible http://www.ccpj.ca/publications/internet/images/line.GIF. Accessed 1 April, 2001. Curry, Ann and Ken Heycock. Filtered or Unfiltered. School Library Journal. January 2001, pg 42. Digital Chaperones for Kids. Consumer Reports. March 2001. Pg 20. Males, Michael. Mythology and Internet Filtering. Teacher Librarian. December 2000. Pg 16. Rawat, Neeti N. Internet Censorship. Online. Avaible http://neets.com/censor/. Accessed 1 April, 2001. Stop Internet Censoring. Online. Avaible http://www.lpri.org/internet.html. Accessed 1 April, 2001