CENSORSHIP ON THE INTERNET The Internet is a fast becoming a part of every day life. It allows for world wide communications. It is easy to access. But like any other media whether it is invited or theuser invites it into their home it has its positive and negative sides. The Internet provides us withvaluable resources yet it also provides us with inappropriate information. The following essaywill deal with censorship on the net, its affect on freedom of speech and ways of censoring by various governments. Inappropriate information, a net browser may log on to may include hard core orchild pornography, violence, solicitation, obscene publications, hate propaganda, another s personal information. Censorship and restriction of the above has been challenged many times in other media. For example, the issue of violence on television, a medium that has been around longer than the Internet, has not been solved, although over the years changes and progress have been made. Therefore, it may take time to effect changes on the Internet that will satisfy the majority. On the net, it is the web navigator who seeks out these inappropriate sites and invites them into their home. It is a little different with broadcast media that is found in our homes.Computer and the Internet access cannot be censored so much because we, the users, browse forthe information, it does not appear on its own. The comparison is made with the library where one chooses any book they want just like the net user chooses a site. None is forced to navigate the net in search of inappropriate information. In order toprovide censorship on the Internet the courts at times have to make laws on morality. The courts cannot decide what every one should read and in turn satisfy everyone. What is acceptable for one may not be acceptable for another. In society we all see things different ways. For example, what person may see as pornography another may see it as acceptable nudity or erotic art. The difficulty in creating a law is deciding where to draw the line. Censorship can be legislated to a certain degree if words like pornography , hate propaganda and so on are well defined. It has often been said that too much censorship eventually affects creativity. We liveIn a free democratic society and everyone should have the right to propose their ideas and take the chance for them to be accepted or rejected. Many believe that censorship in a democratic society is a violation of freedom of expression. Yet others say, do we ever andshould we ever have complete freedom of expression if we are not responsible, or acceptsome responsibility. And the debate goes on. Another common belief associated with all themedia, and including the Internet, if you censor anything it becomes more tempting. Governments through the public demand can pass laws that can restrict the existenceof inappropriate web sites. I am not sure at the moment how successful they have been inprohibiting the existence of certain sites but I believe controlling and restricting sites ispossible. For example at the moment, pornography laws do exist, but a few people can andhave been fined or prosecuted unless it is hard core . Laws can and have been put into placefor false advertising, slander of character, ideas that create hatred and riots. But it is not always clear cut and easy. A lot of time and effort has to be put into creating changes. Censorship on the Internet and legislation have not reached the same level all over the world, as we see in the article Internet Censorship Around the World by Charles A. Gimon. He claims not in all countries is censorship a problem because net-working is not on the same level as in North America, East Asia and Europe. Costs are high and therefore access is not encouraged. In the United Kingdom legislation has been discussed that would give Internet

providers common carrier status meaning that the site wouldn t be responsible for the actions of its users . Another legislation discussed in New Zealand the Technology & Crimes bill would punish every person who casts, transmits, communicates, or receives through any means, any objectionable image, or sound . But it is very difficult to keep track of all the communication exchanges. In Canada by routing messages through the United States and elsewhere, and by storing information outside Canada, Internet users have rendered Canadian press ban powerless . In some countries the police have permission to read your e-mail legally because the net is used by criminals and scammers of all sorts. According to the article to the Censorship News Article of 2/8/97 Bill Clinton had planned to censor inappropriate information but was unable to because the courts claimed that is violated free speech. The act was going to ban sexually explicit material to people under the age of 18. Explicit defined as depicts or describes in terms clearly offensive, as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual excretory activities or organs . Although, hard-core pornography is illegal. The proposed Communications Decency Act was found in conflict with the First Amendment. Many believe that specific laws can be created for all that is out there and laws after a whole become vague. Censorware exists i.e. Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) which is a code in the web page and this tells the software whether it should block access for minors. Ideas are cropping up all over but many of those programs offered have faults in rating categories and they may be limited in their choices. Many mix-ups occur with the available Censorware. Some programs block access to a lot more than the users wants. Other times certain topics regardless of how well they are presented cannot be accessed. Rate and block Censorware according to some is taking the control and responsibility away from the parents yet the programs are far from perfect. In the U.S. a new idea is a voluntary Internet ratings system and blocking software that will screen out inappropriate content , according to the article on Censorware & Voluntary Ratings. The voluntary ratings can empower parents. These was a poll sponsored by Photocopy Plus of Ottawa and two questions were asked: Do you support legislation to restrict information on the Internet . The results were for yes: 92% out of 118 people. For the no: 90.8% out of 1171 people that were asked. According to this survey people were against censorship on the Internet. The second question was: Where do you reside? The results were that a great number of people over 800 were against censorship in the U.S. . In Canada less than 100 people were against censorship. In Conclusion, the Internet provides us with a lot of wonderful and interesting information as long as we are responsible users and we do not abuse the service provided.I personally agree with providing legislation and censorship on the Internet but any lawspassed at times are vague because they cannot include all the specifics of all the websites. BIBLIOGRAPHY (1) Article: Censorship News (27/6/97). Obtained: March 18th 1998. Available: http://www.the-revolution.demon.co.uk/ Directory: / news.htm (2) Article: Censoware & Voluntary Ratings Obtained: March 16th 1998. Available: http://www.parascope.com/ Directory: /articles/0797/censor2.htm (3) Article: Internet Censorship Around the World . INFO NATION. Obtained: March 18th 1998. Available:http:// www.info-nation.com/ Directory: /foreign.html (4) Article: Poll Results: Censorship on the Net- The Beginning of the End? . Cyber Pages International Inc. (18/03/98) Available: http://www.cyberpages.com/ Directory: /polls/r16.htm