Essay, Research Paper: Government Censorship On The Internet

Government Censorship on the InternetThesis: Government Censorship would damage the atmosphere of the freedomto express ideas onthe Internet; therefore, government should not encourage censorship.IntroductionI. In the Internet community, there is a large volume of technical terms. For this reason, it is firstnecessary to examine the terminology specific to Internet. 1.The internet is a world wide computer network. 1.Electronic mail (email), which is one component of the Internet,approximates person to person letters, memoranda, notes and even phone calls. 2.Another term that is often used is electronic news(enews/Usenet), enews is a broadcast, free to the Internet medium. 3.The term FTP is also frequently used. File transfer protocol(FTP) started as an Internet archival and retrieval medium, somewhat analogous totraditional libraries. 4.The world-wide web (WWW), which is another component of the Net,can be used to "publish" material that would traditionally appear injournals, magazines, posters, books, television and even on film. 2.It is also essential to give a brief history on the internet. 3.The U.S. government is now trying to pass bills to prevent misuse ofthe Net.II. In order to understand the need for the ever-growing body oflegislation, it is important toexplore the controversy, and the current problems involved with the Net asit exists must beintroduced. 1.The problem that concerns most people is offensive materials such aspornography. 2.Another crucial internet crime is the stealing of credit cardnumbers.III. One reaction to this inapplicability has been the "Censor the Net"approach (the censorshipbill), we are now to compare its advantages and disadvantages. 1.First, the meaning of "Censoring the Net" must be explained. 2.However, many experts have pointed out that government censorship isnot possible. 1.First, it is not fair to exclude the freedom and damage theatmosphere of freely expressing ideas just for the safety of children. 2.Most internet users are enjoying their freedom of speech on theNet, which is supposed to be protected by our First Amendment. 3.Additionally, only a very small portion of the Net containsoffensive material, most people do not use the Net for pornography. 4.It must be understood that censoring the Net is technicallyimpossible. 5.While people are concerned about Internet pornography, it shouldbe recognized that pornography is sometimes legal; for example, pornography islegal in video and magazines.IV. There are many alternative measures to government censorship whichwould prevent misuse ofthe Net and would have the same effects as censorship. 1.It is very important for parents to provide moral guidance for theirchildren, and parents should have this responsibility. 2.However, at the same time as we carry out moral guidance, we have tocome out with some short term approaches to solve the problem in a more efficient way aswell. 3.An alternative to government censorship is the technological fix,

















 







which would prevent misuse of the Net and would have the same effects as governmentcensorship. 1.One example of technological fix is the "SurfWatch" software. 2.Also, commercial Internet service providers, such as "AmericaOnline", allow parents to control what Internet relay chat (IRC) sessions are availableto their children. 3.Another technological fix is for parents and guardians to have aseparate "proxy server" for their children's web browser. 4.There are no computer programs to automatically and reliably classifymaterial; only people can do it. As a result, while practicing technological fixes, theclassification of the contents of the material when posting is very important. 5.Nowadays, most internet users classify their postings with standardcategories, and leave signatures at the end of postings. 6.The combination of the installation of censoring software and theclassification of materials is a much better solution than government censorship.ConclusionBibliographyThe Internet is a wonderful place of entertainment and education but likeall places used by millionsof people, it has some murky corners people would prefer children not toexplore. In the physicalworld society as a whole conspires to protect children, but there are nosocial or physicalconstraints to Internet surfing.The Internet Censorship Bill of 1995, also known as the Exon/CoatsCommunications DecencyAct, has been introduced in the U.S. Congress. It would make it a criminaloffense to makeavailable to children anything that is indecent, or to send anythingindecent with "intent to annoy,abuse, threaten, or harass" ("Stop the Communications ..." n.p.). The goalof this bill as written(though not as stated by its proponents) is to try to make all publicdiscourse on the Internetsuitable for young children. The issue of whether is it necessary to havecensorship on the Internetis being argued all over the world. There are numerous homepages on theWorld Wide Webdiscussing this issue, or asking people to sign the petition to stopgovernment censorship.The Internet was originally a place for people to freely express theirideas worldwide. It is also oneof America's most valuable types of technology; scientists use email forquick and easycommunication. They post their current scientific discoveries on theUsenet newsgroups so otherscientists in the same field of study all over the world can know inminutes. Ordinary people usethe Net for communication, expressing their opinions in the newsgroups,obtaining up-to-dateinformation from the WWW, acquiring files by using FTP, etc. Censorshipwould damage theatmosphere of the freedom to express ideas on the Internet; therefore,government should notencourage censorship.In the Internet community, there is a large volume of technical terms. Forthis reason, it is firstnecessary to examine the terminology specific to Internet. The Internet isa world wide computernetwork. The "Net" is frequently used in place of Internet. In the wordsof Allison and Baxter, twoexperts on Internet Censorship at the Monash University, "the Internet iscomprised of variousdigital media subsuming many of the distinct roles of traditional media"(Allison and Baxter 3).