Should the Internet Be Censored?
Should the Internet be censored?
From colonial times to the present, the media in America has been subject to censorship challenges and regulations. The Internet has become a vast sea of opportunity. Everyone is seizing the moment. The good and the bad of society have reduced the meaning of the Internet. Menace threatens each onlooker, as people browse the many pages of Cyberspace. As the new technological advances help to shape our society, one cannot help but think of the dangers waiting to prey on anyone. The Internet should be censored, because there needs to be some protection against the criminal minds that dwell in society. If the problems concerning the Internet are not irradiated in its early stage now, it could fester into something cancerous. This cancer could easily turn something that should be in the best interest of society, into society 's worst nightmare.
The part of society that is most opposed to censoring the Internet argue that placing restrictions on Internet usage is in direct violation of the First Amendment Rights of the Constitution. This right was established long before the Internet was even inkling in someone 's imagination. By restricting web site content, society freedom of opinion and expression are oppressed (EFF, www.eff.org/freespeech.html July 1990). The Internet allows everyone in a group to have the same opportunities for engaging in and partaking of debates. Even people with disabilities, who are very often excluded from other media outlets, are able to access and contribute equally. The Internet is a radical new medium with many new outlets for debate and discussion. Censoring the Internet would fundamentally harm and destroy the quality that makes it most popular, which is freedom (Landier, 1997). The Internet has grown as an acceptable media of exchange around the globe. People enjoy the idea of logging on, talking to and or mailing hundreds of people across the world. If society felt their every action
From colonial times to the present, the media in America has been subject to censorship challenges and regulations. The Internet has become a vast sea of opportunity. Everyone is seizing the moment. The good and the bad of society have reduced the meaning of the Internet. Menace threatens each onlooker, as people browse the many pages of Cyberspace. As the new technological advances help to shape our society, one cannot help but think of the dangers waiting to prey on anyone. The Internet should be censored, because there needs to be some protection against the criminal minds that dwell in society. If the problems concerning the Internet are not irradiated in its early stage now, it could fester into something cancerous. This cancer could easily turn something that should be in the best interest of society, into society 's worst nightmare.
The part of society that is most opposed to censoring the Internet argue that placing restrictions on Internet usage is in direct violation of the First Amendment Rights of the Constitution. This right was established long before the Internet was even inkling in someone 's imagination. By restricting web site content, society freedom of opinion and expression are oppressed (EFF, www.eff.org/freespeech.html July 1990). The Internet allows everyone in a group to have the same opportunities for engaging in and partaking of debates. Even people with disabilities, who are very often excluded from other media outlets, are able to access and contribute equally. The Internet is a radical new medium with many new outlets for debate and discussion. Censoring the Internet would fundamentally harm and destroy the quality that makes it most popular, which is freedom (Landier, 1997). The Internet has grown as an acceptable media of exchange around the globe. People enjoy the idea of logging on, talking to and or mailing hundreds of people across the world. If society felt their every action
References: CNN. (1997). Communications Decency Act Main Page. Retrieved on February 17, 2001: http://www.cnn.com/US/9703/cda.scotus/ Current internet censorship efforts. (1994). Electronic Privacy Information Center. Retrieved December 6, 2000: http://www.epic.org/free_speech/censorship/ Landier, M. (1997, July 4). Internet censorship is absurd and unconstitutional. http://www.landier.com/michael/essays/censorship/fulltext.htm Preserving free speech: Our fun rights of freedom of speech & press. (1990). [online article] Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved December 6, 2000: http://www.eff.org/freespeech.html .