Censorship On The Internet :: essays research papers

Censorship on the InternetFive years after the freshman world wide web was launched at the end of 1991, TheInternet has become very popular in the United States. Although PresidentClinton already signed the 1996 telecom ActI on Thursday Feb 8, 1996,the banship issue on the net still remains unresolved. In fact, censorship incyberspace is unconscionable and impossible. Trying to censor the Internet itsproblematic because the net is an supranational issue, there is no standard forjudging materials, and censorship is an abridgment of democratic spirit.Firstly, censorship on the Internet is an international issue. The Internet wasconstructed by the U.S. military since 1960s, but no unitary actually owns it. Thus,the Internet is a global network, and it crosses over different cultures. It isimpossible to censor everything that seems to be offensive. For example, Vietnamhas announced new regulations that forbid "data that can affect nationalsecurity, social order, and safety or i nformation that is not appropriate to theculture, morality, and traditional usance of the Vietnamese people." on June 4,1996. It is also impossible to ban all things that are prohibited in a outlandish.For instant, some countries, such as Germany, have considered pickings measuresagainst the U.S. and other companies or individuals that have created ordistributed offensive material on the Internet. If the United States governmentreally wanted to censor the net, there is only one solution - shut down allnetwork links of other countries. But of course that would mean no Internetaccess for the whole country and that is disgust by the whole nation.Secondly, everyone has their personal judgment values. The decision of somepeople cannot represent the whole population of those using the net. Many people contention that pornography on the net should be censored because there are kidsonline. However, we can see there are many kids of pornographic magazines on break at newsstands. It is because we have regulations to limit who can readcertain published materials. Likewise, some people already use special softwareto regulate the age limit in cyberspace. Why do people still argue about that?It is all about personal points of views. Justice Douglas said, "To many theSong of Solomon is obscene. I do not think we, the judge, were ever given theconstitutional power to make definitions of obscenity."II. In cyberspace, it ishard to set up a pool of judges to censor what could be displayed on the net.Thirdly, censorship works against democratic spirit, it opposes the right offree speech and is a breach of the First Amendment.