Should governments censor material on the World Wide Web?
By: Russell Hite

Should governments censor the Internet? This has been an on going debate for years. It has intensified over recent years with the growth of the Internet, and with more people using the Internet, and being exposed to what it has to offer. Many people have asked, what information should I have access too? In my opinion there is no correct answer to that question. You will always hear a variety of answers. An issue such as pornography to children seems to be one of the biggest topics. Inappropriate things are found on the Internet each day. Some people argue that censoring the Internet is unconstitutional. The Internet is the best source for people to express opinions and facts. Its said that “Freedom of speech” or “Freedom of press” is guaranteed by the First Amendment. For that reason, some people argue that censorship of the Internet is illegal. Censoring the Internet would be an uphill battle for the government to do. The government would have to invest time and man power to make it happen. Another issue would be, the government would have to get all other countries to support the idea.

Information that you do not want your child to see should be a parent’s responsibility. However, with technology today that is almost impossible. There are other sources of media related things. There is the T.V., magazines and movies. All these forms of media can give unfavorable examples towards people, places, and things. Such as the use of drugs, guns and murder. For example, if a child’s favorite video game is “Grand Theft Auto” where shooting guns, car jacking people, going on missions to kill people is advertised, this may scar your child. You do not want your child to grow up thinking these things are okay to do. It is the parents’ responsibility to keep their children as pure as possible.

With so many websites like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, how can every inappropriate thing be removed in a world that seems to have no boundaries? With that being said more structured governments censor the web. Chine establishes certain software that censors some materials its citizens cannot see. That would not work here in the United States. We to a degree are spoiled with the freedom of speech, and are so use to it, that if we were in a more controlled environment, we probably would go crazy. We would not like it.

Even with as many people saying no to the question, there are people out there that disagree. Some people say the government can be in peoples business. The reason for this is because parents do not want their children to learn anything they should not have to. Also some people say that it is the governments right to censor material they classify as inappropriate.

Sexually explicit sites are very common on the Internet. Most sites do very little, if anything at all to prevent children from viewing their material. However, the people that say the government should censor the web also say that the government cannot stop people from saying what they want to say. Others are torn about the situation. Saying that the government censorship is a violation of privacy and free speech. However they would like their children to go online one day without seeing filth on the Internet. The Internet grows every year. There are more websites and more people posting things on the web. There are also a growing number of people who use the Internet. There is a study that shows in 2000, there were 361 million Internet users. There was another study done ten years later that showed it jumped significantly. In 2010 there were 1.967 million Internet users. That is five times more then in 2000. The Internet has also become more spread out, and more global. In 2000 73 percent of all Internet users were accounted for in the top 10 countries. That number decreased in 2010 to 63 percent.

In this world, Internet dependency or addition is very easy to come by. When somebody wants to see a movie, or want to find out something going on in the world then they choose the web. It is the easiest, quickest way to find out information. It is to late to censor the Internet because people depend on it for everything. If you want to watch the news, and if you want to learn more about a story, and if that is censored then you will not find out about the story. The Internet is where some forms of media if not all get their information. Well, if that is censored then it is almost like secrets are being kept from you and whoever is looking up the story. Several sources would not even be valuable or useful anymore because they cannot get any information. It is much quicker to go on the web and type something rather then finding it through a person.

There are already ways to censor things on the Internet. So why do more? There are already ways that you can block sites, and lock them out of a computer. Look at computers at work for example. You can only have a list of websites that you can go on because it is company policy. They probably have their reasons as to why they do not want you to go on those websites. So that is already a form of censorship. If it should not be on the Internet then it should already be blocked. Several issues come with censoring the Internet. Kids can lie about there age. They can say that there 18 and then they will be allowed on to the site. It is actually useless; there is a way around everything.

In my opinion, I do not think the government should sensor the web. The government has no right to be in people’s privacy. There would be such an uproar of problems people would have with censorship. It is none of the governments business what we view in the privacy of our homes, and we also have the right to look at anything we want. There is nobody telling us we should not look at something because, if that was the case curiosity would over come us and we would look anyway. It is not possible in my opinion to get children to not look at certain things on the web. Children have their way of finding things out with mobile devices, apps, and hearing from friends what is going on on the Internet. This would be such a tough task for the government to do, and I do not see it happening anytime soon or at all.

Works Cited www.newsflavor.com Published by BanditMachX on March 22,2007 in Opinions

Allen, Paddy, Bobbie Johnson. Internet censorship; Who Controls
What Guardian.co.uk. Guardian news and Media Limited
30 June 2009. 23 August 2009

www.debate.org

Internet Censorship by Usman Qazi Copyright 1996

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