Internet Censorship
Mike Myers
CS320
Summary Response

From http://michael.landier.com/essays/censorship

The government has tried to put laws into effect that would standardize the Internet into a happy place where their would never be any problems generated by the users. The United States does not control the world, so how can they effectively govern the Internet when it is made up by users worldwide. Currently there are several regulatory devices that allow parents to decide through a few simple steps what can be accessed on the Internet at home.

These programs such as Net Nanny, CYBERsitter, SurfWatch, and Cyber Patrol are currently advocated by many sites, that have pornographic material, to be used by parents. If the people who want such laws as the CDA passed would take control of what they see and hear they would not need people to do it for them. Besides that some people may not want other people deigning what they should see or hear. If these groups want to invest an effort they should help proliferate the knowledge and use of the mentioned software this may help make everybody happy. The government could help these groups distribute this software as well.

This battle has no definite sides because some groups such as the governments are really indecisive about what their particular stance on what should be considered free speech. Also many sites that host the material in question self-regulate themselves with passwording or having services that have age-checking abilities host their pages.

There are many alternative ways to regulate the Internet without violating anybody’s rights and to have an amicable relationship with foreign countries regarding Internet regulation. What they could possibly do would be to form a coalition in the United Nations that would require all sites on the Internet to have some sort of access key if they have material not intended for children.