As the internet becomes one of the necessities in life, issues related to freedom of speech and hate speech are raised to discus the degree of protection to Internet users from inappropriate contents. This paper examines the difference between free speech and hates speech, and combines the two together to explain the different elements and how people might confuse the two terms. Moreover, the paper develops different alternatives to protect people from hate sites and addresses some issues that are related to each alternative. Related issues are discussed nationally (North America) and internationally to modify how we deal with hate sites from different point of view. Some possible ways are legal regulation that governments provide and the use of technology to protect us from unwanted materials in the Internet. This paper will also provide some real time example to explain the different among these alternatives in more details.
The Internet is the largest most accessible form of mass media available today. It has made access to information and ideas much easier than ever before. With few simple tools, the user can consume/produce information and ideas to millions of people at almost no cost. However, controversies are arising because of the various types of speech that are easily distributed to people through the World Wide Web. So many topics and issues such as religion, race, gender, and ethnicity are discussed everyday on the Internet, some people look at as it is freedom of speech and they can say whatever they desire to say. Others view it as hate speech because it brings harm to some people despite the kind of topic that have been discussed. Although we use the Internet as a tool to express our freedom of speech, hate speech and hate websites should be monitored and if necessary blocked to protect the right of people who are affected by them. Protection can be provided ether by legal regulation or the use of technology.
