Internet Censorship Isn't Necessary

Censorship has always been an issue in the world. What exactly is censorship? A censor is one who is authorized to examine books, films, or other materials and to remove or suppress what is considered morally, politically, or otherwise objectionable. Censorship is the act of removing this questionable material. Understandably, it is illegal to yell fire in a crowded room or use children for pornographic purposes, but the power of censors has exceeded logical boundaries. Works of art, such as Huckleberry Finn and Miss Saigon , have felt the full strength of censorship. The main problem regarding censorship is not knowing who has the right to determine what is valuable art and what is smut.

Quite often members of religious groups take it upon themselves to determine the value of something. Those people who endorse censorship feel that they are protecting society from, among other things, violence, sex and the differe

Common courtesy and responsibility would make the Internet a much friendlier place. Sites should remain on the Internet, regardless of content, but there should be no advertisements promoting sites with adult themes on pages that will be accessed by everyone. With this proposal, fear of stumbling across offensive sites is still a concern. The odds are slim, however, that a user would come across a sexually explicit site by accident (Quittner). A task group, led by John Lindsay of Kingston University, attempted to replicate reports and accidentally find things, and failed (Lindsay). A person not looking for these sites is relatively safe when surfing the net.

On February 8, 1996, President Clinton signed the Communications Decency Act. This act outlaws obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy or indecent communication on the Internet (Bender). This movement has granted censors the right to pick at the Internet as they please. Unfortunately for society, this act was passed by "an admittedly Net-illiterate Congress" (Quittner).

One alternative to censorship on the Internet is the use of blocking software. This software has the ability to prevent someone from entering offensive sites. This is particularly helpful to parents who want to control where their children can and cannot go. For example, a program called CYBERsitter allows parents to block out a list of sites that have been deemed unacceptable. Opponents of Internet blocking feel that these types of software don't block everything they should; for example, a college student's web page containing nude pictures of herself was not blocked. These opponents also feel that harmless sites are sometimes blocked; that is, because of the word "breast", a site devoted

The problems with the Internet and censorship are caused mainly by the pornographic sites. Parents do not want their children to see smut. To pre

Some topics in this essay:
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