Censorship V Freedom Of Speech On The Internet Essay

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The world of cyberspace is a fast developing new universe of information, this information can flow between two computers sitting next to each other just as easily as it can flow between countries or right around the world. In this world where the information kept on a disc can be more valuable to a company than the company itself, regulation and control of the flow of this information is very necessary.

The Internet soon after its creation became the world s central location for piracy, and it has an ever expanding amount of music, software, and documents that should not be there.

Another major area for regulation on the Internet is indecent material. There is currently a vast amount of pornography on the Internet; the major problem with the regulation of pictures is that they have no definite representation. Unlike a copyright document or a song, you can identify an infringement as the information in the document is exact, or you can hear when a song is a copy. However, what in a collection of pixels is considered indecent, and what is not. Different people, religions and countries have very different views on indecent material. In this world where physical boundaries are irrelevant, who should make the rules? The world of the Internet has no parallel elsewhere in our lives.

One of the current areas of major controversy is child pornography. At what stage does an innocent photo of a child become an indecent photo of a child. These kinds of debates will always exist, as it is purely a matter of opinion. There are a number of cases where parents have been arrested for taking photos of there own children, as the photos were considered to be pornographic.

Yet another more recent development on the net is the boom in online gambling. Gambling has been a controversial past time throughout a lot of the world for a long time, illegal in some places, regulated in others. Now on the physically liberated Internet how should the regulations be extended, and who should have control?

The second upset that online gambling has caused is the Tax laws, with concrete casinos and bookies being heavily taxed throughout the world, major controversy has risen for these tax free casinos floating round the wires of the world taking there trade.

In May 1999 there were already over 250 online casinos, and 139 bookies. It is predicted that by 2002 casinos and bookmakers online will bring in over $3 billion in annual revenue.

I consider the 2 main problems with regulating the Internet to be firstly the lack of physical boundaries as already mentioned, and the second to be its size. If not already the Internet will certainly soon be the biggest database of information on earth. No one can be sure of exactly how much information is on the Internet; however, one thing we can be sure of is that the vastness of the net will continue to expand at a phenomenal rate for the foreseeable future. The question is what information can you trust, what is legal, and where do you draw the line.

Another area where laws have been passed in the U.S. is so called cyber-squatting . This is where a person or company registers another person or companies name in bad faith. There have been a number of cases in the states since the Anti-cybersquatting Law was passed last year. In the case of Debevoise & Plimpton v Moore, Michael Moore was registering names of law and accounting firms, and then offering to sell these names to the companies for large sums of money, or else promote his own interests on the sites. Moore also worked as a private detective, and put adverts on these sites for his company Dig Dirt inc., therefore making profit out of other companies names.

Moore was charged with violating the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999. This is one aspect of the Internet where I agree that there should be a certain degree of control. However, there has also been a case, Sporty s Farm v. Sportsman s Market Inc. Surely both of these could register the domain name sportys.com, and if one had more right over the domain it would be Sporty s Farm as it is a more suitable domain name for the company. However as Sportsman s Market Inc. had been using the Sporty logo they managed to win the case. Sporty s Farm was accused of using the domain to make profits from another companies well known mark.

Censorship works on the basis that some ideas are dangerous, and therefore have to be suppressed. But should this be left for the individual to decide or regulatory bodies.

Sooner or later, in one way or another, the consumers (of pornography) want to live out the pornography further in three dimensions. Sooner or later, in one-way or another, they do. It makes them want to; when they believe they can, when they feel they can get away with it, they do." - Catharine MacKinnon

This quote would suggest that people s thoughts have to be controlled as they can t control themselves. However, the other side of the argument says that fantasy provides a satisfying alternative to real thing. Men use pornography to relieve sexual pressure, not to build it up so they can commit rape. It is a well known fact that in countries where there is less stigma surrounding pornography, and it is more available there are less sex crimes committed.

"There are people online that are in your children's bedrooms that are giving them ideas." - Terry Rakolta

Here we have more arguments for censorship. The truth is that any parent, unless very liberal would not like the thought above quote. As a parent, having people you have never known or met, and people that have never been checked out by authorities communicating and influencing your children from a young age is a scary thought, however, the truth is the second your child is online, they are being influenced by a stranger, whether an honest internet site, or any other site. Very few of these people who post web pages have been through the checks and training of a teacher or TV presenter for instance.

"What scares conservatives to death about online communication is that it can give their kids a...

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