Government,
Censorship, and Control
of the Internet


At a time when the government preaches deregulation, it is interesting to see that it is becoming more and more involved in the control and regulation of the Internet.




It appears as if the Internet is beginning to resemble, in many ways, the Old West. Many of us have begun to "settle" this new frontier without fully understanding what it is that we are settling. It is easy for us to glamorize the events of over one hundred years ago, through Hollywood imagery; in reality the West was truly lawless, scary and dangerous. Many times the good guys did not win. As a matter of fact, the good guys were not even around half of the time. Eventually rules, social order and progress began to prevail. A similar process is occuring right before our eyes, with the Internet in the courts.

Though it may seem to be "out there," the Internet exists in a society with existing laws and morals. As the Net will inevitably become integral to all of our lives, conflicts and differences on censorship and control will come about as well. In anticipation of this the U.S. Senate passed a Communications Decency Act (The Exon Bill). This gives the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) the power to regulate "indecency" on the Net.

This bill then raises the age-old question of what one considers to be indecent. What is decent in New York may not be considered decent in Nebraska or, for that matter, Iran. Is the depiction of eroticism that is intended to cause sexual excitement indecent? Are texts on bomb-making inappropriate in this age of terrorism? Is repeated online contact with an unwilling person considered stalking? Should we tolerate online hate groups?

For most, the Net is an open forum of expression, some interesting, beneficial and "good," and others distasteful and repulsive. All of this is easily accessable to anyone with an Internet provider, regardless of age, religion, or geographic location.

The Net has inevitably become a First Amendment battleground, and may remain such for the next few decades. How far will the Constitution go to protect freedom of speech on the Net?

Other questions to be considered pertain to liability for potential First Amendment violators. Who is responsible, the creator of a document or the online service that publishes it on the Net?

What it all comes down to is that different people from different places have different moralities. Understandably, parents want to protect their children's wellbeing no matter where they are. This becomes more alarming considering many children are more computer literate than their parents.

The Internet is a tool that covers all areas and great care must be taken with a tool of such power. I hope I stimulated you with some interesting questions about government, censorship and the Net. If you are interested in investigating your Internet rights and obligations as well as other viewpoints, I have put together some links that may satisfy your curiosity.