Internet_Censorship

Internet Censorship Internet Censorship The debate over whether the government should censor the Internet is intense. In 1995 the senate passed the Communications Decency Act written by Senator Jim Exon. The act “outlaws ‘obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy or indecent’ communications on the Internet,” (Exon 130). Americans on both sides of the issue are asking some very pertinent, yet difficult to answer, questions. Does censorship of the Internet violate our First Amendment rights' Is regulation of the Internet even possible' Will censoring the Internet protect children from inappropriate material or will it hinder those searching for legitimate information' As a mother, I am concerned about my child having access to pornographic or otherwise inappropriate material on the Internet. However, my personal belief is that it is impossible to regulate the Internet without infringing on the liberties of the First Amendment. Simply put: one person’s definition of inappropriate or pornographic material may be totally different from another’s. It must be made clear that although I am neither totally for nor against censorship, I do not wish to have a limit set on what I can and cannot access determined by someone else’s values. Those who support censorship of Internet materials feel that applying obscenity laws to internet, censorship, children, access, people, laws, protect, first, exon, amendment, against, rights, regulate, parents, online, both, support, regulation, pornography, obscenity, materials, material, ed, communications, without, speech, software, sides, should, responsibility, read, public, pornographic, nov, information, inappropriate