Internet Censorship Research Paper Essay

Imagine a place where you had entrance to both information you needed, at any time. Some might say that this place whitethorn not exist, but another(prenominal)s could say that this de gracefuls the Internet. The Internet gives you access to all sorts of wonderful knowledge and other content, but with good comes some bad. Countries throughout the world pee begun, or are trying to begin, censoring the Internet of these bad things.Many countries in the Middle eastern hemisphere and North African States have communicaten to filtering entire websites on ghostlike grounds (Dobby) and just exit year, several bills, such as SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and Protect IP (Prevent Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and theft of Intellectual Property act) proposed turn outting down rogue websites that contained copy just property, but Internet security review walks the fine line between protecting the public and preventing free speech. The problem with censorship is that once it starts, in that location may be no stopping it, and would violate the First Amendment, freedom of speech.Mariam Adas, a Facebook campaign organizer for Jordanians against censorship, believes that theres no way to do it right. Government will use blocking offensive/copyrighted/pornographic material as a precedent and then further block and filter other political, social and media websites (Ghazal). The aforementi aned American bills, SOPA and Protect IP, where so carelessly written, that they would have the power to entirely shut down full websites, such as Facebook, Wikipedia and YouTube for content submitted by users (Hitzik).To pass censorship laws like these would altogether contravene our own Amendments. Free speech is the right to speak you opinion in public without censorship. To take away that right would be unconstitutional, and un-American. For example, the British Matthew Woods, 19 years old, was sentenced to 12 weeks in jail for precisely posting drunken, distaste ful jokes about a recent abduction of two girls. While the remarks where horribly offensive, no one should be prosecuted for using their voice, and that voice should not be censored.Doing such will lead our culture into accept it has a right not to be offended (Chu). One of the main reasons for supporting Internet censorship is to protect children from seeing indecent materials, such as pornography. This is understandable, but it is unfair to hinder fully growns from viewing adult materials, and for this reason there are many ways that parents and guardians can protect their children from such things, says Adas.One may contact their internet provider, or download applications to filter out inappropriate websites (Ghazal). Filters are also fit(p) on moral and religious standing. The dilemma is that there are many different moral and religious standings, and attempting to filter the Internet to a point that pleases every group would be impossible. People should be afforded the righ t to use their own discretion and self-adjudicate on what they would like digest. In the end, the issue of Internet censorship is continuously controversial.Nevertheless, America is a society based on freedom, and the right to free speech does not fit only to the press, but to each individual person. This freedom of should be extended to the Internet, no exceptions. A quote, by Robert A. Heinlein comes to mind The whole principle is wrong censorship its like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby cant eat steak. Works Cited Chu, Henry. Britain Wrestles with Free Speech on nett. Los Angeles Times. 09 Nov 2012 A.1 SIRS Issues Researcher. Web 05 Mar 2013 Dobby, Christine. Muslim Countries Filter Web on Faith Grounds, Report Says. field of study Post. 04 Aug 2011 FP. 12. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 05 Mar 2013. Ghazal, Mohammed. Internet Freedom Activists See Bad Precedent in Drive to Censor porn Sites. Jordan Times. 02 May 2012. N. P. SIRS Issues Research er. Web. 27 Feb 2013. Hitzik, Michael. Big Guns Take Aim at Internet Piracy. Los Angeles Times. 11 Dec 2011 p. B. 1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web 25 Mar 2013.