Internet Regulation: Policing Cyberspace
Uploaded by Admin on Jan 22, 1999
The Internet is a method of communication and a source of information that is becoming more popular among those who are interested in, and have the time to surf the information superhighway. The problem with this much information being accessible to this many people is that some of it is deemed inappropriate for minors. The government wants censorship, but a segment of the population does not. Legislative regulation of the Internet would be an appropriate function of the government.
The Communications Decency Act is an amendment which prevents the information superhighway from becoming a computer "red light district." On June 14, 1995, by a vote of 84-16, the United States Senate passed the amendment. It is now being brought through the House of Representatives.1 The Internet is owned and operated by the government, which gives them the obligation to restrict the materials available through it. Though it appears to have sprung up overnight, the inspiration of free-spirited hackers, it in fact was born in Defense Department Cold War projects of the 1950s.2 The United States Government owns the Internet and has the responsibility to determine who uses it and how it is used. The government must control what information is accessible from its agencies.
This material is not lawfully available through the mail or over the telephone, there is no valid reason these perverts should be allowed unimpeded on the Internet. Since our initiative, the industry has commendably advanced some blocking devices, but they are not a substitute for well-reasoned law.4 Because the Internet has become one of the biggest sources of information in this world, legislative safeguards are imperative.
The government gives citizens the privilege of using the Internet, but it has never given them the right to use it.
They seem to rationalize that the framers of the constitution planned & plotted at great length to make certain that above all else, the profiteering pornographer, the pervert and the pedophile must be free to practice their pursuits in the presence of children on a taxpayer created and subsidized computer network.3 People like this are the ones in the wrong. Taxpayer's dollars are being spent bringing obscene text and graphics into the homes of people all over the world.
The government must take control to prevent pornographers from using the Internet however they see fit because they are breaking laws that have existed for years. Cyberpunks, those most popularly associated with the...