Censorship :: essays research papers

Censorship and the net income Biram Mboob London School of Economics B.mbooblse.ac.uk "Inevitably, being an uncontrolled system, means that the Internet will be pillowcaseed to subversive applications of some unscrupulous users." (Kershaw) The concept of the Internet was created in answer to a strategic problem faced by the unite States government during the Cold war era. A nuclear attack would easily disrupt a traditional computer network and hence make dialogue impossible. The solution was found in a new type of network. A network where all nodes would be equal in status, that is to say each could grade and receive messages. The resulting projects were the first steps towards the birth of the Internet, as we know it. Today, the Internet consists of several parts, which include the World Wide Web, FTP, IRC, News groups, Gopher, WAIS, Archie, and Email. The Internet is continuing to sustain at a rate of 40% a year, with roughly 20 million users to date. Over the past f ew years, the issue of Internet censorship has been subject to an unprecedented amount of controversy. Both sides of the debate present very strong arguments about why the Internet should or should not be censored. The point approximately often brought forward by advocates of Internet censorship is that inappropriate material can all too easily land in the hands of children via this virile new medium. Inappropriate virtuallyly describes the sexually explicit and racist material that is easily found on the Internet. The debate that currently rages however centres mainly on pornographic material. The analyse is divided into three content-based sections. The first section examines the data that is available about pornography on the Internet. Conclusions on significance of the data be offered. Section two examines the legal issues and difficulties surrounding the idea of censorship. The final section discusses alternative ways of protecting children from pornography and offers a fi nal conclusion on the attributes of the problem and the suggestion of a solution. Censorship of Internet is a big issue and not much of it can be covered in an essay at this level. The essay deliberately focuses only on pornography. While many aspects had to be left out and others discussed minimally, the result of this essay remains a shortened synopsis of relevant issues and conclusions on these issues. Section 1 In early 1995, a research team at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania released one of the most revealing studies into online pornography.