FREE ESSAY ON GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF THE INTERNET

GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF THE INTERNET

During the past decade, our society has become based solely on the ability to move large
amounts of information across large distances quickly. Computerization has influenced
everyone's life. The natural evolution of computers and this need for ultra-fast
communications has caused a global network of interconnected computers to develop. This
global net allows a person to send E-mail across the world in mere fractions of a second
and enables to access information worldwide. Software that allows users with a sound card
to use the Internet as a carrier for long distance voice calls and video conferencing is
the key to the future of our society. Our democratic government sensing the growing power
of the Internet that is not so easy to control is doing all it can to get on the top of
the wild horse. The government is dreaming to have the control: to view all the
information circulating the web, to read our private e-mails, to peek into chat rooms,
and to restrict us, the Internet people, in any way possible. The government wishes to be
the next big brother who will be watching you! No matter how small, any attempt at
government intervention in the Internet will stifle the greatest communication innovation
of this century. 
At present, the web is the epitome of the first amendment of the constitution: free
speech and right to privacy. Every American values freedom of the speech and their
privacy as something essential. "Freedom of speech is one of our most precious rights"
(Ferry 356). The key to the worldwide success of the Internet is that it does not limit
its users. The web is a place where people can speak their mind without being reprimanded
for what they say, or how they choose to say it. Jim Exon, a democratic senator from
Nebraska, wants to pass a decency bill regulating the Internet. Exon's bill apparently
would criminalize private e-mail. Why is it that government has the need to read our
private e-mails? If I call someone on the phone I can say anything, but if I say it on
the Internet, it's illegal. Censorship threatens to destroy freelance atmosphere of the
Internet that the majority of us treasure so much. If we allow the government to
interfere with our lives so much, sooner or later it will turn into Communism or
Dictatorship.
Our government wants to maintain control over the new, greatest form of communication:
the Internet. They are trying to use the protection of children as a smoke screen to pass
laws that will allow them to regulate and censor the Internet. Currently, there is
software being released that promises to block children's access to known X-rated
Internet newsgroups and sites. However, since most adults rely on their computer literate
children to setup these programs, the children will be able to find ways around them.
This mimics real life where these children would surely be able to get their hands on
adult magazines, alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, etc. Regardless of what types of software or
safeguards are used to protect the children of the Information age, there will be ways
around them. This necessitates the education of the children to deal with reality.
Altered views of an electronic world translate easily into altered views of the real
world. Parents should teach their children that the Internet is just like the real world,
and show them how to enjoy the positive and avoid the negative. Censorship is less
important issue than good parenting. Raising well-disciplined and intelligent children
isn't the government's responsibility; it's ours as parents. 
Congress, in their pursuit of regulations, seems to have overlooked the fact that the
majority of the adult material on the Internet comes from overseas. Although many U.S.
government sources helped fund Arpanet, the predecessor to the Internet, they no longer
control it. Many of the new Internet technologies, including the World Wide Web, have
come from overseas. There is no clear boundary between information held in the U.S. and
information stored in other countries. Data held in foreign computers is just as
accessible as data in America; all it takes is the click of a mouse to access. Even if
our government tried to regulate the Internet, it has no control over what is posted in
other countries, and it has no practical way to stop it. The Internet's predecessor was
originally designed to uphold communications after a nuclear attack by rerouting data to
compensate for destroyed telephone lines and servers. Today's Internet still works on a
similar design. It allows the Internet to overcome any kind of barriers put in its way.
If a major line between two servers say in two countries, is cut, then the Internet users
will find another way around this obstacle. This obstacle avoidance makes it virtually
impossible to separate an entire nation from indecent information in other countries.
Even if it were possible to isolate America's computers from the rest of the world, it
would be devastating to our economy. 
Only few years ago a major university attempted to regulate what types of Internet access
its students had. The outcome proved once more that Internet is something that has to be
left alone. A research associate at Carnegie Mellon University conducted a study of
pornography on the school's computer networks. Martin Rimm put together a large picture
collection (917,410 images) and he also tracked how often each image had been downloaded
(a total of 6.4 million). It happened so that a local court had recently declared
pictures of similar content obscene; as a result the school feared they might be held
responsible for the content of its network. The school administration quickly removed
access to all these pictures and "pulled the plug" on the sex newsgroups where most of
this obscenity was suspected to come from. A total of 80 newsgroups were removed, causing
a large disturbance among the student body. The American Civil Liberties Union and the
Electronic Frontier Foundation felt that the administration's actions were
unconstitutional. Students back fired by organizing a "Protest for Freedom in
Cyberspace." After only half a week, the college had backed down, and restored the
newsgroups (Elmer-Dewitt 102). This is a tiny example of what may happen if the
government tries to impose censorship. 
Not all restrictions on electronic speech are bad. Most of the major on-line
communication companies have restrictions on what their users can say. However, they must
respect their customer's privacy, and they do. Private E-mail content is off limits to
them, but they may act swiftly upon anyone who spouts obscenities in a public forum.
Self-regulation by users and servers is the key to avoiding government imposed
intervention. Many on-line sites such as Playboy and Penthouse have started to regulate
themselves. Both post clear warnings that adult content lies ahead and lists the
countries where this is illegal. The film and video game industries subject themselves to
ratings as well. If we, the Internet users, want to avoid government-imposed regulations
then it is time we begin to regulate ourselves. 
It is natural for men to want to know all and to be informed of everything that's going
on around us. Governments all over the world seem to have the same interest. The only
problem is that it feels that this human curiosity can be applied to the government more
than the individual. After all, the one thing that we want to know is how our computers
run, so we can get the most out of them and to use them more effectively. Sadly enough,
the government's goal is to use you more effectively. No, our imagination has not gone
out of control. Those huge spy computer networks are not fiction and are not a thing to
come; they are here today gathering information on almost every citizen of every modern
country. Governments develop most technology, and in the case of computers and
communication this could not be more true. The spying programs of the cold war and the
technology it produced are what got us to where we are. Where is that you ask? It seems
the government has allowed us to have their leftover technology; so that we may put our
private lives on public display, where they monitor it with their now more advanced
technology, and we've paid for it all.
One of the examples of organizations that of recently were a secret is Menwith Hill. It
is the largest electronic monitoring station in the world. It is run by the US National
Security Agency (NSA), which monitors the world's communication for US intelligence. NSA
has had the ability to do speech to text translation by means of computer for a long
time, where its main use was to monitor international and domestic phone calls and print
the conversations that interested them. This has now been expanded to include emails,
faxes, and general web surfing. Spy satellites, cables, microwave radio links provide the
needed information. Echelon is another secret organization that operates on the same
basis as the Menwith Hill does. Margaret Newsham, who helped designing the Echelon
system, stated: We are spying on our own citizens and the rest of the world - even our
European allies. If I say 'Amnesty' or 'Margaret Newsham', it is intercepted, analyzed,
coordinated, forwarded and registered - if it is of interest to the intelligence
agencies(Campaign to close Menwith Hill). Government has built the network to monitor us
and it does not want us to be able to hinder that monitoring. If we ask about it, the
government will deny it; and we, in our turn, will exhale with great relief, swallowing
every lie it throws at us. Or it simply makes it a crime to ask, and one will be under a
risk of being labeled as anarchist, communist, anti-government, or terrorist. We are in
serious trouble. After all, maybe our government will get the pleasure of riding that
horse. Something has to be done fast. Don't rely on the government to fix it because they
will just get you to fund them so that they may better hide it from us.
As the Internet continues to grow throughout the world, more governments may try to
impose their views onto the rest of the globe through regulations and censorship. It will
be a sad day when the world must adjust its views to conform to that of the most prudish
regulatory government. If too many regulations are incited the Internet, as a tool, will
become nearly useless; and the Internet as a mass communication device and a place for
freedom of mind and thoughts, will become non existent. All users, servers, and people
who love Internet must regulate themselves, so as not to force government regulations
that may stifle the best communication instrument in history. The government should
rethink its approach to the censorship and its restrictions, allowing the Internet to
continue to grow and mature on their own. 
Bibliography
Bibliography 
Burian, Christopher. "Don't Permit the Government to wreck the Internet."
Electronic Engineering Times 21 Feb. 2000: 72.
Campaign to close Menwith Hill US Spy Base 10 Mar. 2000
Communication Intelligence 14 Mar. 2000
Emler-Dewitt, Philip. "Censoring Cyberspace: Carnegie Mellon's Attempt to Ban
Sex from its Campus Computer Network Sends A Chill along the Info Highway." Time 21 Nov.
1994: 102-105.
Ferry, Dobbs, ed. An American Legal Almanac. New York: Oceana Publications,
1978. 
Levy, Steven. "The Encryption Wars: Is Privacy Good or Bad?" Newsweek 
24 Apr. 1995: 55-57 
Wilson, David L. The Internet goes Crackers. Education Digest May 1995; 
33-36.
Work Cited
Campaign to close Menwith Hill US Spy Base 10 Mar. 2000
Emler-Dewitt, Philip. "Censoring Cyberspace: Carnegie Mellon's Attempt to Ban
Sex from its Campus Computer Network Sends A Chill along the Info Highway." Time 21 Nov.
1994: 102-105.
Ferry, Dobbs, ed. An American Legal Almanac. New York: Oceana Publications,
1978.