Censorship Essay -- Essays Paper

Censorship After threatening the Communications Decency Act with a vetos of the past versions, President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law on February 8, 1996.1 Before hand, congress approved the largest change of the nation's communications laws in 62 years. One of the largest controversial topics included in the bill is the censorship of pornography, which now is a strenuously enforced crime of distributing knowingly to children under 18. The congress overwhelmingly passed the bill with a landslide 414-16 House vote and a 91-5 Senate vote.2 It seems now that the wide bill might not be what it cracked up to be, as it stands now, anyone who might upload James Joyce's Ulysses could be placed in jail for two years and have up to a $250,000 fine.3 Representatives of on-line services industries were concerned about the bill, and feared they could be held criminally responsible for Internet conversations.4 "We face a unique disturbing and urgent circumstance, because it is children who are the computer experts in our nations families," remarked a concerned Rep. Senator of India Dan Coats.5 Although in reality, censorship would do little to stop the pornography problems. The bill is a nation legislation trying to control a international network, which is virtually impossible. According to the First Amendment, Americans were granted to write anything they please, whether it's indecent or not, several series of judicial decisions also helped the freedom down the road.6 Nebraskan Democrat James Exon, put together an informational binder known as the Blue Book to show the Senate about the goings on within the Internet.7 Along the pages of the Blue Book were pictures of people bound and being burned by cigarettes, people pierced with swords and people involved in sexual activities with animals.8 The Senate, acknowledging their ignorance of the Internet, passed Exon's proposal after seeing the pictures in the Blue Book.9 Along with distribution of pornography, a person carries the chance of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine which is a good reason to restrict much of the flow.10 The Internet is extremely massive, filled with usenet newsgroups, web pages, IRC channels, ftp sites, gopher sites and much more. The Internet is the last and largest frontier of uncensored speech, anything from friendly chat to child por... ...ther person might be secretly trading child porn. With over 30 million users on the Internet, no one can guarantee that no pornography will stray down from someone. Bibliography "Background Information." Editorial On File, Vol 27, Number 3, February 1-15, 1996, p 148. "Background Information." Editorial On File, Vol 26, Number 12, June 16-30, 1995, p. 728. Elmer-Dwitt, Philip. "On a Screen Near You: Cyberporn." Time July 3, 1995, EBSCO-CD. Lloyd, Fonda. "Is it Wise to Censor the Net?" Black Enterprise, December, 1995, EBSCO-CD. Dibbell, Julian. "Muzzling the Internet." Time December 18, 1995, EBSCO-CD. Levy, Steven, and others. "No Place for Kids?" Newsweek, July 3, 1995, EBSCO-CD. "Background Information." Editorial On File, Vol. 27, Number 11, June 1-15, 1996, p. 700. Barlow, John, "Thinking Locally, Acting Glabally." Time, January 15, 1996, EBSCO-CD. Sirico, Robert A. "Don't censor the Internet." Forbes, July 29, 1996, EBSCO-CD. Olson, Renee, and others. "Critics say Time Exaggerated Cyberporn Threat." School Library Journal, October, 1995, EBSCO-CD. Spertus, Ellen. "Filtering the Net." Technology Review, October, 1995, EBSCO-CD.