The Government Should NOT Censor Pornography

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Recommended: Negative implications of internet pornography in society

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or

prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech, or

of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition

the Government for a redress of grievances.(Wallace: 3)

A statement from a document that a group of individuals put together to ensure

their own ideas and beliefs would never change. The group of people was the

forefathers of the United States of America and that document: The United

States Constitution. That phrase was put into the Constitution because our

forefathers wanted to protect their freedom of speech. Something they

cherished and something that in days previous was squashed by ruling government.

Today our freedom of speech is in danger again.

The Government is now trying to censor what ideas go onto something we know as

the Information Superhighway. The Internet is now supposed to be regulated so

that it will be "safe" for everyone to enter. The Government passed a law known

as the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In the TA there is a part called the

Communications Decency Act or CDA. This part of the bill arose because of the

recent surge of pornography on the Infobahn. The CDA criminalizes indecent

speech on the Internet(Wallace: 1). The CDA describes indecent speech as

anything "depicting or describing sexual or excretory acts or organs in

patently offensive fashion under contemporary community standards."

First take the word "indecent". This word is used because of its vague

definition. Not only does this word ban sexually explicit materials, it also

bans sexually explicit words too. If this were applied to the real world some

of the greatest novels would be take...

... middle of paper ...

...8.

Emigh, Jacqueline. "Computers & Privacy - Telecom Act Hits ISPs Hard

04/02/96." Computers & Privacy. 02 Apr. 1996.

(18 Jun.

1996).

GMoney. Online Personal Interview. washington.dc.us.undernet.org/port=6667 (20

Jun. 1996).

Jerome, Richard and Linda Kramer. "Monkey Business No More." People Weekly 19

Feb. 1996: 51+.

Lester, Meera. "What's Your Code of Ethics?" _VJF_Library_Career_Resources:

What's Your Code of Ethics? 1996.

(29 Jun. 1996).

Lohr, Steve. "Censorship on the Internet: Pre-emptory Effort At Self-Policing,"

New York Times 13 March 1996, sec. C: 3.

Wallace, Jonathan and Mark Mangan. "The Internet Censorship FAQ." The Internet

Censorship FAQ. 1996. (29 Jun.

1996).

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