An Essay on the Censorship of the Internet in America

Censorship of the internet by the US government has been an important issue for the past several years. Each time a new bill is put before congress involving stricter internet censorship, it ends up being shot down, due to a massive public outcry against it However, internet censorship is a must. Just as there are laws in real life keeping people from committing murder, or possessing illegal firearms or substances, the internet requires certain measures to keep people from dealing in the same category.

Basic censorship could benefit the public in a variety of ways. In an everyday instance, it is not legal to use words that will incite violence or create a clear and present danger. Causing a stampede by shouting “Fire!” in a movie theater or provoking and/or threatening someone with the use of violence in words is already not covered by a person’s first amendment rights. The same effect should go with leaving public messages online for the world to read.

Spewing out words of hate is one thing (that is covered in the constitution unfortunately), but spreading violent instructions for masses of people should not be legal. Censorship of the internet would keep kids from viewing pornographic images, they should not be seeing. With the internet so rapidly changing, parents cannot keep up with the technology. This essentially leaves their children in charge of everything they wish to do online. This means children can not only gain access to pornographic material, but also other dangerous things such as instructions on how to make explosives, how to plagiarize and much more (Pillai).

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An even bigger problem is the infamous “Dark net.” The Dark net is the parts of the internet that are completely hidden from most users.

Search engines cannot find Dark Net websites, and they are very difficult to trace, Among the most well-known dark net websites was the “Silk Road.” The Silk Road was essentially an online black market. People used the Silk Road to do anything from sell illegal drugs, to hiring assassins to purchasing slaves. However, since it is online and much of the communication and monetary interactions are not physically done, but rather done online, it is much more difficult to keep track of. The Silk Road itself has been reached by authorities and effectively shut down. However there are still many other places like it on the Dark Net that have yet to be discovered by authorities (pcworldcom). Another thing that can be found on the Dark Net is child pornography. While some children are abducted and forced into performing sexually explicit acts against their will, the vast majority of them are being manipulated by someone who they knew and trusted In most tragic cases, it can be the child’s own parents exploiting them.

With the traceability of the Dark Net so extremely difficult, many people actually get away with the distribution of child pornography Even more people get away with the viewing, The even bigger issue is the amount of people online that get away with the viewing of child pornography Since pornography as a whole is the use of expressing sexual interests, viewers of child pornography are typically pedophiles These pedophiles are much more likely to act upon their urges if they’re given stimulation to do so. This obviously creates an even bigger problem as a result (popcentemrg). In short, life is censored, and so should the internet, Obviously there should not be any form of censorship further than removing the things online that are already harmful to people and illegal. Laws are in place to protect people from harm, and because the internet is growing at such a rapid pace, these laws should also be applied to the web.