For centuries governments have tried to regular materials deemed inappropriate or
offensive. The history of western censorship was said to have begun when Socrates was
accused "firstly, of denying the gods recognized by the State and introducing new
divinities, and secondly of corrupting the young." He was sentenced to death for these
crimes. Many modern governments are attempting to control access to the Internet. They
are passing regulations that restrict the freedom people once took for granted.
The Internet is a world wide network that should not be regulated or censored by
any on country. It is a complex and limitless network which allows boundless possibilities
and would be effected negatively by the regulations and censorship that some countries are
intent on establishing. Laws that are meant for other types of communication will not
necessarily apply in this medium. There are no physical locations where communications
take place, making it difficult to determine where violations of the law should be
This image was selected as a picture of the week o...
Internet!
English: The first IRC server, tolsun.oulu.fi. Pho...prosecuted. There is anonymity on the Internet and so ages and identities are not known
this makes it hard to determine if illegal activities are taking place in regards to people
under the legal age. As well, it is difficult to completely delete speech once it has been
posted, Meaning that distributing materials that are obscene are banned becomes easy
The American Library Association (ALA) has a definition that states censorship is
"the change in the access status of material, made by a governing authority or its
representatives. Such changes include: exclusion, restriction, remove, or age/grade level
changes." This definition, however, has a flaw in that it only recognizes one form of
censorship-governmental censorship.
Cyberspace, a common name for the Net, has been defined by one author as being
"made up of millions of people who communicate with one another...