Policing the Web

Essay by alanneilaUniversity, Master'sA+, April 2009

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Policing the Web Censorship, a word every American is familiar with, has been present throughout our entire history. Censorship is the act of examining and expurgating material. Recently, the internet has become the latest target of censorship. The government is looking into policing the internet and officially having standards that would regulate what is and is not censored from the American public. If the U.S. government attains the right to censor internet content, it will be an egregious invasion of our First Amendment rights, and a flagrant step towards the complete obliteration of our civil liberties. The First Amendment of the Constitution clearly states 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.

(Bill of Rights, 1791). This is legal proof that we are granted the right to free speech and press. These rights were granted to us by our Founding Father's and were intended to be upheld. We as Americans pride ourselves on being a nation of diversity and freedom. The rights granted to us by the Constitution are world famous, and are the reason many people decided to move and start a new life in America. If we start chipping away at these rights, we lose what makes our country so great. Where else in the world can you have the freedom to express your views, no matter how unpopular? Once the government starts deciding that some views are too unpopular, or too inappropriate and should not allowed to be on the internet, where will it stop. The phrase Big Brother, a term coined in George Orwell's novel 1984, comes to...