Censorship, A Modern Plague On Society

Cleaver mentions that although parents could monitor and restrict adult websites, there are still ways around them; this scares parents. Children may have the access to other computers, like the library or a friend’s house. The government has regulations that manages most mediums like, television, radio, video, but not the internet; this provides an idea for parents to argue about. Cleaver points out that searching tools should stop advertising ads to pornographic websites and chat websites for children should be monitored in case of child molestors. All the statements Cleaver provides are obviously seeking a reaction from parents to protect their child.

The history of the world has undoubtedly been dominated by an endless struggle for power. However, after a brief glimpse into the pages of history it should not take long to realize that the trick to maintaining power lies in the control of information. Even the most fearsome military generals of the past acknowledge the power of the mind and ideas over lethal force. Former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin once said “… [Ideas] are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, then why should we let them have ideas.” Stalin’s quote personifies the main concept of this literature review which will be discussing the history of government censorship and its effects that are

An earlier version of the law -- the 1996 Communications Decency Act -- was struck down as an unconstitutional restriction of free speech when challenged by the ACLU; the 1998 version attempted to address the constitutional concerns by limiting its scope to

For over two centuries American citizens have bided by the first 10 commandments in the United States Constitution, otherwise known as the Bill of Rights, for protection over their personal liberties from the United States government. These personal liberties include, but are not limited to: The freedom of religion, speech, and press, the protection of privacy, and the right to life, liberty, and property. These personal liberties protected by the government, from the government, have always been strictly enforced with no unknown territory. That is until approximately three decades ago when the Internet was created. Over the last twenty-seven years technology has been quickly advancing creating an unknown world of the Internet and

By sheer virtue of its size, ridding the internet of this toxicity is destined to be a long and fraught process. However, as is true of all the political scandals discussed in this essay, solutions based upon the achievement of greater accountability and responsibility must prevail. Beginning at the top, those in positions of influence must be willing to change the way political discourse is conducted, both on and offline. It seems clear that the obfuscating techniques of “euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness” condemned by George Orwell have engendered the rise of “post truth” politics, whereby “objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief” (Orwell, 1968 [1946]:

Censorship refers to the regulation of freedom of expression or any other information that may be sensitive or morally inaccurate to the people. This information can be considered immoral or politically inconvenient by religious groups, the government, ethnic communities and media outlets. Censorship originates back in ancient times in many different countries such as Rome and China. Censorship was mainly used for political, social and religious purposes. For example, Christians used censorship to defend against non-Christian rulers threats.

The issue of censorship is not just an issue from the old times however. This controversial epidemic has been increasing in importance and mass, looming over the freedom of information as a cloud of darkness and uncertainty may in recent years.

This paper addresses whether we should censor or block access to websites with controversial material. It looks at the issue from several sides: The relevant US laws that are in place, how censorship is used at the university and corporate levels, how other countries are attempting censorship, and finally what I feel about the topic.

Modern society faces many controversial issues that previous generations could not have possibly imagined. These issues seem to evolve with the culture and recur in new form as each generation moves on in time. For example, censorship is an issue that generations have struggled to resolve since the dawn of media and the publication of documents. Today, censorship is an important part of our world because of its ability to let parents block out or allow certain material to reach their children, its controversial stand on the freedom of press and freedom of speech rights of human beings, and its demonstration of who or what has the power at hand to control what enters the public media.

“See you in court” has often been the mantra cried when a person feels their privacy has been violated, or their free speech infringed. When people take a legal cause of action against a party, they feel wronged them, then sue them in court for damages, this is known as a tort (p. 110). Current laws seem to favor free speech above privacy rights. These complex legal issues are often viewed through a libertarian or authoritarian lens. When the internet came along it compounded the difficulty of these matters. In 1996, Congress passed the Communications Decency Act (CDA) in response to growing issues sprouting from the new medium, the internet. Privacy expert and law professor, Daniel J. Solove addresses these complex legal issues in chapters

What is censorship? Censorship, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), is the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are “offensive”. And happens whenever some people succeed in imposing their personal, political, or moral values on others;” (“What Is Censorship”). Our society is heavily impacted by censorship and has been for many years. In a recent PowerPoint presentation at the Pittsburgh Technical Institute (PTI), many examples dating from 1933 to present time were shown. The PowerPoint displays how big of a role censorship plays in society and how people have adapted to censorship throughout history. Many instances were shown; in 1957 Elvis Presley appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, one of the biggest shows on television

Censorship may be protection from inappropriate materials, but it also limits free speech. For the limitation of free speech, it is reasonable why people are emphatically against censorship. It is understood that there is a need to filter some of the materials released in today’s society, but too much is being done by people who have no right meddling with everyone’s rights. Civilization has always been plagued by a never ending battle being fought over what is deemed right and wrong. In today’s culture, censorship oppresses everything in the media. From movies and music to television and even news stories, most of the content viewed today has been filtered one way or another. Restrictions have been in place since early societies have been

Censorship is destroying society! In the sources read, arguments were presented in regards to censorship in media center. In source 3 it states that censorship is “ the practice of suppressing ideas and has a long history in America. The Library Media Center took out many books because of inappropriate content. I strongly disagree with the act of censorship because it goes against amendment 1 ( source 3 ).

Theorists contend that representative government is headed for direct democracy by way of the Internet. Essentially what will happen is that representatives will no longer be needed because citizens will be able to use the Internet to make decisions. Grossman contends that “the more power [citizens] have to control their government and to involve themselves in making its decisions, the better” (41). Over the years citizens have been obtaining information through the media, newspapers, and other forms of mass media. The issues that arise with obtaining information through these sources are that the government can easily censor them. With the Internet comes “vastly expanded capacities for data collection, for computation, and for automation” (Kamark & Nye 22).

One proposal that was struck down from protecting children is the Communications Decency Act (CDA). Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States, argued that the CDA was in violation of the U.S. Constitution and laws that would be enacted were clear and undefined. If made into law, the CDA could severely censor the Internet in ways that were never attempted before. It would filter out anything that is deemed obscene and