Discuss how the Internet is or should be regulated with reference to at least one scholar who has written about issues of Internet regulation
It is easy to think that the Internet should be regulated especially with the way in which the world works with the increasingly rapid advancements in technology. However, there is also some very good reasons for why the internet should not be regulated and remain open to everyone. The World Wide Web was founded by Tim Berners Lee in 1990, in those times the web was a completely different place, mainly consisting of a few pages with some text. This is completely different to what you and I can do today with a few clicks and some key entries. Search engines like Google were formed in 1998 which changed the way people found and looked for web pages. It gave users the ability to find site more easily and also upload their own information for others to find. The web has come a long way since then and we are now in a time where “bad” things can be done on the web. Which is why the question is asking us to discuss how the internet is currently regulated and how it should be regulated.
When you enter then online world there are questions to what laws you come under as the site you may be visiting could be hosted away from where you are a resident. However, this is not always the case, as you the person are physically in the country i.e. UK you are subject to those laws. For example, if you are in the UK visiting paedophilic sites abroad
Government officials may want to regulate the internet but no matter how hard they try it will be nearly impossible to complete because of how rapid the internet it growing. So many different sites are created everyday there is no way of keeping up with how many there are or how big the internet actually is. Not only is the internet an ever changing
Lessig argues that, during our progress to a truly online world, we are compelled to adjust our traditional values to ones that are more suited to the internet world. He says that the internet is already regulated by four different things: Architecture, Society, Market and Law. While it is true that these things already regulate to a certain degree, there are points in Cyberspace that fail to be regulated. Society and law are some of the biggest reasons that prevent complete regulation because of the natural contrasts of a computerized world to reality; the adjustment of societal standards and laws is not easy to do in most situations, causing contradictions and debates to be spawned by the one who try to create regulations about the internet. However, Lessig constantly argues that the internet will not be able to be sustainable
The primary piece of legislation used to regulate telecom providers is the Telecommunication Act of 1996. This paper will examine the characteristics, and point out similarities, of telecommunications providers and information services such as the internet. Additionally, regulation of telecommunications and the lack of regulation for information services will be addressed. Finally, recommendations for potential ways to regulate information services, the potential legal ramifications of such regulation, and the technical considerations regarding the recommendations will be identified.
In docket number 14-28, FCC 15-24, the Federal Communication Commission released a document concerning the protection and promotion of open internet. The internet is essential for speech, our economy, business and innovation, making this a very important issue to examine. In a globalized world, the internet keeps us in contact and update with persons and events all around the world. This document deals with the Open Internet Order, which, “prohibits blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization” of the internet (FCC 3). These objectives are aimed at keeping the internet open for users, and providing a functioning medium for business and communication alike. After the Federal Communication Commission adopted these goals of maintaining
The internet is a place where people from all over the world can connect with others who have similar interests as well as share information on almost any topic. While the internet has brought us closer together as a global society some people believe that what is on the internet should be censored. While the content of the internet should have to comply with the laws of the country it is being accessed in I do not believe that there should be any further restrictions as to what viewed on the internet.
Most Americans today don’t even know what net neutrality is, let alone how it so greatly affects their life. Whenever you use the internet you are benefiting from net neutrality. Net neutrality is what allows us to visit any website at the maximum speed anytime with no slowdowns or interference by ISPs. This is one of the core ideas that internet was founded on. ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are the companies that are trying to restrict and monopolize the internet. The removal of net neutrality would allow ISPs greater control over what you can do, create and view on the internet. If ISPs have this ability, they could greatly influence people’s quality of life. The right to net neutrality is going to be addressed next year by the
In 2005, Vonage, a phone company that transmits telephone calls over the internet or voice over internet protocol, complains to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about an unknown service provider blocking their telephone service. The FCC investigated the complaint and found that Madison River, a telephone company, was responsible and ordered them to stop blocking data sent from Vonage (Higginbotham, 2010). This incident was one of the first cases of an internet service provider discriminating against data sent over the internet because Vonage and Madison River are competing telephone service companies. Because of this, the FCC proposed a set of principles which sparked the beginning of net neutrality legislation that has been
The Internet’s continuous advancement has produced the need for an on-going debate on whether or not the government should have the power to control the Internet. The idea of the government having control over what each country’s citizens can see on the Internet is also called Internet Censorship. Internet Censorship “is the control or suppression of the publishing of, or access to information on the Internet.” Internet Censorship varies from country to country depending on each country’s current usage and philosophy of how it should be used. (toptenreviews.com) Currently, there are ten countries including
" The United States government has a responsibility to ensure that every American has access to an internet that has a freedom of information. The internet has become a necessity in our everyday lives. School age Americans use the internet for research projects and even to submit homework. A vast majority of working-age Americans use the internet for the jobs or are involved in producing the inputs necessary to advance technology and keeping the current technology infrastructure working. The U.S. government has a limited duty in monitoring internet content. The government should have the ability to protect Americans from cyber acts and personal information theft. Currently the Federal Trade Commission has the power to regulate the internet
The Internet is unquestionably having a profound impact on many aspects of social, culture, economic, and legal systems throughout the world, moreover, enabling significant advances in global communication technologies, that make it more possible to contemplate the development of a more complex global information society. Such a global society offers many benefits to humankind, but incorporating regulation to enable and promote these information societies present challenges. However, such challenges create difficult questions for those making legal decisions: Do real world laws apply to virtual world problems? Can the laws adapt to regulate such activities? Are existing laws outdated and inadequate? Will new laws be required to suite Internet activities and other information technology developments?
The concept of network neutrality (more commonly referred to as net neutrality) has been a fixture of debates over United States telecommunications policy throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century. Based upon the principle that internet access should not be altered or restricted by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) one chooses to use, it has come to represent the hopes of those who believe that the internet still has the potential to radically transform the way in which we interact with both people and information, in the face of the commercial interests of ISPs, who argue that in order to sustain a competitive marketplace for internet provision, they must be allowed to differentiate their services. Whilst this debate has
The emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web brought upon a medium of communication with a range of opportunities for the world. However, this medium is, in due course, subject to the control of a few major companies. The enigma of information flow is the central concern of net neutrality. Consumers, competition and network owners would benefit directly from the regulation of network neutrality because it would provide a positive impact to those parties as well as provide equality.
Regulation of the Internet is a volatile topic. One reason comes from the very nature of the Internet. While not entirely different from
These days the internet has become an essential part to living for almost everyone but one of the controversial topics that people bring up is that whether or not the government should regulate information on the internet. Both sides have valid points which form a reasonable argument. Some people would say that they need to because of the dangers lurking around in the cyber world but the reasons for why the government shouldn’t regulate the Internet outnumber the reasons for why they should. The federal government should not regulate or censor information on the internet because doing so violates the first amendment and citizen’s right to privacy, degrades the educational value of the web, prevents the promotion and facilitation of
I am opposed to such content on the Internet and therefore am a firm believer in