Government Intervention and Internet Regulation Essay

G overnment Intervention and net income command meshing is a global network that connects millions of computers together and altogetherows tidy sum to communicate and share info with each other(a) in an effective and easy way. It has become the roughly widely used means of communications of recent times. The progeny of U. S. homes with bingle or more than than personalised computers increased by 16% (in 1995) to approximately 38 million households, up from 33 million in 1994 and 25 million in 1993 (Fox 9). Along with that staggering stat, the National Commission on Libraries and In piddleation Science has reported that 95% of the public has admission to the net profit (Free Essay). net profit is filled with a lot of education on al well-nigh eery topic in the world and any champion female genitalia penetration that info anytime he or she wants and most often that reading is avail adapted for free. The very fact that everything is so advantageously available over the mesh has become a cause of great concern because passel smoke attack information that they are non supposed to good deal.This has given up the rise to a great tump over over the use earnings legislation versus the invention of net disinterest. Internet regulation is basically confining or controlling access to certain aspects or information (Internet Regulation). The proponents of regulation make out that some form of government discourse is necessary to keep a support on the information battalion access over the internet because that information might be a source of deadening for the society in general.Whitheras on the other hand, the proponents of concept of net neutrality state that if a person pays for his internet access, indeed in that location should be no restrictions on the issue that he sight view. Because internet is filled with all sorts of information and anyone give the bounce access undesirable information at anytime, some sort of gove rnment intervention is necessary in the form of internet regulation to uphold the morals of the society. in that location are several ways done which internet screw be regulated.Government can make use of the state control come on to intervene directly and place technical controls on the study that can be accessed by their citizens (Darlington). A classic case is Saudi Arabia where all of the countrys Internet service providers have to go through a central node where the Saudi authorities block access to sites hosting pornography, those believed to cause ghostly offence, and web sites containing information on bomb calorimeter-making (Darlington).Another form of regulation, the self regulation approach is based on voluntary initiatives by the Internet Service Providers (ISP) industry (Darlington). As per this approach, the ISPs try to control the typecast of content available to the customers and they keep a check on information being accessed over the internet. Classically t his is the approach in Britain where there is no written constitution and government has shown no wish to legislate (Darlington).And maybe the most commonly used and widely accepted form of regulation is the use of filtering techniques through which access to some parts of the information can be controlled for some special(a) drug users. For example, parents can use filters to restrict their children from masking unfitting explicit content. One of the arguments for having regulation is that internet can be accessed by anyone. Initially, it was supposed to cater to the needs of the American military establishments. consequently its uses spread over to the academic communities and today it can be accessed by any individuals from any country and belonging to any age group.For example, a child can easily view inappropriate content from his bedroom at any time he wants. This should not happen because that textile can corrupt the heading of that child and can have some serious ne gative effects. As the speed of the Internet increased dramatically with the development of broadband access in the late 1990s and early on 2000s, not only has more of this type of information become more available, save also users have been able to access this information in great quantity (Internet Legal Definition).So in much(prenominal) circumstances, we must(prenominal) have some procedures for tackling illegal content on the Internet and some mechanisms for allowing end user control of what is accessed on the Internet (Darlington). It is argued that the genesis of the Internet was such that it embraced and fostered a new spirit of independence, nudeness and experimentation and that these values must remain an integral feature of the Internet and if any form of regulation is introduced then the whole essence of the internet will be lost and people would not be able to access the vast resources of information that it has to offer (Darlington).The opponents of regulation also argue that any form of internet regulation is against the individuals rights to freedom of expression and the concept of net neutrality because in such a scenario a person may not be able to claim the content he wants to view. However, it should be clearly understood that society is greater than a single person and if such rights of freedom cause harm to the values of the society as a whole, then it is perhaps the responsibility of the government to intervene and restrict the rights given to every individual in align to maintain those values. in that location is offensive content on the internet, so this justifies the use of internet restrictions (Darlington). Internet is filled with explicit content. There are thousands of websites that contain pornographic actuals which is considered inappropriate for minors and mostly this content is available for free, so there is no additional cost of believe it besides the charges paid to the ISP. Also there are some sites which de al extremist views, often of a racist nature (Darlington).Though such explicit material is legal to be viewed by an individual of a certain age which in most countries is set at 18, there is no one particular way of making sure that it is not viewed by anyone under this age because individuals can mislead the system and entomb correct personal information. So in such a scenario, the most effective way for individuals who have responsibility of the children, like parents and teachers, is to limit the access to such material through the use of filters. These filters allow censorship of inappropriate material using the ratings provided by the websites.However, it should be kept in mind that this censorship technique enable adults to control their own access to material so they do not stumble across things (advertising, violence, erotica/pornography, religious or political material etc. ), which offend them (Internet Regulation). So in a way it is a matter of personal choice and respon sibility which gives an individual the power to choose what he views because one can easily change filter settings to control the type of content available to him.Despite all the great uses provided by the internet, it is used by some people for illegal purposes therefore, the use of regulation is justified because a stringent internet regulation can help to curb the un quantityd illegal activities over the net (Manohar). Examples of such criminal activities include secure theft, credit card fraud, financial scams, money laundering, hacking, industrial espionage, cyber terrorism, actual terrorism, bomb making instructions, prostitution, certain forms of gambling, drug use, drug smuggling, suicide assistance, defamatory allegations, cyber husk (Darlington).In recent times, people have started to complain about the ever increasing number of spam emails that are sent over the internet. The number of spam messages sent increased nearly 300 percent from 2001 to 2002 from 14,078,511 t o 55,683,103, harmonise to e-mail filtering company Brightmail ( Kornblum). Spam refers to submitting the same message to a long group of individuals in an effort to force the message onto people who would other choose not to receive this message (Spam).In order to ensure that people do not indulge in such criminal activities and the society remains unharmed, the government must intervene to jibe any of these activities from taking place by imposing restrictions. just about people argue that the internet is an enormous network which is maturement rapidly as time progresses, so it is not possible to regulate the internet. The argument provided here is flawed because the fact that the internet is so large makes regulating it more difficult, but because it is difficult it does not mean that it should not be regulated. some(prenominal) also argue that because internet is different in operation from other communication networks, so it should not be regulated (Darlington). Whereas r adio and video is pumped into millions of homes simultaneously (push technology), the Internet is an interactive medium and requires a particular user actively to enamork a particular site or application (pull technology) (Darlington). The very nature of the way in which the end user consumes the internet makes a good argument for having some sort of titular restrictions.In the case of radio and television, there are certain restrictions on the measuring rod of violence and sex that goes through. So even if an individual wants to see something special, there is absolutely no way in which he can do that if nothing such is broadcast at that time, but the case of internet is quite different. A person can view anything, anytime and anywhere he wants. Therefore, regulation acts as a great measure to ensure that a check is maintained over the usage of the internet.Some people even argue that it is not the responsibility of the government to cheer the children against the inappropriat e content that is available over the internet because it has got other tasks to translate care of and instead those responsible for them at the time parents, teachers, guardians, supervisors should control what they access on the Internet (Darlington). While children and teenagers need a certain amount of privacy, they also need parental involvement and supervision in their daily lives (Free Essay).One way suggested by these people requires the parents to dangle time with their children when they are online so that they can keep a check on what their children are accessing. But this kind of total control can not be exercised by those responsible for children because they can not be present at all times. Furthermore, internet can now easily be accessed on mobile devices so it can be easily misused and in the case of a school where a teacher has to look after a lot of students, it is practically impossible for her to manage the activities of each student at the same time.So whil e parents and teachers must exercise responsibility, they should be assisted by other approaches including the taking rectify of sites with criminal content and the filtering of sites with offensive or inappropriate content (Darlington). The debate over the topic of internet regulation versus the concept of net neutrality has become a great issue these days because of the ever growing increase in the usage of the internet and its implications on the society in general.