Government should Regulate Internet Content - Report Example

20 June Government should regulate internet content Internet has exposed the societyto a lot of risks which have served to retrograde the society morally. A lot of content available on the internet is dangerous to the society. Internet is the fundamental means by which children find access to the pornography. According to compiled numbers from respected news and research organizations, every second $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography. Every second 28,258 internet users are viewing pornography. In that same second 372 internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines. Every 39 minutes a new pornographic video is being created in the U.S. (Ropelato). These videos contaminate the thoughts of young children. They gain access to adult material before understanding the gravity of such things. As a result of this, they take extreme steps. In the days when there was no internet, children did not have “easy access” to porn. They had to purchase adult material from movie shops which not only cost them a lot, but they also were at the risk of being caught by parents, siblings, friends or peers while purchasing such movies. Watching them on the VCR was also no less risky. In those days, it was not possible to shift the TV from one place to another. In every house, there used to be a specific place for TV. Such place usually used to be in the TV lounge where everybody would frequently come, sit and go. Children had had a tough time managing to watch the movie when somebody would get into the room from anywhere anytime. These factors potentially discouraged children from watching porn at home, and many would spare the idea of watching such movies given the enormity of risks associated with this practice. With the evolution of internet, porn is just at a distance of the click on the mouse. Children’s frequent, quick and easy access to porn has retrograded the society on the grounds of morality. Children’s access to porn not only makes them morally weak, but is also very bad for their psychological and physical health. Children become habitual to committing crime in isolation. The negative energies that cultivate in them gradually show up in their daily dealing and interaction with others. In order to regulate the frustration, adolescents tend to build physical relationships with others before marriage. Many do not have access to members of the opposite gender for such relationships, and hence may resort to homosexuality to fulfill their physical needs. Porn arouses dangerously violent and wild desires in the children even before they become mature enough to handle such feelings. Consequently, many children land themselves in troubles which keep bugging them throughout their life. It is not just porn that is very deleterious to the moral health of the society, internet provides users with access to information that they can use to have a negative influence on the society. There are videos that teach how to make a bomb. Having seen these videos, an individual can make a bomb at home with the materials locally available with least expenses. As a result of this, they are bale to possess bomb illegally, and may use them for their individualistic purposes against any agency, sect or community in the society. “…those who trade in child porn or bombmaking recipes dont do so in the public domain but swap their information on obscure message boards or by way of peer-to-peer file-sharing sites” (Heacock). Firewall is considered to be a strong shield for network security. Firewall essentially functions like a packet filter that studies various IP packets and after thorough examination, lets only this IP packets pass that conform to the particular criteria of destination, support the specific applications and also run particular transport protocols (Messerschmitt 2). There is no best firewall that can provide a network with ultimate security. In fact, absolute access and absolute security are two extremes. A machine can be provided with maximum security only by disconnecting it from the network and locking it somewhere which totally saps its usability. A machine that has absolute access is the most convenient in use. It will do as directed without any inquiry, though it is also not practical. “…the Internet is a bad neighborhood now, and it isnt long before some bonehead will tell the computer to do something like self-destruct, after which, it isnt terribly useful to you” (Curtin). Social media websites have provided people with extremely personal information about strangers. When someone gets to know about a stranger more than necessary, he/she can use this information to blackmail him/her and for personal gains. A lot of children are falling prey to pedophiles that are in search of them for evil purposes. Social media websites completely define a person. It does not only provide necessary information about the individual, but also indicates the whole range of his/her friends, interests, hobbies and business. One can know where a person plans to go on a certain date at a certain time and with whom. This information is too sufficient to prepare an objective plan of kidnap, murder, or any other kind of crime. Owing to the huge danger of network security, information should be completely banned from the internet. Hackers implement ways to get through firewalls and site blockers, and are often successful in their evil machinations. One example of such attacks is the denial of service (DoS) attacks. These are thought to be the nastiest of all types of attacks because they are launched very easily and are very difficult to track. It is often difficult to refuse the requests from the attacker once can not tell them from the legitimate requests for service. Network security is a very important phenomenon because inadequate security provides the evil agencies with access to all strategies that might be planned in order to fix the matters. Internet, today, has become the fundamental means of communication between individuals and agencies both on national and international level. Passwords of few digits are considered too sufficient to protect the valuable information. These passwords may be hacked if the enemy has technological expertise. This may put lives of millions of people in danger. Owing to the dangerous impact of internet on the society, government should take steps to restrict the public’s access to harmful information. In order to achieve this, government needs to work in close collaboration with the internet providers. Government assumes the responsibility to provide the nation with the kind of information that is beneficial for them. In addition to this, government assumes equal responsibility to ensure that public has no access to information that can be used to cause harm to the society. Many prudent governments have started to take steps to minimize the negative influence of internet upon the society. Around the end of 2008, the Australian government prepared a plan to filter out the web and block children’s access to illegal and inadequate material (Bpovia). Owing to the immense criticism that this plan would be exposed to, the Australian government went for a pilot study. The plan was implemented after mid of January in 2009 for some months. The government intended to study the impact of content filtering on the society. This is a rational way of modifying the plan to increase its efficiency. It is not, however, radically different from plans already in place elsewhere. Most of the UKs internet service providers already filter their content using an industry-run blacklist maintained by the Internet Watch Foundation. ISPs are not forced to comply, but they will be if European Union proposals announced this summer are enacted. (Giles). Works Cited: Bpovia. “Australia plans to filter harmful information from the Internet.” 6 Jan. 2009. Web. 20 Jun. 2011. . Curtin, Matt. “Introduction to Network Security.” 1997. Web. 20 Jun. 2011. . Giles, Jim. “Australian government plans internet censorship.” 21 Dec. 2009. Web. 20 Jun. 2011. . Heacock, Rebekah. “Australias Conroy named Internet Villain of the Year.” 13 Jul. 2009. Web. 20 Jun. 2011. . Messerschmitt, David G. “Network Security.” University of California. 1999. Web. 20 Jun. 2011. . Ropelato, Jerry. “Internet Pornography Statistics.” n.d. Web. 20 Jun. 2011. . Read More