Internet Regulation: Should Federal Government be Allowed to Regulate the Internet - Research Paper Example

?Running Head: Internet Regulation Internet Regulation: Should The Federal Government Be Allowed To Regulate Information On The Internet? [University] Internet Regulation: Should The Federal Government Be Allowed To Regulate Information On The Internet? Introduction Compared to the rise of other communications technologies, the Internet has expanded at a phenomenal rate (O'Connell, 2001; Chelton & Cool, 2004). In its wake there are many questions yet to be solved. One of the most discussed is regulation of sexually explicit information/material on the Internet. While there are many forms that regulation can take, this paper will only address the question of federal regulation that focuses on the illegalization of sexually explicit contents. The Federal Government should not be allowed to regulate Information on the Internet because there are substantial reasons to believe that significant harm will be produced if information is regulated. Regulating the Internet Proponents of Internet regulation raise objections to the fact that there are materials on the Internet that would not be allowed in other media, especially, obscenity and pornography. The potential harm to children most often cited is that children can access inappropriate material. In support of the assertion that pornography is harmful to children, proponents often cite individual cases where they claim children have done horrible things after viewing pornography. Many other proponents of this argument have also been very vocal. For example, due to the availability of pornography on the Internet, Republican senator Daniel Coats of Indiana claimed that the "Internet destroys innocence" (Legislative Proposals, 1998). Also, many parents are simply uncomfortable with the possibility that their children could be exposed to pornography. Fears of anti-social behavior, sex addiction and loss of innocence are just a few reasons parents may wish to protect their children from pornography. Due to the ease of use and abundance of material on the Internet, these parental fears are magnified. Children are renowned for their curiosity and when their bodies start to change they want to know what is going on and become curious about sex. Searching for pornography is a way to express this growing interest (Chelton & Cool, 2004). Such material is abundant on the Internet and it is easy for a child to click on a button that acknowledges that they are 18 and enter some sites (those which do not require a credit card payment) (Taylor & Quayle, 2003). However, such material does not have a captive audience. Hard-core images usually are only accessed by searching for them. If the pornography in question was a billboard at Times Square featuring a lewd display of bestiality involving a woman and a goat, the proponents of the harm to children argument may have a case based on the offensive nature of the image. This would be due to the probability and unavoidable nature of encountering the image. However, this is not the case with the Internet. In order to access these pornographic images, a child must have access to a computer, an account with an Internet service provider, an Internet browser, knowledge of Internet use, often verify that they are over eighteen to enter the site and, sometimes, have a credit card number. While many do have access to such materials, they need not (Carey, 2005). A computer does not magically connect itself to the Internet. A parent authorizes the purchase of Internet software and the opening of an account. It is true that this responsibility put on parents may cause some disutility to be incurred for parents who wish to use a computer as an electronic babysitter. This disutility should be factored in when considering regulation. However, there are software packages available that parents can utilize at their discretion which screen out potentially pornographic sites. Also, it should be noted that obtaining an account with an Internet service provider is buying a service and bringing it into one's home, knowing the risks involved. In other words, this is a voluntary association. When a voluntary association is entered into the contractors accept the risks involved in that association. If parents believe their children are at risk, they may elect not to enter into the association. Why Internet should not be regulated The Price of Liberty Whenever freedom is suppressed, autonomy is hindered. This is true of the suppression of both actions and speech. By regulating internet and restricting online materials, not only is the liberty of those who wish to post such materials impeded but also the liberty of those who wish to view them (Carey, 2005). If liberty is important and there is value in letting persons make their own decisions, any regulation inhibiting those decisions carries a cost in deprivation of autonomy. This does not, of course, suggest that liberty should always be unimpeded as there are cases where one's actions can cause immense harm or hinder the liberties of others. In addition, there are certainly situations where the liberty of an individual can be justly impeded if the individual is incapable of making informed decisions. John Stuart Mill recognized these facts and, in On Liberty, he moves from concerns about freedom of speech to concerns over freedom of action. Mill recognized that harming someone may include hindering him or her "in pursuing his own good" (Mill, 1969: p. 256). Many theorists have taken the ideas of Mill further to claim that persons have a right to liberty and a right to be left alone. In fact, some authors have claimed that this right is the most basic right or a right that has lexical priority over all other rights (Dworkin, 1977; Rawls, 1971; Lomasky, 1987). This right has been justified on many grounds. Ronald Dworkin includes liberty as a basic right that must be granted in order to accord everyone equal consideration and respect (Dworkin, 1977). Rawls has justified this right on the basis of fairness, justice and respect for dignity (Rawls, 1971). Loren Lomasky argues for this right because it permits individuals to pursue their own projects and engage in person- building activities in a world of other project pursuers (Lomasky, 1987). This list of theorists is nowhere near complete. While each theorist may justify the right to liberty in a different fashion, it is clear that they share a common understanding. This understanding is that violations of liberty (while sometimes just) can result in injury. While some theorists have argued that some rights are absolute, it would be dubious to argue that the right to liberty is absolute even when it causes great harm to others (Gewirth, 1984). However, what is probable is that there is damage generated when interfering in liberties. Thus, injury results in the regulation of any material that persons wish to circulate or access. The Harmful Application of Regulation If the Internet is regulated, it is entirely likely that much material that contains artistic and informational value will be lumped in the category "sexually explicit" and made inaccessible on the Internet. Historically, such generalization has been the norm and, I can perceive of no reason why it would not be the case in regards to Internet regulation. Some of the greatest works of art could certainly be labeled sexually explicit, inappropriate for minors, morally objectionable and/or degrading to women. If regulation can be justified on the aforementioned grounds, some masterpieces will doubtlessly be regulated. As Catharine MacKinnon writes, "[I]f a women is subjected, why should it matter that the work has other value?" (MacKinnon, 1989: 202). Examples of artistic masterpieces being subject to censure are numerous and, would likely be widespread on a regulated Internet. Recently a reproduction of the Venus de Milo was removed from a shopping mall because the mall managers considered the topless masterpiece too shocking (Bentley, 1992) In another example, Pennsylvania State University officials removed a reproduction of Goya's famous Maja Desnuda (The Nude Maja) on the grounds that it made female students uncomfortable (Hentoff, 1991). If regulation of sexually explicit materials can be justified on an argument similar to the feminist argument that was appealed to in the previously mentioned case, even the retelling on legends and myths (both pictorially and in writing) would be susceptible to regulation. Such would no doubt be the case of the legend of the Christian Saint Agatha who was thrust into a brothel and subjected to torture, including the cutting off of her breasts, after she rejected the advances of a Roman governor. Any description or depiction of this legend, such as the painting The Martyrdom of St. Agatha by Sebastiano del Piombo, would clearly be a likely target for regulation. Therefore, if sexually explicit Internet materials were regulated many great works would likely become inaccessible on the Internet. In addition to the injury involved in denying Internet users access to regulated masterpieces, using filters or other methods of regulation may be dangerous. This is due to the fact that some methods of regulation will likely block access to materials such as safer sex information. Safer sex and sexual health information has long been a prime target of censors and would doubtlessly continue to be so over the Internet. Pioneering birth control advocates such as Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett were, in the past, prosecuted for disseminating birth control information. Such prosecution came about because the advocates were thought to be violating anti-obscenity statutes (Strossen, 1995). Also, in the early part of the twentieth century, scientifically accurate information concerning abortion and contraception was suppressed to the point where the only information available was to be found in unreliable underground publications written by "quacks and charlatans" (Strossen, 1995: p. 226). While these examples occurred some time ago, the push to regulate such information continues today. Currently, regulation advocates push for schools to block safer sex information on the basis that it is harmful to children even in the face of teenage pregnancies and the AIDS epidemic. Protecting children is the justification often given for such regulation; however, for "children" and others who seek such information, not having access to reliable information can have disastrous effects. Regulation has also traditionally been applied in a biased fashion. Especially vulnerable to regulation has been (and would likely continue to be) information and materials directed at minority populations. While such material may be "shocking" or "gross" to legislators (in the United States they are mostly middle-aged Caucasian males), the materials may be helpful and valuable to other populations. Such materials could include safer sex information for homosexual populations. Unfortunately, censorship of materials that contains homosexual themes as well as other materials geared towards minority populations is common. Of this Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union writes, "measures to suppress sexual expression consistently have targeted views that challenge the prevailing political, religious, cultural, or social orthodoxy" (Strossen, 1995: p. 219). These views are the opinions and voice of the minority and, thus, minority populations are disproportionately targeted by such regulatory measures. Strossen further claims: Because of their subjectivity, current obscenity laws offer a license to the police and prosecutors in any community, or members of any jury, to punish sexual expression that they find distasteful…middle-class, middle-aged jurors might well be "turned off' by the erotic rap lyrics that "turn on" poor, inner-city black youth. And heterosexual jurors might well be "grossed out" by Robert Mapplethorpe's gay erotica (Strossen, 1995: p. 55). An example of this occurred when Jesse Helms attacked the National Endowment for the Arts for funding work by Robert Mapplethorpe. Helms said, "[T]here is a big difference between 'The Merchant of Venice' and a photograph of two males of different races on a marble table top ... this Mapplethorpe fellow was an acknowledged homosexual… the theme goes throughout his work" (de Grazia, 1992, p. 622). This sentiment is not unusual. Gay and Lesbian erotica has been extensively attacked and subjected to regulation. On Our Backs, a lesbian erotic magazine, has repeatedly been targeted by censors (Strossen, 1995: p. 232). This unequal regulation suppresses minority views and makes any material that is "different" vulnerable to regulation. Regulation of sexually explicit materials may also divert attention away from substantial harms being produced. As Nadine Strossen writes of regulation based on the feminist argument, the feminist proposal to censor sexual expression diverts attention and resources from constructive, meaningful steps to address the societal problems at which the censorship is aimed (Strossen, 1995). That is, instead of monies being spent to address educational and economic discrimination and cultural attitudes that lead to the subjection of women, it may be spent on regulation. The effects of such a diversion can have especially detrimental consequences in cases concerning sexual violence against women. Many criminal defendants have pleaded for sentence reductions for rape and other sexual offenses by blaming the availability of pornography for their crimes. If such defenses are accepted and pornography is targeted as the cause of sexual violence, criminals could be pardoned and valuable resources channeled in unprofitable directions. The Great Potential The Internet has the potential to change social and cultural life if information flows remain open (Lo and Wei, 2005). Unlike traditional communications methods, the Internet allows the ordinary citizen to be heard by limitless populations at relativity little cost. It has been argued that this relatively inexpensive speech on the Internet will assist in solving two of the greatest problems facing traditional media: the bias in favor of the speech of the rich and the blandness of much mass media (Taylor & Quayle 2003; Volokh, 1995). Also as many authors assert the ability afforded by the Internet to allow the average citizen to hear and be heard with ease can potentially bring great advantages. Of this potential Gordon Graham writes: The World Wide Web is power to the people with a vengeance, we might say since unlike the rather passive medium of television - its interactive character presents ordinary citizens with the possibility of exercising an unprecedented influence on the social and political events that determine their circumstances and prospects. By dramatically extending their control over these public or communal aspects of their lives it gives them a greater degree of personal autonomy than ever before (Graham, 1999, p. 37-38). Another author, Howard Rheingold, reiterates these claims and writes that the Internet has the "potential to bring enormous leverage to the ordinary citizen at relatively low cost - intellectual leverage, social leverage, commercial leverage, and most important, political leverage" (Rheingold, 1993: p. 11). Intellectual leverage can be gained (and blandness of traditional media combated) by the unconstrained accessibility of diverse information on the Internet. The diversity available on the Internet is incomparable to that available in any other single communication medium. Howard Rheingold lists the intellectual diversity available as one of the reasons people value the WELL (Rheingold, 1993). This intellectual diversity found in such virtual "communities" and other Internet resources can have great value. If a member of a virtual "community" or other Internet user desires an expert opinion or advice, he or she only needs to post an inquiry. Also such exposure can broaden the horizons of Internet users as persons can call upon the collective intelligence and expertise of other users to solve problems. As Rheingold claims, users can have their own "think tank" available (Rheingold, 1993). While some of this information may be available by utilizing other methods, the speed, diversity and the ability to connect directly with experts on the Internet is unequaled. The possibility of commercial leverage being gained by use of the Internet is tremendous. Given the relatively low cost of acquiring access to the Internet, would-be entrepreneurs face low entry into this market. This allows the Internet to become a playing field for pure capitalism. Examples of ordinary citizens using the Internet for commercial dealings are numerous. A vivid example of such activities is found in Internet auctions. E-bay and similar auction sites allow users to buy and sell goods for a small listing fee. Given this ease, many E-bay users have become power sellers and now sell items at virtual auctions or open online "stores" as a profession. The possibility of social and political leverage coming about due to the utilization of the Internet is also quite high. This is due, again, to the ease at which persons from all over the world can be heard. If this speech is chilled or made more difficult to access by regulation, this potential leverage will be diminished. When information flows freely on the Internet, persons can be exposed to views and materials that they would be unlikely to access elsewhere. Elizabeth Reid writes of IRC, "[I]t is not uncommon for IRC channels to contain no two people from the same country. With the encouragement of intimacy between users and the tendency for conventional social mores to be ignored on IRC, it becomes possible for people to investigate the differences between their cultures" (Elizabeth, 1991: p. 1). This expands the social circle for many persons as they become familiar with views and customs quite different from their own. Also, socially, the Internet offers advantages to those with physical handicaps or social anxiety disorders. Persons suffering from such disorders and others may be better able to express themselves in virtual environments where they are accepted in ways they are not in physical communities. Also socially and, politically, the Internet has the potential to revive a town meeting atmosphere where the ordinary citizen can be heard over professional politicians. Along these lines, Rheingold writes that citizens now have "access to a tool that could bring conviviality and understanding into our lives and might help revitalize the public sphere" (Rheingold, 1993: p. 13). This is especially apparent in the way that grassroots blogs are currently transforming politics. A vivid example of the utilization of blogs can be found in the campaign of the 2004 United States presidential candidate Howard Dean. The Dean campaign is currently actively featured in hundreds of blogs. In a Wired article on the use of blogs in the Dean campaign, Lessig (2003) writes of the potential of blogs. He claims that blogs are "tools that enable, and thus inspire, hundreds of thousands of people to something that American politics has not seen in many years: hundreds of thousands of people are actually doing something" (Lessig, 2003: p. 136). Given the current success of the untraditional Dean campaign, Lessig may be correct. Politically, the Internet can also serve as a mouthpiece for traditionally underrepresented groups. Given the tendency of regulation to target minority views, this point of potential leverage is especially vulnerable to being lost to regulation. Also, the Internet has the ability to remain intact even after traditional communications methods have failed. For example Usenet played a principal role in passing information during the coup in Moscow and CNN and other Western broadcasters relied on information posted to Usenet. This was because conventional phone and telex channels were clobbered (Rheingold, 1993). Students in Taiwan who had access to Usenet linked to relatives in China to become a network of correspondents during the 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident (Rheingold, 1993). Also, during the Gulf War the IRC was useful in cross-cultural dialogue. During the war, an Internet link in Kuwait remained active long after television and radio broadcasts ceased and Kuwaiti students used IRC to offer eyewitness reports (Rheingold, 1993). The potential for this type of linkage is only increasing due to the fact that Internet users can now access and download materials from handheld devices. Conclusion The Federal Government should not be allowed to regulate Information on the Internet because significant harm will be produced if information is regulated. These harms include both Internet specific harms and those associated with the regulation of sexually explicit materials in general. It is apparent that there is much to lose and little to be gained by regulating the internet. The harms to liberty alone, in the absence of any harm produced by the Internet remaining unregulated, slant the utility equation sufficiently to justify the Internet being unregulated. However, when such harms are united with the potential harms associated with blocking valuable material, stifling the potential of the Internet and the resources and harms involved in the regulatory process, the disutility that will doubtlessly be produced by regulation is clear. Therefore, Federal Government should not regulate internet. References Bentley, C. (1992). Mall Nixes Artwork as Shocking, News-Leader [Springfield Mo.] Mar. 5. Carey, C. A. (2005, January 31). Banishment is not the answer. San Francisco Chronicle , B5 Chelton, M. K., ed. , & Cool, C. (Eds.). (2004). Youth informationseeking behavior: Theories, models, and issues. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. de Grazia, E. (1992).Girls Lean Back Everywhere: The Law of Obscenity and the Assault on Genius. New York: Vintage Books. Dworkin, R. 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Rheingold, H., (1993). The virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. Strossen, N. (1995). Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women's Rights. New York: Scribner. Taylor, M. , & Quayle, E. (2003). Child pornography: An Internet crime. New York: Brunner-Routledge. Read More