MY Access Prompt: Internet Censorship

MY Access Prompt: Internet Censorship

10th Grade Fall Writing Benchmark

“Internet censorship around the world occurs on many levels from the filtering of inappropriate websites in school computer labs to government removal of access to controversial websites. In the United States, we enjoy the freedom to express ourselves freely, which should include access to and availability of content on the Internet.School districts and governments do not have the right to withhold access to largely available information, regardless of the nature of the content.If a computer user is mature enough to access the Internet, he or she should be able to view any and all websites. “ – W. W. Webster

Discuss Webster's position and whether you agree or disagree with his analysis of the situation.Be sure to support your position with facts and details from your experiences, observations, or research.

As you write, remember your essay will be scored based on how well you:

develop a multi-paragraph response to the assigned topic that clearly communicates your thesis to the audience.
support your thesis with meaningful reasons and sufficient details, [including text information from the provided documents].
address the readers' concerns, opposing viewpoints, or counterarguments.
organize your essay in a clear and logical manner, including an introduction, body, and conclusion.
use well-structured sentences and language that are appropriate for your audience.
edit your work to conform to the conventions of standard American English.

Special Instructions:

Regardless of government regulations and judicial decisions concerning Internet censorship, this topic continues to make headlines. The following documents provide information about this controversial subject.

Examine the4 texts to identify pertinent information that applies to the prompt. Note points you want to use in your essay to defend your position and to identify and address opposing arguments.

You may also include “facts and details from your experiences [and] observations …”.

Document 1:The Children’s Internet Protection Act from theFederal Communications Commission

Background

The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was enacted by Congress in 2000 to address concerns about children’s access to obscene or harmful content over the Internet. CIPA imposes certain requirements on schools or libraries that receive discounts for Internet access or internal connections through the E-rate program – a program that makes certain communications services and products more affordable for eligible schools and libraries. In early 2001, the FCC issued rules implementing CIPA and provided updates to those rules in 2011.

What CIPA Requires

Schools and libraries subject to CIPA may not receive the discounts offered by the E-rate program unless they certify that they have an Internet safety policy that includes technology protection measures. The protection measures must block or filter Internet access to pictures that are: (a) obscene; (b) child pornography; or (c) harmful to minors (for computers that are accessed by minors). Before adopting this Internet safety policy, schools and libraries must provide reasonable notice and hold at least one public hearing or meeting to address the proposal.

Schools subject to CIPA have two additional certification requirements: 1) their Internet safety policies must include monitoring the online activities of minors; and 2) as required by the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act, they must provide for educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms, and cyberbullying awareness and response.

Schools and libraries subject to CIPA are required to adopt and implement an Internet safety policy addressing:

(a) access by minors to inappropriate matter on the Internet;

(b) the safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms and other forms of direct electronic communications;

(d) unauthorized disclosure, use, and dissemination of personal information regarding minors; and

(e) measures restricting minors’ access to materials harmful to them.

Schools and libraries must certify they are in compliance with CIPA before they can receive E-rate funding [a designation used in relation with the program known as the Universal Service Fund. It provides discounts to schools and libraries in terms of computers, Internet access, and various other telecommunication items that are necessary within schools].

CIPA does not apply to schools and libraries receiving discounts only for telecommunications service only;
An authorized person may disable the blocking or filtering measure during use by an adult to enable access for bona fide research or other lawful purposes.
CIPA does not require the tracking of Internet use by minors or adults.

Document 2:Utah’s code for Internet access in public libraries and schools

Utah Code Ann.§9-7-215,9-7-216 / X / X / Prohibits a public library from receiving state funds unless the library enforces measures to filter Internet access to certain types of images; allows a public library to block materials that are not specified in this bill; and allows a public library to disable a filter under certain circumstances. Requires local school boards to adopt and enforce a policy to restrict access to Internet or online sites that contain obscene material.

Document 3: The Debate: “Should there be Internet censorship?” - from“You Debate Forum”

PROS –

Pro 1: It is way too easy for children to access pornographic material. Just do a search for something as harmless as sports pictures, and you will see that a few porn pictures will slip in. A child could innocently click on one.

Pro 2: The simplest solution to this problem is a minor change to the domain naming system which will make adult oriented sites easily identified and restricted from viewing by underage individuals. An ideal solution in this case would be one that effectively limits children's access to such content, is easy and efficient to enforce, and requires little adjustment by the Internet using community. Imagine if sites with pornographic content ended in ".xxx" rather than ".com", or ".net" and then imagine if Netscape and Internet Explorer could block out all sites that had ".xxx" in their addresses.

Pro 3: We censor all forms of media now except the internet.

Comment 4: There are four reasons for Internet censorship:

Two of the purposes are desirable goals:

access control to protect children and
to enable adults to avoid material which offends their personal and community standards. Both of these canbe achieved very well with filtering software on the user's computer, and cannot be achieved in any practical sense with censorship.

A third goal - censorship to impose certain moral frameworks on the communications of adults - is not desirable and is not achievable by any means, except only partially, with many costs and difficulties, with some form of censorship.

A fourth goal, stopping the communication of material which it is illegal to possess, like bomb plans, is in many ways desirable, but hardly achievable because of the free availability of strong cryptography.

CONS –

Con 5: Filtering and blocking software in public institutions raise the question about who is responsible for the de-selection of the material.

Raises freedom of speech/freedom to read issues in a constitutional context.
Raises questions about the rights and responsibilities of children.
Raises questions about what is appropriate and what is not appropriate –

some filtering software blocks hate group sites. If a student is trying to research about skinheads or neo-Nazis, that information will be blocked on the Internet.

some software programs block any mention of the word "sex" and will therefore block out sites dealing with biological and botanical issues involving procreation.
filtering programs will block the word "breast" and therefore block information about breast cancer.

Con 6: Internet users know best. The primary responsibility for determining what speech to access should remain with the individual Internet user; parents should take primary responsibility for determining what their children should access.

Con 7: Parents should do whatever they think necessary there’s lots of software to block offensive sites but there should be no government coercion or censorship. The First Amendment prevents the government from imposing, or from coercing industry into imposing, a mandatory Internet ratings scheme. Libraries are free speech zones. The First Amendment prevents the government, including public libraries, from mandating the use of user-based blocking software.

Document 4:Position of the American Civil Liberties Union

The ACLU's vision of an uncensored Internet was clearly shared by the U.S. Supreme Court when it declared, in Reno v. ACLU, the Internet to be a free speech zone, deserving at least as much First Amendment protection as that afforded to books, newspapers and magazines. The government, the court said, can no more restrict a person's access to words or images on the Internet than it could be allowed to snatch a book out of a reader's hands in the library, or cover over a statue of a nude in a museum.

But internet censorship is hardly a dead issue; freedom of speech online continues to be threatened, and the ACLU is working against those threats: The Supreme Court's decision not to review [Child Online Protection Act] COPA for a third time affirmed our stand – the government has no right to censor protected speech on the Internet, and it cannot reduce adults to hearing and seeing only speech that the government considers suitable for children.