r the world. So Swedes, Germans, and even Americans in the United States can view a web site in Sweden that does not have to follow United States’ laws (“Censorship and the Internet”). Laws also were not used with the Television or Film industry and should not be started now. In the case of Television it is left totally up to the parent to decide what materials their own children can watch and how to prevent them from watching ‘inappropriate’ shows. Recently a device called the “V-Chip’ was developed to aid parents in that. It monitors a new rating system designed for TV shows and does not allow access to any show that is rated higher than what the parent sets the chip on (Gates). If the nation is confident enough in a parent’s ability to monitor children’s access to TV shows or movies then why are they not confident enough in their ability to safeguard them from the Internet?Already new software is out to help parents monitor Internet access. It acts very similar to the “V-Chips” for TV’s. All web pages will get rated and the software can be set to allow access only to certain-rated web sites. This is already included in Netscape Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer, the two most popular and widely used Web browsers (“Security with Microsoft” and “What features”). They use a rating system by the Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS). Other software out to aid in the process is called “Censorware.” Several of these programs include NetNanny (www.netnanny.com), Cybersitter (www.solidoak.com/cysitter.htm), X-Stop (www.xstop.com) and Cyber Patrol (www.microsys.com/cyber). They basically do that same thing previously mentioned by effectively screening any activity on the computer and filtering out anything deemed unnecessary by the parent or guardian.Some might argue that a parent would not be able to alwa...
