lating Gone BadRecently, a major university attempted to implement limitations on the Internet access available to its students, with results reminiscent of a 1960’s protest. The university had become concerned that it might be held responsible for allowing students access to sexually explicit material, after a research associate found quite a large collection of pornographic pictures (917,410 images to be exact) that several students had downloaded. Frightened by a local court case that had recently declared pictures of similar content obscene, the school administration quickly removed access to all these pictures and to the newsgroups where most of this obscenity had susceptibly come from. A total of 80 newsgroups were removed, causing a large disturbance among the student body, and shortly thereafter, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation became involved, all of whom felt this was unconstitutional. After only half a week, the college had backed down, and restored the newsgroups. This is a small example of what may happen if the government tries to impose censorship (Elmer-Dewitt 102).Children and the InternetCurrently, there is software being released that promises to block children’s access to known X-rated Internet newsgroups and sites. However, most adults rely on their computer literate children to install and set these programs up, which inevitable defeats the purpose behind childproofing software. Even if this software is installed by an adult, who’s to say that the child can’t go to a friend’s house and surf the web without any restrictions or supervision? Children will find ways to get around these restrictions. Regardless of what types of software or safeguards are used to protect these children, there will always be ways around them. This necessitates the education of the children to deal with reality. Altered views of an electronic world translate...
