ume responsibility and censor the material themselves. With todays technology, parents can buy software that can screen out any material that they feel is harmful to their child. Software created by the Silicon Valley firm, known as Surf-Watch, matches a potential Net destination to a proprietary list of forbidden sites. This program can also search for objectionable language. This program provides good protection and allows the individuals to make their own decisions as opposed to censorship. Another effective method of cyberporn deterrence is for parents to talk to their kids, and inform them about the explicit material that exists out there in cyberspace, and ways that they can avoid sexual predators (Wekesser 120). Many concerned parents are not satisfied with these suggested methods. They believe that they should not have to screen out harmful material. According to these people, empowering parents with this responsibility would advocate restricting the behavior of the good guys (families and children), while giving license to the bad guys, who litter cyberspace with pornography. It also strays from the time-honored role of the government to protect children from exploitation. For these reasons, many believe that burdening parents with censoring sites is philosophically wrong (Wekesser 123).CONCLUSION We find ourselves posed with the following questions; should the Internet be censored? If so, who is responsible for doing so? I believe that it is ultimately the parents that are responsible for making sure that their children are not viewing harmful material. It could be argued that they cannot simply watch the child all day long, however there do now exist programs that can do it for them. We must remember that the Internet is a gigantic database of unlimited thoughts and ideas that are transferred day by day. It is not the Governments place to regulate the free exchange of ideas. Parents need to be responsible f...
