rldwide. A media form this powerful that has wrapped itself around our planet has also made available communication resources never conceived of before. Because of the global nature of the Internet, it would be difficult for any group or company to restrict access to certain sites without outside help. Previously to any regulation, most sites containing "adult material" had warning labels on them to reveal it's inappropriate material in order to deter under age viewers. The obvious problem is that there is no way to tell if those under age individuals would use their "go back" button. This poses the most highly debated issue that makes up a great deal of the controversial Internet censorship legislation. That particular issue is pornography on the information superhighway. Moreover, will this initial censorship start a slide that can't be stopped? Despite a statement made by Andrew Kantor, senior editor of Internet World, that pornography represents less then 1% of the Internet (Lloyd), there is a problem with coming across unwanted adult material while browsing. The fact is that downloadable pornographic images are in existence on the Internet and have become rather popular. "It doesn't take a magnifying glass to find hard-core pornography on the Internetand since many youngsters can navigate circles around their elders, some adults are in near panic" (Diamond). There is no argument that any reasonable person would want to keep "adult" material out of the hands of children. The question is, by what means should our society accomplish these goals?To address this issue it is necessary to examine the argument on three major battlefields: 1) legality, 2) technical issues, and 3) societal affects. Legally, this controversy revolves around the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and the steps taken by pro-censor advocates to alter the amendment enough to stop the transmission of pornographic material. Those propo...
