king up information, but if a student intends to look for inappropriate material, he/she is very likely to find such material simply by doing an Internet search. Another crucial Internet crime is the theft of credit card numbers. Companies do business on the Net, and credit card numbers are stored on their servers; everyone with the necessary computer knowledge could hack in and obtain such databases for illegal purposes. To cite an instance, the most infamous computer terrorist, Kevin Mitnick, "waived extradition and is now in jail in California, charged with computer fraud and illegal use of a telephone access device. The list of allegations against him include theft of many files and documents, including twenty-thousand credit card numbers from Netcom On-Line Services, which provides thousands with access to the Internet" (Warren 52). Americans have to come up with a solution in order to keep children away from inappropriate material and to prevent misuses of the Net. One reaction to this inapplicability has been the "Censor the Net" approach (the censorship bill), which is being debated worldwide. First, the meaning of "Censoring the Net" must be explained. Simply, it is the banning of offensive material. To see if the government should censor the Net, it is imperative to list the advantages and disadvantages of the "censor the Net" approach. The advantage of government censorship is that ideally, children and teenagers could be kept away from unsuitable material. However, many experts have pointed out that government censorship is not possible. Howard Rheingold, the editor of the Whole World Review, observes that, "the 'censor the Net' approach is not just morally misguided. It's becoming technically and politically impossible" (Rheingold n.p.). First, it is not fair to exclude the freedom and damage the atmosphere of freely expressing ideas just for the safety of children. Corn-Revere, an expert on Internet censorship at the Howga...
