Controlling The Internet Essays - Content-control Software

Controlling The Internet Essays - Content-control Software Controlling The Internet Controlling the Internet Censorship plays a role in everything that is portrayed on the Internet. However, due to the size and its rapid growth, it has become almost impossible to control. In respect to censorship in the Internet, we will be examining the issues of pornography, privacy, security, and the Napster debate. In 1989, the World Wide Web was developed. This new technology enabled Internet users to exchange information on a global scale. With no restrictions on what information could be shared, the Internet has become home to an assortment of web-sites consisting of topics that are shunned from the mainstream media. For example, literature that was banned from high schools and colleges for content that contained sexually explicit, anti-religious or immoral material has been made available through web-sites such as Banned Books On-Line. Over the last decade, governments have struggled to regulate the content of the Internet. For example, in 1996 the Congress of the United States passed the Communications Decency Act, which made it a crime to transmit indecent material over the Internet. Materials such as child-pornography (which will be discussed later) were deemed offensive and thus distributors must be prosecuted. To help catch Internet content violators, organizations such as the Internet Police were created. Internet Police The Internet Police, help to regulate the Internet by; reporting illegal websites, pressuring governments to apply relevant legislation, block illegal material and report attempts by people to access child pornography. In response to the Communications Decency Act, many Internet users, industry experts and civil liberties groups were opposed to such censorship. Websites such as The Electronic Frontier Foundation were created to uphold the rights to digital free expression from political and legal threats. Anti-censorship followers feel the governments actions are infringing on their freedom of speech. When taken to the Supreme Court in 1997, the court was forced to abolish the Act because it was unconstitutional. Internet censorship can sometimes vary depending on the country. For example, in communist countries such as China, Western ideologies conveyed on the Internet are seen as harmful to the solidarity of the Chinese government. As such, all E-mails leaving and entering the country are screened and edited by government officials. Sometimes messages are even deleted if they are seen as harmful to national interests. Recently, the Chinese government has tried to develop its own China World Web which will hope to censor any unwanted western messages. Security Issues Today, the Internet is more like the everyday world, with all of its promises and problems, than a reflection of academia or an island village. While it's become a tremendous tool for commerce and information, the 'Net has also become a home to thieves, terrorists and vandals. The Internet provides concealment for malicious users. The remote nature of the 'Net also creates a false sense of security. Many users log on in blissful ignorance, believing they're okay because they can't see or feel any threats. Even after learning their workstations or Web sites have been broken into multiple times, many fail to understand the threats lurking on the other end of the wire. Routinely are systems attacked from multiple vectors, worms carried in by e-mails, bandwidth consumed by floods of bogus traffic, and workstation CPUs hijacked through some unpatched vulnerability. Case Studies Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN). Under E-SIGN, A signature, contract or other record relating to [a] transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form. For the first time, it's not essential that a physical (wet) signature be inscribed onto paper to bind a commitment. E-SIGN is one of the most empowering ingredients for future e-commerce, especially for financial institutions. Visa International 19 million vendors and more than 1 billion cardholders. (sic) Consumers now want to know what's being done to secure their online transactions. Like never before, online shoppers are receptive to learning about things like smart cards, security protocols and digital wallets. This, in turn, prompts companies to develop technologies and services to meet this demand. Visa is taking a multifaceted approach to ensuring that consumers have the same confidence in the virtual world as in the physical world. In June 2000, Visa launched a Global Secure e-Commerce Initiative