The government should have the right to control the Internet because it is in the best interest of national security. Allowing the government to control the Internet through information monitoring and filtering procedures would help reduce so many crimes and attacks because the Internet is such an integral part of modern day life. Each day, millions and millions of people around the world use the Internet for personal and professional reasons like sending e-mails, communicating through instant messenger services, and performing research for projects and papers.

Yet some people also use these Internet functions for malicious reasons. Cyber Terrorists are able to plan attacks via instant messaging and e-mails. Sometimes school shootings are publicized on personal web pages, like the two Columbine shooters in 1999. Since the government has the ability to prevent fatal terrorist and domestic attacks by gathering intelligence through Internet filtering and monitoring, the government should be able to control the Internet. The con side may argue that this infringes on personal rights, but the right to live in a safer world should be the most important right in light of everything that is going on in the world today.

Internet crimes are increasing every day, as more and more people become computer literate. Organizations like the West Coast Pirate’s Exchange and schools such as the Intense School help individuals hone their hacking techniques, giving them the potential to attack our national security. One of the reasons a large scale effort to simultaneously attack the computer networks of our economy sectors is that the technology and wide spread communication ability is not yet present, but the rapid change in technology of our modern age makes that threat more of a reality. Such an attack could possibly cripple our nation, but the American government has the ability to stop such an attack from occurring. Internet regulation can only help the American government protect our national and individual security.


 

 







The government should not be able to control the Internet because it is not very plausible and also very unconstitutional. No one body or organization would be able to control the Internet. The Net is simply too large to control. The Internet encompasses the whole earth; how could the American government presume to have the authority to control every facet of the Internet, even if it was for the sake of world peace. There is just no possible way for any government to be able to control and filter the Internet usage of every citizen in a country. It would be too large of a task to try and monitor all of the e-mails sent in a day, or all of the conversations in every chat room across the Web. In essence, trying to control the Internet would basically be trying to control communication, and any attempt at that would prove to be a waste of money and resources that could be better spent elsewhere.

If the government did try to control the Internet, it would be a direct violation of the 1st amendment, the freedom of speech. The government cannot control what people write to each other, it cannot control what people say to each other. It would be unconstitutional and it would also be an invasion of privacy. People may argue that the safety of the nation takes precedent over the rights of individuals, but this nation was founded by a constitution that guarantees personal rights to every citizen. This country gained its independence by fighting for those individual freedoms, such as the freedom of speech and the freedom to bear arms. The safety of the nation does not have to compromise the rights of an individual. There are many ways to prevent terrorism, trying to control the Internet is just not one of them.
 

When people are pro or con on government involvement over Internet security matters their views will have certain implications socially, politically, and culturally.

Socially, if a person takes the pro side on this issue it might give the public the impression that this person is conservative and politically more attuned to a Republican view. The pie graph data on the survey of Notre Dame Students gives good idea about people’s use of the Internet and their views about government on the Internet. Majority of the students surveyed that use the computer less than 10 hours a week believe it is okay for government to control access to the Internet. They do not lose much because they use the Internet less. They gain security when they do use the Internet but many that use the internet disagree with the pro view.

The con side socially might be viewed as the liberal aligned with the view that less government involvement is better. These people might also be politically labeled as Democrats. In this view the freedom of speech is prevalent but many risks come with this view. Having the web free of government allows for criminals to exploit the insecure parts of the web. This may give the internet unsafe status in the future. The con side can give many people the ability to voice their opinions and views free of repercussions no matter how obscene or blatant they are. This may give the culture an open mind about a lot of things and permits for optimal learning. Then again many might take it the wrong way and children can be harmed by this freedom of speech. The pro si de will make for a strict society where everyone is afraid to state their views over the Internet. This could be problematic for the internet cultures because many views over the Internet will have to be watered down to meet government standards.