Chapter ten talks about the Internet and how it has evolved over the years. It first started with military roots when President Dwight D. Eisenhower started the ARPA, or the Advanced Research Projects Agency in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Today, the Internet has grown to become a seemingly endless stream of data and information that people use 24/7. As the Internet has developed and people have realized different ways in which they can exploit the Internet, certain issues and controversies have come up. One such controversy Rodman points out is the issue of Control vs. Freedom.
As of now the Internet is unregulated and people are free to do what they so choose on there. Rodman says that this unlimited freedom of the Internet has caused a number of problems like viruses, fraud, spam, copyright infringement, child pornography, malicious hacker attacks, and identity theft. The Internet also in my opinion offers an overwhelmingly more amount of good things to the average user like offering a plethora of information and knowledge, ease of communication, greater business opportunities, and even a way to date. The question arises though, should the Internet be regulated and/or users be more responsible for their content, or should the Internet remain free of all censorship and regulation?
Being an average or less than average user of the Internet, my best answer to that question is to leave the Internet alone. I believe that the way the Internet is right now does a lot more good than bad. It has grown to global proportions and commands a great deal of respect. With something so grand and so powerful it’s no question that there will be some level of “side effects.” The Internet isn’t perfect, but if you were to take certain freedoms away from even the average Internet user I believe you would find millions and millions of very unhappy and lost individuals because I believe even the average user is heavily dependent on the Internet in their daily lives.
Pregnancy in the media
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Question: Does the media glorify teen pregnancy?
Thesis: The media portrays pregnancy unrealistically, thus negatively
affecting teenagers and their likelih...
17 years ago
5 comments:
I agree, the internet as it is right now is unregulated and I believe that’s how it should stay. Although many problems have arisen from the ease of access to potentially harmful content, that ease of access also does a lot of good for research and many, many, other purposes. If those freedoms were ever to be restricted, as you said, there would be outrage in the public. The question of whether internet access and content fall under the first amendment, as well, is an issue. The content isn’t in press or viewed by all so is it protected? The question is difficult to answer, but I believe so. Although some content is vile and disturbing it may not be to some, and therefore cannot be censored.
One thing that has always interested me about the Internet that goes back to its very roots is the fact that it would be impossible to regulate the Internet. It would be like trying to control the weather, you can do it to a certain extent, you can control the heat in your homes, just like people can with their individual websites and servers. But you're always just trying to predict and counter the next storm or disaster.
A regulatory system on the Internet would essentially require governments to do the impossible and store all of the data on it in a single place. Even in countries were we believe that the Internet is censored, what you usually have is a person physically watching what you do, a program may supplement that, but unless it has some kind of Artificial intuition it will never be perfect. I don't think that we will ever see effective Internet regulation because it simply isn't possible without doing something extreme.
I like your take on the internet from different perspective. In my opinion, internet users have to be more responsible for their content because the majority of us haven't been involved in any online problems, which means some internet problems can be prevented by ourselves. If we drive a car, we have to follow the rule and pay attntion to all people and objects around you. This is the same as the internet surfing. Internet is an outside world where a lot of things are taking place, so we shouldn't be get relaxed.
I agree that the Internet shouldn't be censored or regulated. The Internet has problems and downfalls just like any other kind of technology. You are right that the good does outweigh the bad. I don't think it is a bad idea to put disclaimers on certain websites, as there is on many asking users to verify that they are 18 years or older, for example.
Rodman talks about in Chapter 10 that some countries have limited or regulated access to the Internet (Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, China, North Korea, and Myanmar). I believe that until these countries have the same rights and privileges that we do to the Internet, they are at a great disadvantage.
The problems and controversies with the Internet definitely should not be ignored (child pornography, identity theft, viruses, etc.) However, how do we solve these problems without having some kind of regulation on the Internet?
Internet has both opposite and negative sides. It is a good place (or cyber space) for people to get infomation easily. And for sure, internet also causes alot of problems like viruses, fraud, spam...etc. Internet is a free cyberspace; each individual has their own freedom of speech in a cryberworld. We can't really try to regulate people's freedom through internet; the best thing we can do is to watch out the content out there through the net.
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