Online Privacy at What Cost Essay -- Essays Papers

Online Privacy at What Cost When the constitution was written over two hundred years ago, our founding fathers probably did not have the Internet in mind. Since then, United States citizen along with their elected officials have tried to keep the rights of each American sacred, no matter what the cost. The major right that has been fought over since the dawn of the USA, has been that of the freedom of speech. Now, with the beginning of the twenty-first century, a new freedom of speech is again being examined. This newest freedom of speech is that of Internet privacy, more directly; how much privacy is too much privacy when on the Internet? To explore this question I will be looking at three areas; the freedom of speech of American citizens, the protection of children, and the protection of the United States' government. Should the freedom of speech protect the users of the Internet to write and print whatever they want? The Internet is a great place to interact with the world, since we are all connected as one and have the ability to share our unique cultures with each other with just a type of the keyboard. As long as the material being written is to help enlighten and learn about other places and peoples, then the Internet is a marvelous place for learning. It is when the Internet is used for more perverse propaganda like the neo-Nazi regime or pornography sites that use underage children to arouse its user. When the Internet is perverse with such corrupt material, this is when the Internet should be reexamined as if it should still retain the right of free speech. The privacy of the user into such inflammatory propaganda sites as the 'Aryan Nation Will Rule America', should be monitored, for it is no longer a question o... ...en our children and our national security, there should be none. Today, there are millions of web sites with millions people logging onto them for everything from information to entertainment. The Internet can be a great source of connection with the outside world, but when it contains such inflammatory articles like how to build a nuclear bomb and where would the best place to set it off to cripple America, then it is a matter of protection that the net is monitored. Otherwise, America may wake up one too late, to terrorist at all fronts knowing our secrets, and ready to takeover. Works Cited The Watchman by Jonathan Littman. Little Brown and Company Limited: 1997. Anarchy Online by Charles Platt. HarperCollins Publishers New York, NY: 1996. Cyberwars by Jean Guisnel. Plenum Trade New York: 1997. epic.org www.privacyrights.org www.privacy.org