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Example research essay topic: Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties - 1,664 words

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... t started to grow into wide use, the Government began to become concerned about what children were being exposed to online. Until the Government began to interfere, most libraries did not use Internet filtering. Many cases of minors being exposed to pornography began to appear. In the year 2000, Bill Clinton signed the Childrens Internet Protection Act (CIPA) as part of Federal Bill HR 4577. The CIPA required schools and libraries that had federal funding designated for Internet use to install Internet filtering systems to block content that is harmful to minors.

If they failed to do so, their funding, given to them by the Universal Service Discount and Library Services and Technology Act, would be taken away. This funding includes 2. 25 billion dollars for technology and Internet in schools and libraries. The CIPA passed ninety-five to three in the United States Senate (Borja 1; Dyrli 33; Slobodzian B 05; Kellner 21). However, not everyone agreed with the Government on this issue. The American Library Association (ALA) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) both filed lawsuits challenging the CIPA (Slobodzian B 05). Librarians around the country protested the CIPA.

Congress claimed that the CIPA protects youth from pornography while the librarians claimed that it makes libraries choose between funding or First Amendment rights (Slobodzian B 05). The First Amendment protects almost all speech, because there has never been an agreement about what speech is objectionable and what speech is acceptable. Therefore, the First Amendment is interpreted to say that we will not make content-based distinctions of speech (Wallace and Mangan xii). Because of this, the opponents of the CIPA declared that it was unconstitutional, because mandatory filtering was blocking constitutionally protected speech. They also claimed that filters block legitimate and educational information from being viewed (Menhard 26; Dyrli 33). Critics of the law also said that the law violates the First Amendment, removes community control, and prevents students from using the Internet effectively (Borja 1).

Many felt that filters would cause the free flow of information on the Internet to cease (Kellner 21). However, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, one out of every four children between the ages of ten and seventeen were exposed to unwanted pornography in the year 2000 (Dyrli 33). The law was made to protect minors, not destroy free speech. Pat Sullivan, the Assistant Superintendent for Technology at San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District, believes that Internet filters help protect students from hate sites, pornography, and other inappropriate information. These filters can expand a learners world and even assist them in staying focused on their work (12).

People opposed to online censorship claimed that free access to information is fundamental to a democratic society and that students and children need to learn responsible online use and behavior apart from the backdrop of filtering (Dyrli 33). However much the law would help protect children, the court needed to decide whether the CIPA was eliminating the basic rights of the people. In June of 2002, the Philadelphia federal court struck down the CIPA and declared it unconstitutional. Because of the limitations of Internet filters, it is impossible to comply with the CIPA without blocking constitutionally protected speech.

Libraries and schools are able to choose whether they want to use Internet filters (Kosseff and Barnett A 01). Seventy-four percent of the nations public school districts use Internet filters without being required to by law, and despite the law being struck down, most libraries will still choose to filter (Borja 1; Kosseff and Barnett A 01). Some people will protest libraries that use filters, and some people will protest libraries that do not use them. The important thing is that the people have the decision to decide, not the Government. The CIPA was not the first law that tried to censor the Internet. In 1997, Senator James Exon from Nebraska sponsored an amendment to the Telecommunications Act called the Communication Decency Act (CDA).

This amendment criminalized the transmission of obscene or indecent messages to a recipient under the age of eighteen. The American Civil Liberties Union challenged this law as well (Simon 153). There was a large debate about this law in the Senate. In the debate, Senator Exon said: If in any American neighborhood an individual were distributing pornographic photos, cartoons, videos, and stories to children, or if someone were posting lewd photographs on lampposts and telephone poles for all to see, or if children were welcome to enter and browse adult bookstores and triple-X-rated video arcades, there would be a public outrage. I suspect and hope that most people, under those circumstances, would immediately call the police to arrest and charge any person responsible for such offenses. I regret to inform you that these very offenses are occurring everyday in Americas electronic neighborhood. (Wallace and Mangan 179) Despite Senator Exons remarks, the Supreme Court found the CDA to be unconstitutional.

The Judge said that the Internet does not impose itself like other media types. Pornography does not usually just appear on the screen, the Internet user must go looking for it (Simon 153). Terms from the CDA like indecent, patently offensive, and harmful to minors are terms that cannot be universally defined. The CDA attempted to outlaw speech on the Internet that was legal in real life (Menhard 29). Internet censorship was also an issue in other countries. Countries like China and Vietnam try to censor the Internet for their whole country.

They use this censorship to stop citizens from getting information from certain countries as well as protecting their citizens from obscenities. However, they are learning that Internet censorship only keeps countries poor and isolated (Simon 149; Menhard 24 - 25). European countries also had concerns about childrens safety on the Internet. They came to a conclusion much like our country did. The Government should not control censorship of the Internet; the people should deal with it themselves (Simon 155 - 56).

There are mixed feelings about the use of Internet filters in school. Most schools, however, choose and support filters. As mentioned earlier, seventy-four percent of the nations fifteen thousand public school districts currently use Internet filters (Borja 1). Many schools complain that it costs too much to implement and maintain filters, and that children do not learn responsible use of Internet (Borja 2). This author believes that school is not the place to learn responsible Internet use; it is a place to use the Internet for research and educational purposes. Parents cannot forget their responsibility to know what their children are viewing on the Internet anymore than they can forget their responsibility to know what television shows and movies their children are watching (Wallace and Mangan xii).

Internet filters with the aid of teacher monitoring allow students to properly use the Internet and focus on their work. Some schools use a proxy server filter to monitor and filter all Internet activity. They then use the data gathered from the monitoring to update their site lists (Sullivan 12). However, filtering is not the only way to protect children from obscene content. Many schools have an Internet policy that the students and parents have to sign. If students are caught violating the policy, their Internet privileges can be taken away (Borja 1).

Filtering in libraries is a more temperamental issue. As observed from the debates about the CIPA, many people wish libraries to filter and many people are opposed to it. Classroom situations are usually safe for children because a teacher can monitor the computers, however, librarians cannot monitor all the computers in a library (Sullivan 12). The Internet has expanded library services, even small libraries.

Using the Internet, libraries are able to conveniently offer databases, catalogs, and other helpful services. Library patrons want and need the Internet (Schneider xii). Internet use in the library should not be unguarded. Even though the CIPA was declared unconstitutional, libraries should still use filters or some form of protection on computers that children have access to.

Most libraries tweak filters to only block sexually explicit websites (Schneider xii). This is a very practical solution because people should not be able to access pornography where children can see it. Libraries also have to option of using privacy screens on the computers so people walking by cannot see what others are viewing (Kosseff and Barnett A 01). Libraries and schools need to make efforts to protect children from viewing obscenities on the Internet, but the Government should not be the one to make the decision. Despite their drawbacks, Internet filters can be very useful tools in protecting children if they are tailored to meet the requirements of the community in which they are being used. It is also important to understand that there are over 1. 6 billion web pages on the Internet and foolproof filtering of them all is impossible (Dyrli 33).

There are obscenities on the Internet, but there are ways to keep them away from children without letting the Government take away peoples constitutional rights. Works Cited Borja, Rhea R. Internet Filtering Is Balancing Act For Many Schools. Education Week 16 Jan. 2002: 1 - 2. Dyrli, Odvard Email.

Internet Filters: Good or Bad, Now Necessary. Curriculum Administrator Apr. 2001: 33. Kosseff, Jeffrey, and Jim Barnett. Court Strikes Down Internet Filtering Law. The Oregonian 1 June 2002: A 01. Kellner, Mark A.

Libraries, ACLU Resist Internet Filtering. Christianity Today 21 May 2001: 21. Menhard, France Role. Internet Issues: Pirates, Censors, and Cybersquatters. Berkley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2001.

Schneider, Karen G. A Practical Guide to Internet Filters. New York: Neal-Schuman, 1997. Simon, Leslie David.

Net Policy. Com. Washington D. C. : Woodrow Wilson, 2000. Slobodzian, Joseph A.

Judges to study appeal of library Web-filter law. The Philadelphia Inquirer 5 Apr. 2002: B 05. Sullivan, Pat. Web Filtering: One Schools Solution.

Media & Methods Feb. 2002: 12. Wallace, Jonathon, and Mark Mangan. Sex, Laws, and Cyberspace. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996.


Free research essays on topics related to: schools and libraries, civil liberties union, constitutionally protected, american civil liberties, protected speech

Research essay sample on Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties

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