Should government censor the internet?

I believe that the distribution of child porn should stay illegal, bar none. I believe that people who distribute child porn on the internet SHOULD be censored and imprisoned. I believe that people that go onto the internet to harass others should face legal consequences (under the worst circumstances, not in circumstances in which a person could easily avoid by ignoring them or clicking that magical little X at the top right hand corner of their screen).

Aside from that, the internet should be an exchange of free ideas, whether they be hateful or pleasant. Barring the law of the area, the internet should not be censored.

NO! Government should NOT censor anything at all!

Freedom of speech should be ABSOLUTE!!!

I think we should censor the government!

No.

Look how well it worked for China... you have a people who pretty much have a government dictating to them what they will think and feel.

No the internet should not be governed or policed by an outside entity apart from in the cases where sharing that 'information' is already illegal. Now the governing body should be the person who owns the server and they should ultimately decide what they want posting on their small corner of the net. The policing should be carried out just like in real life, if they find inappropriate images on the net then they can follow the electonic trail back to the original source and to any recipients of the said images at which point justice can be served. What I am against is the monitoring of joe publics actions on the net without given cause, it's illegal to follow me around in real life and such should be the case on the internet.

Censor no, police yes. The internet is an extension of real life and real life rules should (and do) apply here.

Fuck they censor everything else. The internet is a source for truth.

The internet should NOT be censored because according to whose rules/religious morals etc will it be? We already live in a world that is totally catering to the "easily offended".

Every single war in the history of the world has been caused by ideas and man's dedication to them. From the Cold War, Russian Revolution, Korean War, to World War 1 and the French Revolution; every single conflict finds itself informed by ethos.

Therefore if it's in the sphere of ideas that man finds what divides him from his brother it becomes necessary to censor the ideas that are dangerous; that serve only to divide us.

So yes I support the concealing of dangerous ideas.

If I were in your debate class, I'd say something like-

"At the risk of talking nonsense allowing Racists, Socialists, Neo Nazis, and Communists to speak their view serves only to divide us from our fellow man"

If anyone argues with you, they prove your point. If no one says a word, you've won.

That would make me a sad panda

Government should not have anything to do with the internet. Just like religion and hell countless of other things. They're like a nosy aunt in the family getting into everyone's business.

They do you retards. I've been contacted by them twice, one was a FEDERAL warning.

I think the same laws which apply to face-to-face interaction should apply to individuals online in the same way. That means people who use the internet for harassment, child pornography, buying or selling anything dangerous and illegal etc. should have their internet censored in the same way that we would lock up people who are dangers to society in order to mute them. As those things are illegal and stopped in real life, so they should be illegal and stopped online.

Censorship, whether permanent or temporary, should be used as a penalty for breaking online laws.

People who are against censorship are against *all* censorship. That means they think child pornography should be freely available, and dangerous illegal substances or arms should be freely traded. I don't see how anyone can argue against you :P

I wish I took philosophy class now :( It seems great.

Depends on what they censor.

Suppose that truth was censored on the internet, do you think that child porn would remain as an issue? Or would there be "bigger fish to fry"?

In other words, what's means more to you?

Of course, this seems very immoral, but then again, your poll only offers extremes as options. I do think that there should be censorship, but only of harmful/immoral content. Porn, suicide, rape are all human phenomenon that should be known, and fully understood, not taboo and censored, if anything good is to come out of our freedom from censorship.

Depends on exactly what you mean by censorship.

I am against content blocking in all cases except at the direction of the consumer, even for content that is blatantly illegal.

That doesn't mean the people who publish it shouldn't be held accountable though. If someone sets up a kiddy porn site, gets arrested and the site shut down, is that censorship? Kind of, but that's not the kind I'm unwilling to compromise on. With that kind of censorship at least they get their day in court and the government has to prove a specific crime.

When they start blocking sites, so the public doens't even know they exist, all accountably goes out the window. I consider it almost inevitable that a system like that will be abused.

So... I guess if I had to argue the pro-censorship side of a debate, I would argue that shutting down publishers of illegal content IS a type of censorship, and unlike other types, it is a necessary evil.

This is the USA, our first Amendment is Freedom of Speach, and that means anything. Our Goverment is forgetting it's own rules.

It's kind of hard to speak up for something you don't really think is true. But I guess you could say something about how crimes committed on the internet can be just as serious as real life crimes (such as child abuse, sexual harassment, pedophilia, bullying, fraud, drug trafficking, etc) and that the fact that they're preformed on the web doesn't mean they're less worrying, or wrong, or unacceptable, so the law should apply to the internet just as it applies to real life. Also you could say that if you aren't doing anything inappropriate you have nothing to worry about because you won't be censored. The internet will be a safer, improved place. Spam free, virus free, crime free.
Idk if this helps at all but good luck :)
and by the way I don't think it should be censored I'm just trying to get in your shoes.

Welp it's not letting me respond to you so I guess I'll have to do it like this.

dappled:

Why hello there my little English friend!

First off, where did I say any of that quote? A man sees the world as he sees himself. What is it about you that wants others to conform to your opinion?

And what's this?

You think Bob Ross is scary? You sicken me!

It would be great if they could just do something about crime
On the Internet. Pedophiles thrive on the incompetency of the Internet police

Oh and if your against censorship that means ALL censorship even child porn, cyberbully, terrist, etc.

^Agree with this, but then if we start censoring stuff like that other people is going to ask to censor ... iunno. other types of pages. the border is so difficult....

No let the unneeded puzzle pieces have a sanctuary. For the gays, the kinky, the friendless and the kids who did not have 100 sex partners in high school. I think we are really the normal ones if society wants to teach us to kill ourselves. Let us be us and not have to listen to the negativity of the outside world!

They can't censor porn.