Essay/Term paper: Internet legislation

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Technology

With the recent popularity of the Internet many topics concerning it have hit main street media. One of these topics is legislation to control its certain aspects. Legislation is now one of the feuded discussions when it comes to the Internet, and through my report I hope to shed some light on this topic of conterversy.
The Internet by definition is an international web of interconnected government, education, and business computer networks--in essence, a network of networks. A person at a computer terminal or personal computer with the proper software communicates across the Internet by placing data in an Internet Protocol (IP) packet--an electronic envelope--and "addressing" the packet to a particular destination on the Internet. Communications software on the intervening networks between the source and destination networks. And these collections of networks linking millions of servers (computers) together, where in essence one computer can access info from another. The Internet was first formed in the lats 60's by the military as a form of communication incase of nuclear attack. Just recently in 1984 is when it was first opened to the everyday consumer as a form of communication. After a few years of mild aknowledgement of its assistance, From a thousand or so networks in the mid- 1980s, the Internet has grown to an
estimated 30,000 connected networks in 1994 with about 25 million people having access to it. it all of a sudden boomed with popularity with networks expanding at an exponential rate. And with the networks came multi billionaire business such as American Online.
Along with information the Internet has links to other more unmoral forms of entertainment, on of these is pornography, "porn" of the past few years has taken up more than one half of the web pages on the Internet (about 4¼ out of 10 web pages are porn) a number which has caused much dismay with users and nonusers alike. Those who support porn on the Internet say its with in there rights and everybody should have access to it. But parents are afraid that the Internet carries a large number of minor users who with almost no Internet experience can access porn. Only Legislation that currently exsists is We start with the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996, a controversial
piece of legislation signed into law by President Clinton on February 8, 1996, and
now under legal challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union and others. The
Communications Decency Act bans the communication of "obscene or indecent"
material via the Internet to anyone under 18 years of age. (Telecommunications Act
of 1996, Section 502, 47 U.S.C. Section 223[a].)
Probably the most conterversial of topics on legislation, is the right of free speech on the Internet, currently the Internet has no laws preventing anything said on the Internet. But supporters of the bill say that the Internet should follow the same guidelines concerning speech as the public television does (in part because of the large number of young children on the net) Opposes of the Internet legislation it is within there freedom of speech to say what ever they wish. Currently there are many bills that are being voted on to carry out a ban on free speech. If this bill is passed all servers will have a program embedded in there speech prossers that when ever a word against the law is written it will come out something like this ("*%^$#)
Hate pages is probably the next topic that surrounds conterversy many cults and hate organizations such as the KKK or the Neo Nazis have set up pages on the Internet spreading what many say are lies in hopes of recruiting new members. Hate pages are springing up at an alarming 30,000 a year. Tough there is no legislation banning this many servers including Geo cities Netscape, Ichat, have banned these pages.
Current legislation that is on the net is few. There are the basic laws that limit all communication uses but other than that there's not much else. There are laws against the display of minors in pornography, hacking in all its forms are banned, the sale of narcotics and or weapons are also banned thought the Internet, and the rest is up the of the servers and online users. But it is nearly impossible to pass any other laws because many claim the right is given through them in the constitution
In conclusion the Internet is a very valuable tool with many uses if used properly, I myself have become annoyed with porn, and free speech, because it limits the info on the net (such as I try to look up Differences in Sex as in male or female, and I am given a thousand or so porn pages)
I find it very annoying and distasteful. Never the less the Internet is a marvelous creation that must be used to its full extend as an information source.

Bibliography: Dordick, Herbert S., Understanding Modern Telecommunications (1986); Heilborn, John, Using Telecommunications (1988); Hudson, Heather E., Communication Satellites (1990); Krol, Ed, The Whole Internet (1992); Pierce, J. R., and Noll, A. Michael, Signals: The Science of Telecommunications (1990); Rosen, Arnold, Telecommunications (1987); United States Telecommunications and Information Administration, Telecom 2000 (1988); United States Office of Technology Assessment, Critical Connections: Communication for the Future (1990); Williams, Frederick, The New Telecommunications (1991). Abbot, Tony, ed., On Internet 94: An International Guide to Electronic Journals, Newsletters, Texts, Discussion Lists, and Other Resources on the Internet (1994); Krol, Ed, The Whole Internet (1992