In recent years there has been a couple of controversies regarding the role of government in the internet. Bills relating to that have not come to pass...yet. Almost all internet users are very much against the government getting involved in the world wide web. If they did become involved, would it truly make a difference? Perhaps in some areas, but overall the question would have to be asked, "Where does it end?"
The internet is the fastest and most reliable entry into what's happening all over the world. It's also a sea of controversies, plenty of bad things have happened on it. Really nasty videos/pictures and dating site controversies are just the tip of the iceberg. True, if the government censored all of this, maybe things would be a little happier. But where does it end? The government would likely censor all of YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter since each of these have been used for evil before. This is true, but they have also been responsible for around the clock news, and in the case of Facebook and Twitter, have saved entire lives. Social media can be a great asset besides keeping up with friends.
Online dating sites have infamous reputations thanks to people using them to either pretend they're someone else, or fool another into sending them money. While this is true, a lot of people have found their spouses through such sites. If the government did censor all of these, perhaps some crimes would be stopped. But that wouldn't stop people with evil intentions from using other sources, such as Facebook and Twitter. The government's response would be to censor those sites too. Really, there is no end.
Some outside governments don't allow free practice of any religion other than their own. You've most likely heard stories of pastors and missionaries who have been thrown in prison for teaching or simply wearing a cross. If governments like that were to censor the web, some people in that country might never be able to hear about the Bible, because any site relating to the Gospels would be censored. How sad would it be if the only way a person can hear about the teachings of Jesus Christ is on the world wide web, and then that's taken away?
The internet is full of evil, there's no getting around that. One could make the argument that governments would just censor the evil. But almost every government has their own definition of what is good and what is not. So in the end, it really should be up to the people navigating the world wide web. They need to have discernment of what they see and and post.
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These 30 minute essays are short writings for practice for my College Composition exam, I call them '30 minute essays' because I have a time limit of 30 minutes to write a response to the topic question.
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