Should The Government Monitor ‘Net Content? An Odd Couple Posting
Within the family of bloggers that is the b5media business channel, the latest cross-group activity is what we’re calling The Odd Couple posting challenge. Two bloggers get to post their reaction to a statement. I’m partnered with Rachel at Behind the Buzz and our challenge is:
Should the government monitor content on the internet as closely as it does content for television and radio?
Ugh! No! Get all governments out of all content! Since it’s probably to late to get governments out of television and radio, let’s at least keep them out of the content of the internet.
What this question is really all about is the fear some have that people can’t be trusted. This is based on the notion that people are evil. If this is true, the logic goes, they need a firm hand to guide them.
And hence the problem - whose hand guided by what standards? This kind of thinking leads to absurdities like the (mostly, in my opinion manufactured) outcry in the U.S. over the brief display of a (gasp) woman’s bare nipple during a Super Bowl half-time. Apparently no one had noticed that all people, men and women, young and old, have two of them. But, in this society it’s considered totally okay to allow children to watch hours of violence on the same television.
Obviously, those people who were so upset about the display of a breast wouldn’t want me controlling what they and their children would see… heck, I’d probably outlaw football as too violent. So whose hand should guide content and by what standard?
Far better, I think, to see people as trustworthy and capably of making their own choices. Sure, some aren’t, but many many more are and the chances that censorship will be able to spot the few who are not is not worth the loss of freedom.
The best site about internet freedom in my opinion is the Electronic Frontier Foundation or EFF. It’s one of those truly deep sites you can get lost in as you explore what’s happening in the internet freedom field. Of course, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) is another great source.
Read Rachel’s post on the same question.
Now, do you trust the government to decide what should be on the ‘net? Tell us and tell us why.
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5 opinions for Should The Government Monitor ‘Net Content? An Odd Couple Posting
Monitoring of the Internet
Jan 28, 2008 at 8:37 am
[…] posting challenge. Two bloggers get to post their reaction to a statement. I’m partnered with Anne at The Golden Pencil and our challenge is: Should the government monitor content on the internet as […]
b5media - Move over Felix and Oscar: There’s a New Odd (Blog) Couple in Town.
Jan 28, 2008 at 9:34 am
[…] government monitor content on the internet as closely as it does content for television and radio? The Golden Pencil Behind the […]
Monitoring of the Internet | money news blog
Jan 28, 2008 at 8:36 pm
[…] posting challenge. Two bloggers get to post their reaction to a statement. I’m partnered with Anne at The Golden Pencil and our challenge is: Should the government monitor content on the web as […]
Charlotte Babb
Jan 29, 2008 at 2:12 pm
The Government shoujdl get out of the Internet. I don’t care how much they scan the airwaves and the bitstream, but there is no reason to limit the information available to people, especially from people in other countries.
The Net is a G-L-O-B-A-L phenomenon, and while the main part of it’s backbone is in the USA, by no means is there a brain attached that can be shut off. We have become a small village indeed, but there is no overlord to say what can and cannot be said, what should be free and what should be paid for.
For the first time since one tribe met another, everyone can have a say, every musician can have an audience, every poet a nook, every artist a gallery. So what if 90% of everything is crud? I point to the percentage of government waste and say 10% goodness is a wonderful thing.
Governments exist to provide infrastructure. All this moaning and whining over the “dangers” of the internet can be avoided by turning off the modem, the TV, the radio, the ipod, the telephone, and maybe, by plugging in the brain.
E-sniper » Blog Archive » Move over Felix and Oscar: There’s a New Odd (Blog) Couple in Town.
Feb 8, 2008 at 3:00 pm
[…] government monitor content on the internet as closely as it does content for television and radio? The Golden Pencil Behind the […]
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