should the internet be regulated?

[jade]

was looking at a story in the paper today, it was talking about how some people *cough americans cough*want to have laws stating what people should and shouldn't be allowed to do on the internet, what types of sites shouldn't be allowed etc.
any thoughts?? do you think that regualting the internet, the world wide web, should be allowed? and if so, should the american gov't be the ones allowed to make the rules for it?

[bob]

IMHO:

the internet is not only becoming part of everyday life, it IS becoming everyday life. apart from the internet, society empowers authority figures to govern and regulate society as a whole. we have police to serve and protect, we have politicians to supposidly maintain order in our cities, and help provide society with the best possible standards of living.

i think the internet should be regulated. remember, the world you live in is regulated, and yes you probably have a problem with the way things are run. so you go underground and rebel. that's fun to you, isn't it? don't we all get that "i'm so hardcore, i feel so cool" feeling when we find ourselves in a run down warehouse, partying all nite?

if there was no regulation, raves would never exist. the underground would never exist. and we'd all be turnips waiting around for a meteor to bring us to extinction.

i say bring on warren G and his REGULATORRRS to the internet. it'll give me something to do on weekends.

[MC Hammered]

Go do a search for Scott Abraham the net and you'll see what American's can do.

I was part of that fiasco, he is supposed to be the first person to ever be banned from posting on an internet newsgroup by a court order.

Then go to rec.skiing.alpine do a search and read away, then you'll see why it happened.

[rawb]

no one can regulate the internet, you canm only regulate how people in your country connect to it, and even that i quite an undertaking.

as soon as you have a governing body that is in charge of who can read what, you basicly have given up your right to information. information can be changed, filtered, edited to whomevers liking.

a good example is with netnanny software, and software of its like. with so called 'babysitter' software that automaticly blocks sites so your kids don't get on them.

but thier list of sites they blocked became more than just porn, they started to block sites such as gay and lesbian youth outreach sites. it started to block crazy sites like 'the day in the life of a white house intern' and 'the brunching shuttlecocks', which weren't pornographic at all, not sexual in any way. then, when sites sprung up challenging netnanny... netnanny simply blocked those sites.

there are programs coming out such as 'peekabooty' from the cdc, which will use the same peer to peer ideas of most mp3 sharing programs. it lets people behind restrictive programs and firewalls grab blocked internet pages using other people's censor-free connections. best of all it is free. this will allow people in resticted internet countries (such as china) to be able to reach any site they want.

blah blah ramble ramble

it all comes down to this:

are people smart enough to regulate themselves?

r.

[Glendita*]

Well i don't believe that the internet should be regulated ... it doesn't matter if someone does it, people are going to find a way around it ... so i say leave it alone.
If people are worried about "hate" sites and porn getting to their children then maybe they should install a fillter ... it is so easy to find it and then u are in control in what u believe should and biased views on certain issues.
And when it comes to childern going into inappropriate sites maybe parent should sit down w/ their child and talk about the world and why people do certain things ... but w/ content regulation on the internet all we are doing is "sheltering" child and sooner or later these kids are going to be faced w/ something that they are not going be able to handle because they are ignored and don't know the facts.
And who are we kidding kids aren't stupid and there are some many things that children can get their hands on that have been regulated but are still so easy to get.

yada yada yada ... this is tiredsome everyone has their own oppinion.