To Censor or not to Censor...That is the question.

After reading The Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace, I really began to think about whether the internet should be censored or not. On the one hand I believe that we all should have the right to free speech and self expression, but on the other hand...the internet is a dangerous place; children can be lured away by predators, private information can be found, and people can be driven to suicide by what is written.

Should we censor the internet to protect those who could be hurt by it or should we allow its content to be unrestricted?

By censoring the internet, we could stop 14 year old girls from being fooled by predators over MySpace, we might be able to keep credit card information safer, and we may be able to stop some suicide attempts...but would it be worth it. Would safety be worth a lack of expression, the discontinuation of sites such as MySpace and FaceBook, and the number of hits on Google being reduced to mere thousands as opposed to the googolplex it is said to have?

My answer is no. Censoring the internet could save lives. It might protect information. It may stop some suicide attempts...but really lives will still be lost, information will still be compromised, and people will still commit suicide. Without the internet predators will resort to other ways, thieves will do things the old fashion way, and suicide will only be caused by other things. In my opinion, censoring the internet because of 'what could happen' is ridiculous. We can't restrict ourselves creatively based on 'maybes' and 'what ifs'. Doing so would only harm us as a culture.

Of course some censoring is needed. Rules need to be made and followed as with any other media, but anything further than what we have now would be a great injustice. We as a country would become a detriment to our own development. The internet is the future, and to censor it would limit our possibilities. Despite the dangers, even with the downfalls, the internet must remain uncensored.

We cannot fear what could happen, as Marie Curie once said "Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood." And that is exactly what we must do. We must understand the internet; its limitations, dangers, and advantages so that we can fully appreciate and benefit from it.