In 1969, the Advanced Research Project Agency Network (ARPANET), a division of the government, was working with a small microchip company called Intel. Together, they created a rough prototype of what we know now as "The Internet." This first communications network was originally designed for fast computer communication between air force bases in case of a nuclear attack. After the nuclear crisis was over, other uses for the network were presented. In the 1980's, the National Science Foundation (NSF) created a computer ARPANET for communication among institutions in the foundation. The NSF network is most closely related to what we know as the Internet today. The Internet today serves as a mass communications network in which most computers in the world are hooked up to. There is no one individual or company who has control of the Internet and because of that, anything and everything can, and is, on the Internet. It was only a matter of time after the Internet was created that someone would test the boundaries of it. .

             When people started to use the Internet as a source of information and commerce, someone saw that there was an industry for pornographic material. A few sites went up and since there was no one to censor what they put up. Soon there were sites that had what most people consider offensive material. Certain groups saw the opportunity and then sites started to go up that had other offensive material, i.e. hate sites against abortion and site that show anyone how to make destructive devices. Many people are debating now whether to censor what can and can't be put on the Internet. Other want to regulate how much material will be allowed. Unfortunately, these people decided to do this too late.

             While all of these people are debating whether to censor or not, or regulate or not, they never stopped to think if it could be done or not. The problem is deciding which of the 500 million sites are ok to be up and which of them should come down.