The Internet has been a major concern of the American people and government for the last few years with controversies over certain types of web sites displayed over the Internet including pornography, hate group web sites, "inappropriate" literature, and other various kinds of web sites. Their main concern for these types of web sites is that this material is easily accessible to a young, impressionable audience. Some believe that censorship of the Internet is not the be

I can understand this outrage from the public against pornography on the Internet. It's a scary thought to know that a child can accidentally stumble onto a web site that is filled with pornography. A person is not forced to look at pornography, they still have a choice to not look at the undesired material. And I choose not to look at the material because my parents instilled in me values and morals. As far as protecting children from the "indecent" or "controversial" material, parents should take the responsibility for determining what their children should access on the Internet. Parents already take on the responsibility of determining what their children watch on television, listen to on the radio, and read; they should supervise where they surf on the Internet as well. Parents may act as if it is a big hassle to watch over their children's shoulder, but a small price to pay to protect them from the "indecent" material on the Internet. Perhaps parents need to educate their children more thoroughly about the Internet and its dangers. Web sites that teach kids valuable tips on the net are available on the Internet. Recently "the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was passed by the U.S. Congress in November of 1998" (FTC). This act requires that operators of online services or web sites must "obtain parental consent prior to the collection, use, disclosure, or display of the personal information of children" (FTC). This act just went into effect April 21, 2000. From now on, privacy policies are required to be available through a link on every web sites' homepage where general information about the web site is provided.

COPPA is just one of the few ways that children can be protected on the Internet. But, more importantly, it is up to the parents of these children to supervise their activity on the net. Since parents can control what children watch on television with a v-chip (violence chip) that blocks certain channels, maybe parents can control what their children see on the Internet with user-based programs that allow the parents to make their own list of blocked sites, parents should be able to determine what sites they want blocked. It is very important that the user-based software provide maximum user control. If the online software companies have most of the control, the companies' rating system would discriminate

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Approximate Word count = 1589
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)