Dangers Of The Internet
Along with risks such as identity theft and computer fraud, there are risks to very
naïve and innocent children of America. The Supreme court in 1997 stated "the content
on the internet is as diverse as human thought." As it should be since all of the information
out there is derived from human thoughts and ideas. Not all human thoughts are meant for
the eyes and ears on children though. "One in five children using computer chat rooms
has been approached over the internet by pedophiles." states Nora Cleeve of the Sunday
Post. There are millions and millions of pornographic web sites out there. Those are not
the only dangerous ones to our youth though. Sites dedicated to alcohol, alternative
lifestyles, anarchy, chat, criminal skills (sites promoting illegal activities), cults, drug use,
gambling, hate/ discrimination and obscenity poison minds of children.
What is to be done then? Well Lorraine Best founder of Surf on the Safeside says,
"there has to be supervision
." It is up to the parent to decide where this supervision
comes from. Whether it is directly through mommy and daddy looking over the shoulder
or by one of the many internet filters today.
The government has left it in the hands of parent to this point with their ruling in
June of this year. When the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which would fine
$50,000 anyone who made pornography easily available to minors, came before the
Supreme Court, they decided 5 to 4 against it. They feared that it would infringe upon the
first amendment rights. The COPA commission was formed in 1988 and researched such
areas as age verification, filtering / blocking, and labeling and rating systems. The final
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