Do you think the Internet should be Policed?

[Archer 007]

I worry about the government starting to charge us taxes and fees at every turn.

 

[sourboy]

No, because it's the last shred of free exchange alive, as it was meant to be. Unless there is a video online that could incriminate someone, or if the internet is used to hack businesses or something - no, it should not be policed.

 

[Bamspeedy]

What a stupid question! The internet is already policed. There is a reason that people with child pornography sites are arrested. There are laws that say what is acceptable and what is not. Thinking anything else is foolish.

Well, I just wish that they would break up those sites quicker. There is a forum out there right now that has people posting about their pedophile thoughts and actions and use pedophile pictures as their avatars. Several of the posters are from the U.S. and U.K. and the forum has been up for at least a year.

 

[felagund]

Yes, I would make a good internet policeman

 

[The Person]

Am I the only one who voted for the Sexual Harassment Panda/Giant Radioactive Monkey option?

(Just to show that at least someone believes in their judgement.)

 

[Aphex_Twin]

It should be left relatively free, as it is today. But it would be foolish to expect the governments not to try to control it. After all, 90% of them would fall if people were better informed.

 

[samildanach]

During my entire and not so illustrious surfing career I have never actually stumbled upon a dedicated child pornography site. It always seems to happen to a shocked house wife from Fort Worth or Ilford.
I would be against heavy duty policing as they would likely close down cracker and over clocker web sites that I frequent - and i like the convenience of picking up off the shelf weapons and spy ware without them becoming subscription based.

 

[Double Barrel]

If someone is going to commit suicide, they will probably do it if the internet exists or not.

Same with child pornography, unfortunately.

But I do not think that the net should be officially policed, per say. Because once an authoritarian police enforcement entity is created, they will continue to write new laws in order to justify their existence. It is in this slippery slope that we all wind up censored by the very organization that we created to "protect" us.

Existing police departments should continue to utilize the internet to track down and prosecute those that break already existing laws.

 

[marioh]

I'm more worried of greedy governments taxing the internet.

As correctly spoken by previous posters, the Internet is already policed, to a certain extent.

 

[EzInKy]

Policing should be limited to punishing sites and software makers that hijack users browsers, and a top level "g rated" domain such as ".kids" should be created for those who don't want to "risk" viewing material they deem obscene.

 

[downwithgravity]

Definitely not. That's a terrible invasion of personal freedoms.

 

[Souron]

I just don't see how it can be.

However, there are thing on the internet that should not be shown. And there are some local polisies for the internet, that are endorced by most contries (like child pornography).

 

[CIVPhilzilla]

No way, the government has no right to be snooping around on the internet.

 

[Flak]

In my opinion the Internet should be subject to the same level of freedom of speech as regular (oral) discussion. No more, no less.

Thus, a page saying, "LET'S ALL KILL JOHN WITHERSON III!" should be censored, in the same sense that you shouldn't be (and aren't) allowed to yell that in public.

But of course, I doubt it's easy to effectively monitor/control the Internet.

Yeah but your ideas of 'Free Speech' may not match the ideas of Free Speech of the governing body of the internet. If the institution were to be a world wide body, they'd have representatives from China, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, each likely having different views on what you should be allowed to read on the internet what you shouldn't be allowed. You really want that kind of control over your internet?

Heck! Look at this website here. They state right up front in the Rules and Regulations that Free Speech doesn't exist here.

 

[addiv]

Well, policing is a strong word but I have no problem with the police or specialized instantions tracking down the internet for things like racist content or people planning bombings (which they already do to some extent).