GVPT333: Group Community
Kimberly Carter, Dave Dobin, Tim Hammond, Chris Rushing

Conclusions

The key to solving the problem of Internet regulation will ultimately lie within private industry. Most democracies protect the freedoms of speech and expression to such a large degree that it is difficult to prohibit dangerous forms of these expressions. It is imperative that the Internet industry takes the initiative to filter their content before the government steps in and enforces an inadequate solution. Often the government can not address problems with the accuracy and efficiency of private industry because conflicting interests such as voters and special interest groups drive it to contradict itself time and time again. The PICS method of Internet filtering has already been researched and implemented in Australia, a country with a governmental democracy system similar to the United States.

The Internet provides the unique opportunity for people to experience very different viewpoints and perspectives. The various amounts of information available to users allows for beneficial information as well as undesirable information to be accessed by the viewing public. A filtering system must be implemented by the Internet industry to protect children from viewing illicit material and to also prevent illegal images to be proliferated in cyberspace. No government is qualified to regulate a realm in which other citizens of other governments can be affected by such policies. Nor can any government seek to regulate the thoughts and feelings that their own people express on the Internet let alone those of individuals in other countries. Self-regulation of private industry is the only sensible solution to such a complex situation where the various stakeholders are separated by national borders and customs. Government should foster the development of a filtering system but should not take action to censor itself by telling people of their own country, and those of other nations, what they may or may not see.