.In today's plethora of the information age, censorship has become a prime issue for debate and concern in arenas such as books, music, the media and especially, the Internet. The role of Governmental Censorship is an ever-evolving one where one must pose the question of who is in control? As a result, censorship is a very controversial topic in which not many maintain a neutral stance. The difficulty lies in being able to establish a boundary in which civil rights are guaranteed while at the same time maintaining some parameters to define what is and what is not acceptable for the public to be exposed to. Many believe that censorship restricts free speech and does the First Amendm ...view middle of the document...
The Constitution of the United States of America embodies the basic rights of every citizen in this country. The first amendment states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances"12. This is not a clear-cut statement and allows for an open interpretation. It is also important to recognize that this is an amendment or rather a correction to the original Constitution. Governmental Censorship has been a powerful tool in controlling the thoughts and reactions of the people.Censorship is still seen as an attempt by the government to regulate what the public is exposed to. Many argue that censorship of any kind is a direct violation of the rights guaranteed by the first Amendment. The role of government in censorship has always been an active one. There are times, however, when censorship is more of a necessity than a luxury. Those times include times of war and internal governmental crises. In the case of war, censoring vital and strategic information is of utmost importance in protecting the location of troops; not censoring such information can lead to the death to the death of those who are trying to protect the United States. Censorship can lead to the destabilization of a government. In governmental crises, such as, the.assassination of President John F. Kennedy or President Nixon's Watergate scandal could have lead to many unpredictable outcomes if the public knew all the details of scandal and deceit within our government. If a people felt that their government is not behaving was not stable, it could have lead to revolt or anarchy. Censorship is an effective controlling mechanism in controlling governmental conspiracies. It is the power of the government to cover up its mistakes, unbeknownst to the people that invoke doubt and fear into the heart of all. Abuse of governmental powers is of utmost concern to those who object the notion of censorship. There are times when these two opposing points of view do collide between where the government has the right to impose upon the people and what people have a right to know.Governments have tried to induce their views through the power of censorship and regulation. As technology was changing and government regulations seemed somewhat lax; in February 1996, a notorious bit of legislation known as the Communications Decency Act (CDA) was passed, in an attempt to limit the content available on the Internet and to set up a system of responsibility for content that extended beyond the purpose of the original creator. The proponents of this movement were primarily from pro family and Christian organizations 13 People soon began to realize that this was a bogus attempt at the government trying to censor the Internet (a violation of the First Amendment) the CDA was challenged...
