Cutugno, Filomena. “Censorship of the Internet: The Job of Parents, Not Government.”
2002. Indiana University South Bend. .
Originally known as the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), the renamed term, Internet, was not phrased until 1983 (2). And although the this term, Internet, does not contain the word “control” as TCP once did, the Internet, today, has been anything short of control. In other words, the United States government is aiming to control the Internet by censoring material considered offensive (1). However, Filomena Cutugno, writer of “Censorship of the Internet: The Job of Parents, Not Government,” argues that the suppression of ideas, specifically by censorship, violates the freedom of expression that the First Amendment supposedly protects (1). Her understanding is that the United States government is censoring the Internet to prevent minors from having access to inappropriate or offensive material like pornography, whether intentionally or unintentionally (1). Consequently, she believes that it is not the job of the government to censor the Internet, but believes that it is the job of the parents to educate their children on issues regarding indecent and offensive materials.
According to Filomena Cutugno, the problem with censoring material on the Internet is that “only a small percentage of online communication involves offensive material” (1). The writer acknowledges that “the Internet offers a vast number of resources unavailable in any single geographical location, but, this myriad of users and the breathtakingly large number of interactions that result from Internet traffic has brought about numerous negative effects as well” (1, 2). It is due to the Internet’s ease of access to materials which initially couldn’t be viewed that Cutugno argues for the guidance of parents (2). Thus, a major concern and objective for censorship is the “availability of indecent material” in combination with easy access...