Paige Burton

1. The Internet should be free of charge.

The Internet, for the purpose of this argument, is the World Wide Web – any connection (Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Safari, etc) containing the fastest connection (DSL). “Free of charge” entails the ability to be able to connect to the Internet without having to pay any sort of fee to connect to the Internet (meaning the Internet would have a wireless connection throughout the world). The Internet should be free of charge because being “connected” has become such a vital part of people’s lives; the Internet, in many ways has become a provider of communication, information, and even a place of employment. If the Internet was free of charge, there would be more opportunity for people who may have been without the ability to pay, a way to connect with others and become better educated (in a general sense) through the technology.

2. Children under the age of 18 should not be allowed to create a social networking account.

A social networking account is any network on the Internet that permits one to communicate with and/or meet others. Children under the age of 18 shouldn’t be allowed to create a social networking account because until he or she is of legally of age, it is not necessary for them to have a social forum through the Internet (through that particular network). There are too many negative aspects to these networks at a young age; such as: exposure to indecent photographs of older people/friends (drinking and provocative pictures), an outlet that may lead to unhealthy relationships (friendships and romantic), and an altered perception of what meaningful relationships are.

3. Businesses/companies should not access potential employees’ blogs and/or social networking page.

Businesses and companies should not access potential employees’ blogs and/or social networking page because the personal and intimate that may be posted on either of the pages should not be judged based on the person’s qualifications for a job. Blogs and social networking pages are set up to enable a person to express him or herself in whatever way they please. Employers should not judge a persons’ information voluntarily posted, in respect to his or her eligibility for a potential career. Whether a person chooses to partake in a blog or social network should not be used against him or her in the eyes of an employer.

4. Privacy settings, company regulations and other information regarding email ought to be simple and easily accessible for users.

Privacy settings and company regulations refer to the particular settings/regulations that a company may assign to all employees which explain what the company has access to [of which its employees access] and how that information is attained and viewed in the eyes of the company. Company employers should lay out the privacy settings and regulations in a simple manner so that the employees will know what they can consider “private” and what is or could be company information, or read by an employer [for whatever reason]. Companies should also make these settings and regulations accessible at all times and easily understood so that there is no confusion or misunderstanding for their employees.

5. Sites that allow users to find the location of others without their consent should be eliminated.

Location-finder sites are sites that allow anyone to use the address or general location of any person to find where exactly it/she/he is on a map, with provided directions if desired. An example of this is Google Maps. To have given “consent” one would need to accept or agree to the terms of the site which allow anyone to type in the address of his or her home to find where he/she lives. These sites should not be allowed without the consent of a person because it endangers any one person by allowing someone to find where they live and how to get there. If a person does not give their consent for their whereabouts to be accessible through these types of sites, it should not be allowed. There are many dangers in allowing location-finding sites, especially when one does not know that their privacy is being invaded and their location can be easily found.

6. Academic courses through a college or university should not be allowed on the Internet (and as the only source).

Academic courses offered through a college or university (unless that college/university is online-based only) should not allow online courses as the only means of education (for any particular course). The school (college/university) should not be allowed to do offer a class online only because it takes away from the educational experience, the learning experience that is so important for all students. There are many disadvantages to offering a class only online, such as, not everyone may have immediate access to a computer/the Internet, the student does not interact with any other classmates, the teacher-student relationship is lost, complete understanding of the subject may be difficult to grasp without an oral or demonstrative explanation.

7. The Internet should value knowledge and/or noteworthy information over gossip.

Knowledge and/or noteworthy information refer to any sort of information that is relevant to academia, political, social, economical, (etc) issues. The Internet should value these types of issues over gossip because it has no real value or impact to our lives. Yes, it’s fun and interesting to read about the lives of celebrities – who’s dating whom, and who’s back in rehab – but in reality, this kind of news does not affect us in any way. People should be more concerned about what is going on in the world, and what actually affects them – and if more emphasis is put on sites with this intention, then perhaps we would become a more informed society.

8. Society should not become one with the computer.

This principle implies that society should realize that life exists outside of their computer screen. Today, the computer makes it easy to do almost everything you could do physically, on the computer (or through the Internet). It’s important to remember that learning, playing, teaching, and just doing should not be done just on our computers – we take away the meaning of actually doing things when we rely on computers so heavily.

9. Hate speech on the Internet should be restricted.

Hate speech, in the simplest sense, refers to any type of language that is used to hurt another (be that mentally, physically, or emotionally). This sort of speech should be restricted because it does not belong on the Internet – having this sort of hate speech available to anyone who may choose to read it only reinforces the damage it can do. This sort of language is not appropriate online because it can be put into the mind of someone who has bad intentions, or intentions to put the hatred into action. There are too many dangers with hate speech being available to so many people, and if it is not restricted, hate speech will become a kind of norm, or acceptable, which I do not think is ok.

10. The Internet should not be owned or controlled by any one person or organization.

The Internet should not be owned/controlled by just one person because there would be too much responsibility in that ownership. There are so many different outlets and facets to the Internet that it might cause too many problems if one person tried to “control” or “own” it. The Internet is a place where millions of people are able to contribute their work and/or thoughts. Everyone who uses the Internet owns it, and that’s how it should remain. It would take away our freedom of speech and capabilities if we let only one person take control.

11. All forum and chat room-based websites must require users to provide valid registration information.

This principle should be enforced because there are too many risks without this requirement. Chat-room based websites should require users to provide valid registration information because in today’s society, there are many people who lie on these websites with dishonorable intentions. If registration was required, we would be able to track down those offenders, and prevent them from using these types of sites as a means of causing potential harm to another user.

12. The Internet should not be censored.

The term censored means that materials on the Internet should be examined, suppressed, and/or removed if considered morally or ethically wrong. I agree with this statement to some degree because there are certain materials on the Internet that do not belong there, for example hate speech websites. Because the Internet is so fast it would be virtually impossible to censor it completely, and it would take away from our freedom of speech. Although there are sites that are not appropriate in some way, there are websites that are useful and communicate for the common good of others, and because of this, the Internet should not be censored. When it comes down to it, people are given the opportunity to read and write about whatever they choose on the Internet, which is ultimately to their benefit because they are learning about something, regardless of the subject matter – what’s most important is that people understand that they have the freedom of speech, and make change, if they feel inclined to do so.