Description: Anderson Cooper looks at a portion of the user-generated news site Reddit and its potentially illegal content.
Source: CNN .com.
Date: Oct 1, 2011
Questions for discussion:
- Who should police the content on the Internet? Why
- Is there any content that should not be allowed on the internet? What?
Andrew Douglas
Practically, the only people who can police the content on the internet is either those who host the content, and the governments of the countries in which the content is hosted. Whether either of these two will actually step in and do it is another issue wholly unto itself. Just because they are able, does not mean that they will, or even want to. All too often it is easier for these entities to step back and claim that they are not responsible for the content posted on these websites. While this may be true, that they are not actually responsible for placing it there, they are most definitely capable of deciding what goes and what stays.
Obviously there is content that should not be allowed on the internet, mainly illegal things such as child porn, instructions on how to construct homemade explosives, or the buying / selling of stolen personal information. However, when it comes to things that are not necessarily illegal, but still immoral this is much harder to define. This is because what is immoral or wrong to one person, another may see as no big deal and it brings up the question about whose definition of immoral or wrong should be used?
Sydney D
Content on the web should definitely be monitored, but it is not as easy as it sounds. If there are individuals wiling to act upon cyber-terror, there for sure are those who will post inappropriate comments/pictures on the web. Using free speech as a scapegoat is not a responsible action for the company; all they are doing is backing out of issues they have created. Although harm may not have been intended, this site has stepped out of the moral boundaries.
Anything that is related to illegal activities should be banned on the internet. We have tons of knowledge on technology and should be able to come up with a way to monitor or scan through things that are posted on certain sites. Sites such as this one. Protecting the individual would be the first priority. Those who put themselves on the web know that there is no keeping private information to them selves, in this sense; both parties would be at fault for the resulting activity on this site. Each individual is responsible for that they want other people to know about them – or maybe in this case assume.
Julian Fisher
I dont think that writing offensive comments is that big of a deal. If some creepy guy wants to write about under-aged girls then thats his poison. But the second that pictures of teenage girls gets posted then thats a huge problem. We do need to ensure that there are organizations out there that can monitor and enforce internet laws. Im all for free speech but putting up stolen racy pics of people is definatly a whole new issue on its own
adam smith
There is a line between free speech and the breaking of another’s rights by expressing that speech. The stance I would take in this situating is still allow it to be a free speech site and allow the comments to be as liberal as the author chooses but the part that I feel is inappropriate is the photos, because one doesn’t know who they are of or where they came from and if the author has permission from the person to post the violating that person’s right of whomever the picture is actually taken of.
I do agree with some of the other blogs saying the monitoring of illegal activity should be taken into more of an effect. In another article I just read was the use of technology to monitor us by gps and our conversations and things of that nature for national security then why are they not concerned with monitoring these other illegal and disgusting activities.
All in all there is that line of allowing someone to have freedom of speech but the question lies at what cost are they willing to let it happen!
Taylor Elderton
Aside from the people who own the site, there is nobody who can or should police content on the internet. The only exception to this being something that is clearly illegal. The reason for this, is if you give somebody (or a group of people) the power to start monitoring and censoring the internet, it loses much of its value. True censorship is derived by the users, and I still believe there is more good then bad out there, and the right things will (usually) be censored (eventually). The power of the internet is the mass amount of people that use it, and the completely anonymous free speech that is inherent on the internet.
There are very few things that should not be allowed on the internet. As I stated earlier, the only one of those being things that are illegal. Child porn, murder, death, and theft being examples of this (such as the flash mob thefts that have started appearing). However; once again, it is very difficult to actually monitor the internet, so whether these things belong or not, they will still exist.
Lindsay G
2. Is there any content that should not be allowed on the internet? What?
I believe that there are many things that should not be allowed on the internet, specifically those things that are illegal (i.e. child pornography). The sad thing about the “jailbait” section on Reddit is that it is likely that at least some of the pictures of the girls were posted somewhere else on a different internet site. I don’t believe that there is much difference between having adults post “inappropriate” comments about the adolescents in the pictures on the website and a group of likeminded adults simply discuss the photographs – with the exception of the paper trail. I do believe that people are entitled to freedom of speech (regardless of whether or not I agree with how they chose to express it). I understand that removing information from the internet is quite difficult, but anything that is blatantly illegal should not be available to the general public. Information that discusses the intent to commit an illegal act should be monitored very closely. In the heat of the moment, it is likely that people say things they don’t mean, but due diligence should still be done to monitor the likelihood that an act will follow. People that have posted about starting an arranged riot with the intention of theft and chaos, for example, should be closely monitored to see if this is a theme with the poster or merely an expression of frustration or sarcasm.
EDRIAN SUAREZ
I believe no one will be able to control all the information that is found online, even after all the rules and laws, individuals will always find a way to post the content they want one way or another. I am not too familiar with Reddit, but two years ago I used to be a daily user of http://www.digg.com a website very much like Reddit, where people post links to stories or images and users vote for them or “digg” them. On these kind of websites, users will be able to upload any information they want, including spam and it is up to others users to make it popular. If you don’t want to be offended, then don’t go on websites where users are able to post whatever they want. If you do not want your teenage daughter/sister to end up on the front page of any of these sites then it is the adults responsibility to teach these children that the internet is not safe and that posting that picture they took during spring break wearing a revealing bikini on Facebook, Picasa, Myspace or Twitter is not a safe idea. They are a lot of scary people on the internet that sadly go after these pictures of young girls. The best way to prevent them from posting perverted comments about your picture or someone you know is to not post it online in the first place.
Jian Li
Both the social network companies and the authorities should police the content of the internet. All the companies have their social responsibilities. Pursuing profit is not the only goal. They all have to run their business legally as well as providing a healthy and positive influence to the society. The social network companies can play an important role in preventing criminal, obscene content and information spreading because they have the technologies supporting them to do so. Also, there should be a stricter process to access the content for adults (not just by clicking a yes). However, there are some companies neglect their responsibilities or even using the illegal content to make profit. Then the authorities should get involved. They are not only supervising the running of the social networking companies but also have the right to close and punish the ones who are doing illegal deals.
The following content should not be allowed on the internet: pornographic, violent, misleading, inhuman.
For the website which contains adult content, there must be a strict process of registration which requires much detailed information. Also, in order to prevent teenagers misusing the internet or accidently access the adult website, a specific software that can control the using of internet for teenagers are suggested.
Kristen Schalin
The internet is a pretty self ran society. There is no police force monitoring the web allowing certain things to be posted and setting common rules. Therefore it is the responsibility of the people or companies that host these sites. With that responsibility comes, setting rules and guidelines of what may be posted on your website. Governments have some input in regards to things that fall under government policies, but it is hard to monitor all content on sites unless the hosts are constantly monitoring the content and keeping it within their guidelines. It is more difficult to draw that line of free speech, and invading people’s rights. Those young teenage girls have a right to not have creepy strange men writing degrading vulgar comments about an innocent picture they may not even know is posted on the site. I believe this kind of relates back to the article regarding facebook and giving out personal information to third parties. Even though people say putting thing on the internet is never private, I believe it should be. Your personal information and pictures are still personal unless you give permission for third parties to post and give out. I also believe parents could play a role in this. For kids that still live at home I believe parents should be monitoring the sites they are using and content they are uploading onto the internet. As we all know things on the internet don’t stay private and therefore young children and teenagers should be having content and sites they are using to be monitored so private and personal information stays private and personal.
Blair Watkins
The internet is a big part of the reason that this world continues to become more and more corrupt. The problem is that there are no organizations or people neither securing and policing the content placed on the internet, nor the enforcing law on illegal activity. I’ve noticed that the FBI has seized certain website that have violated specific copyright or patent laws but they do nothing for websites such as Reddit that can contain stolen images to please the perverts. The main problem with the internet is that problems can be swept under the rug due to the fact that there is no one to say what is right and wrong. There has to be some cyber laws set in place so that criminal action can be assessed and addressed. I do believe that it has to be the government to take on this role just as they would the role of municipal law enforcement.
Jillian K
1) The Internet is owned and operated by __________, and therefore it is difficult to place responsibility for potentially inappropriate content.
a) The World Wide Web
b) Internet Explorer
c) No one, it is a network
d) Steve Jobs
answer: c
2) The police are increasingly utilizing the internet as a tool in crime solving and could be monitoring and researching ‘anonymous’ users posting child pornography or other illegal content.
a) true
b) false
answer: a
Jillian K
2) According to the article “Child Porn or Free Speech”, Reddit is described as:
a) A Social Network
b) A Platform
c) A Chatroom
d) An Online Magazine
Answer: B