Should the Internet be censored? Censorship on the Internet is a very controversial issue. Many agree that censoring violates the First Amendment of free speech. Yet many also believe that it is the government's duty to censor to protect children and teenagers. The EFA (Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc.) is an organization against Internet censorship. The EFA's goals are "to advocate the amendment of laws and regulations in Australia and elsewhere which restrict free speech, and to educate the community at large about the liberties issues involved in the use of computer-based communications systems." (President of EFA) The EFA shares similar goals with the USA's EFF (Electronic Frontiers Foundation). These organizations believe that free speech is a right and it will be taken away by censoring the Internet. Does freedom of speech include pornography and "obscenity"? Some argue that obscenity is a matter of opinion and it cannot be defined.
The Supreme court has somewhat defined obsenity in 1957 in the Supreme Court case of Roth v. U.S. the Supreme Court decided that obscenity was "outside the protection intended for speech and press at the time during which the First Amendment was written." Therefore, the First Amendment does not protect it, but things have changed since then, now the internet exsists. Nothing has really been done by the government to censer the internet. So what about the children? Should they be subject to obscenities and pornography? People opposed to Internet censorship argue that it is a parent's job to supervise what web sites their children are going to. But parents argue that it is almost impossible to always be there to watch their children, especially for single parents and families where both parents work. Most people aren't even looking for obscene web sites. The sites aren't hidden and are targeted towards anybody. These sights most the time pop up unwanted.