Should The Government Effectively Censor the Internet Essay

Thesis: The United States Government must cease trying to reduce privacy and censorship on the internet, because it limits the right freedom of speech, builds mistrust towards the government, and it wastes resources better spent on other types of law enforcement. The United States Government needs to stop drafting laws that aim to reduce online privacy and give the government the power to effectively censor the internet. The creators of these proposed laws would try to say that they will allow the government to better protect against cyber-attacks and to maintain intellectual property. But what they don’t say is that the bills lack certain privacy and civil liberties protection. These are rights that people in this country have begun to†¦show more content†¦This is unacceptable and is an abuse of power to save a little face. As a democracy we should have no censorship lest we follow Chinas example and start dropping the hammer on any poor Joe who has the guts to question the government. As a democracy the government has to have the people on its side because we are the ones who give them the power to make decisions that affect all of us. But if they start to pass bills into law that allow monitoring of citizens on the web. Tha t would allow agencies to spy on anyone because they might do something. One example of this is the recent Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act that was passed by the House of Representatives in April 2013. The acts purpose was supposed to allow technology companies like ATT or Facebook to share information about web traffic with government agencies. This act was heavily criticized by advocates for internet privacy. These groups were worried that the act contained few limitations on how and when the government could monitor someone. 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