Technology

Internet Filter Issues
1.0 Introduction
In the modern world, the way of communication has changed as compared to the old methods. In the ancient days, the main mode of communication was letter writing and fixed landline telephones, however this changed with the introduction of the internet.

The internet as a tool of communication has fastened the way business is conducted as well as improved social interaction of the people. There is however some limitation to the internet as a mode of communication. There are some websites that show pornographic and other demonic materials which might have some negative effects on some members of the community, especially children and other young people. As a result there is need to regulate and control such sites especially in places where most people who access the internet as young people. This is referred to as Internet Filtering.

There have been different internet filtering approached that have been adapted to regulate the internet content however most of them have failed. For many years internet filtering has been believed to be the solution to the regulation of the content viewed by the internet users, however this has not been successful. The purpose of this paper therefore is to try and provide new solutions that can be applied to control the content that can be accessed by the public.

In conclusion, the paper will give a brief overview of the key points that would have been discussed in the papers are what the future holds for the millions of youths who are mostly targeted by this obscene websites.

2.0 Negative Effects of Unfiltered Internet Contents
The topic of pornography is hardly ever discussed in a positive light, despite the fact that most people (both young and old) have been affected by pornographic materials that is easily accessible on the internet. According to (Lauer  Lauer, 2008) there are people who defend it however these pornographic defenders have no solid point to put forward apart enjoying their freedom of expression. There are many negative effects of pornography, some of which are violent tendencies, strained marriages, and troubled childhoods.

Pornography and Violence It has been observed that most people who watch pornography especially men tend to be violent and rough. According to Rogers (1990), most men who are exposed to pornographic develop some weird behaviors like sadomasochism and some end up being rapists because most of the times they struggle to fulfill their fantasies and sexual desires.
Pornography and Family Life As discussed above, too much exposure to pornographic material makes someone be violent and rough. For married people, over exposure to porn makes them be violent against their wives as well as children, this can lead to divorce or strained marriages. To the kids also, some may have access to the parents (fathers) pornographic content as a result it will affect them for years to come (Gao, 2010).

Feldman (2010) has given the importance of regulating the internet content being accessed by the public and especially the underage groups. Some of the advantages of internet filtering it that it helps in the national security (instructions on bomb-making, illegal drug production, terrorist activities), it guarantees the safety of minors (abusive forms of marketing, violence, pornography), protection of human dignity (incitement to racial hatred or racial discrimination), it helps in providing economic security (fraud, instructions on pirating credit cards) as well as information security (malicious hacking). In addition to that, internet regulations help in protection of privacy, reputation and intellectual property. These are some efforts that have made the government regulate this area that greatly contributes to the economic growth and development of many nations.

3.0 Solutions to the Problem
Filtering the internet as applied by most organizations has its pros and cons, ContentWatch (2010), states that the use of the filtering software provides comprehensive filtering and blocking of the sites it can also block or filter social media sites such as Facebook or MySpace. In addition to that the software is affordable for multiple computers. The program can be programmed to regulate time spent on individual websites or playing PC games. On the contrary the software can block harmless news sites or forums which require parental override to access. This however is not the ultimate solution to this problem.

3.1 Governments Role in Regulating the Internet Content
Music and entertainment is a power and influential tool that can be accessed by millions of people, some music have been classified as not suitable for certain age category. Dom (2010) sites a case in which parents took their children for concert only for them to realize that it was meant to be an adults only concert yet it has been advertised as an open concert. As a result they urged the government to classify and regulate concerts that are being performed.

The government of the day can take advantage of such a scenario to regulate the content in terms music concerts that the children can attend. This will ensure that as parents struggle to deal with internet filter content, the government helps in controlling the music and entertainment content. The social networks have been blamed to be cause of most obscene contents, however blocking them is not the ultimate solution, the government and other stakeholder can sign an agreement with the management of the accused sites to regulate the content that they will be releasing for public viewing, this will help to monitor the content viewed by underage kids. For example (acma, 2010) states like Australia is one of the countries in Europe that has attracted the most attention regarding its filtering practices. The Australian government passed legislation in 2000 requiring Australian ISPs to delete content that was found to be disturbing or harmful to people under the age of 18 years from their servers. In addition, the government suggested that private companies add certain content to their filters, though Australian citizens are not required to use any blocking software.

3.2 National Policy
Many nations have come up with national polices that aimed at controlling the internet operators on the content they release to the public however this hasnt been easy.  According to Rao (1999), Issues relating to the Internet economy (E  commerce) automatically involve inputs from the departments of trade  commerce, broadcast and print media, the telecommunications and electronics industries, education departments, national security and policing, consumer groups, and the private sector. Therefore Incorporating and addressing all their concerns within a comprehensive economic framework is a challenge for many societies, particularly when faced with pressures of investing in more basic citizen and social services.

According to Cheng (2010), most firms are weary of the effects the social networks have on their employees and their families however they can not regulate this all the time. The web content designers should also help in the regulating the content viewed by the public for websites that deal with X-rated contents, they should ensure that only authorized persons are allowed to access them. They can do this by creating a log in box that requires that the user provides his  her social security number  passport number to indicate the age of the person. This will be another way of filtering the content but in relation to human filtering.

3.3 Fines and Jail Sentence
Another method that has been applied by most European nations to control the internet content by hefty fines imposed to persons who are found accessing prohibited sites. The fines are also imposed on companies that knowing breach the rules that were implemented by the communication commission of the respective nations, for instance in china breaching these regulations attracts a fine of more that 2,000 or a jail term of up to three years (Rao 1999). This has made most companies regulate the internet content and as such there is no need for the use of internet filtering programs.

4.0 Summation
If not regulated  filtered the internet can destroy the lives of millions and millions of innocent people. the various strategies that have been adapted by various governments in internet filtering is a sure sign of how committed they are in ensuring that the content that is accessed by its young generation is not obscene and harmful to their well being.

The paper has extensively looked at how some obscene internet sites (pornographic) can have a negative effect on both an individual as well as the society. In addition to that, the paper has discussed how various nations have adapted to the internet filtering as a way of curbing bad content from being accessed by its population this has had some positive effect especially in school.

With the rapid growth and development of the internet communication technology sector, the governments and the private sector should be at per with the changing technology to ensure that they are able to deal with even the most complicated scenarios. This way the society will be a better place and the role of ICT will be greatly appreciated.