The Internet: a Clear and Present Danger
Does Internet Really Need Regulations?
The article "The Internet: A Clear and Present Danger?" written by Cathleen Cleaver is a clear claim of the necessity of government regulation to control what is being shown on the Internet. To support her claim, Cleaver gives the pornographic web sites as an example. She argues that the regulations used to control the selling of pornography applied to porn stores, magazines, and television should also be applied to the Internet. The reason for such necessity is that it is impossible to control who is actually accessing such web sites. Following this reason, Cleaver's main claim in the article is that children can access pornographic web sites on the Internet. This claim is clearly stated by Cleaver in the fourth paragraph of her essay: "When considering what is in the public interest, we must consider the whole public, including children, as individual participants in this new medium" (460). After that her following paragraphs give examples and explanations that support the necessity of a government regulation on Internet. Such examples and explanations were very effective in order to support her claim. They made a fundamental relationship between the author's claim and the real facts that support it, helping people realize such danger by thinking about their own experience.
The article starts with several examples of what can actually happen to Internet users when somebody gets free access to private information in their computers and also how unprotected children are when using free Internet programs. Those examples are crucial for the readers' understanding of the importance of a regulation in dealing with web sites, and they leave an opening for the subject to be exposed by the writer.
In fact, children's free access to pornographic web sites and the lack of protection offered in chatting web sites are realities that the society as whole should care a lot about. Both subjects are very well supported by Cleaver.
The article "The Internet: A Clear and Present Danger?" written by Cathleen Cleaver is a clear claim of the necessity of government regulation to control what is being shown on the Internet. To support her claim, Cleaver gives the pornographic web sites as an example. She argues that the regulations used to control the selling of pornography applied to porn stores, magazines, and television should also be applied to the Internet. The reason for such necessity is that it is impossible to control who is actually accessing such web sites. Following this reason, Cleaver's main claim in the article is that children can access pornographic web sites on the Internet. This claim is clearly stated by Cleaver in the fourth paragraph of her essay: "When considering what is in the public interest, we must consider the whole public, including children, as individual participants in this new medium" (460). After that her following paragraphs give examples and explanations that support the necessity of a government regulation on Internet. Such examples and explanations were very effective in order to support her claim. They made a fundamental relationship between the author's claim and the real facts that support it, helping people realize such danger by thinking about their own experience.
The article starts with several examples of what can actually happen to Internet users when somebody gets free access to private information in their computers and also how unprotected children are when using free Internet programs. Those examples are crucial for the readers' understanding of the importance of a regulation in dealing with web sites, and they leave an opening for the subject to be exposed by the writer.
In fact, children's free access to pornographic web sites and the lack of protection offered in chatting web sites are realities that the society as whole should care a lot about. Both subjects are very well supported by Cleaver.
Cited: Cleaver, Cathleen A. "The Internet: A Clear and Present Danger?" The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers. 6th ed. Stephen Reid. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2003. 458-463.