Censorship threats have become a regular feature of the American landscape. Perhaps the threats are the result of citizens’ growing awareness of both the global exploitation of children and of corporate “self-preservation.” In everything from advertising to corporate mergers, corporations have increased their power base exceptionally during the past several decades, and the attempt by commercial entities to control information has continued to increase proportionately. Children, however, appear to be forgotten as the battle rages, and the battle seems to be less about real values than it does about economics. Can we afford to allow corporate interests to surpass and eclipse those of our nation’s children?
What are parents to do? Educating children to respect the difference between right and wrong is a good starting point, but is it enough? Voicing concern about children and about censorship while participating in our schools, our neighborhoods, activist groups, and all those places that children first learn the operating mores of a society, will always be a better alternative than some technological panacea. The current state of affairs can best be described as government and corporations both struggling to determine what content adults and children alike should have a right to access.
Reactionary legislation, like the Communications Decency Act and its spawn, are as commonplace as they are predictable. However, government, citizens and the corporate sector will always try to control what they fear or do not understand. Similar fear-based reactions have occurred in the area of computer crime as well.
