Eastwood 1 James Eastwood Nicole Servino ENG 090 009 Position Paper December 3, 2011 Title On September 17,

1787, the founding fathers of the United States signed the Constitution of the United States the supreme law of the land. The Constitution organizes the countries government, such as, the three branches of the government, their roles, and defines their individual roles. The Constitution also defines the individual rights of the countries citizens in the first ten amendments known as the Bill of Rights. One amendment that is consistently debated and argued is the 1st Amendment. The first amendment states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; of abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." The intentions of the forefathers when writing the 1st Amendment have been heavily questioned and debated. Again, the United States government and it's citizens have started and will continue for months to come debating whether freedom of speech is an inherent right of the U.S. citizens, or if there are times that the Government should intervene and censor media that could be potentially harmful to the continuity of the government. Censorship in the United States is not a new topic. In 1798 president John Adams passed a bill that made it illegal to criticize a government official. (Head, Online) There have been years of censorship making books and movie themes illegal. Most recently, during the Super Bowl on February 1, 2004, during the halftime show a wardrobe

Eastwood 2 "malfunction" caused a portion of Janet Jackson's breast to be televised. Due to this malfunction the FCC stepped in and began to censor live television by requiring broadcast delays to censor potentially questionable or offensive words, speeches, and "malfunctions" from being broadcast again. Censorship is not new in the global environment either. For example, France censors the internet from racist and terrorist linked websites, China and Saudi Arabia also censors the internet and it's news that their citizens have access too. Chinese law censors approximately 100 websites to Western countries news sites, antiChina sites, and more. It also makes Internet Service Providers (ISP) not only responsible for blocking the website. Saudi Arabia government blocks sites that the government deems unsuitable for their citizens. The list of rules include blocking anything that contradicts legislation and/or it's religion Islam, anything against the government, and anything damaging to political figures. (Internet, Online) Although censorship has been a topic of debate for years, the United States still debates the betterment of the government or the rights of the citizens. On October 6, 2011, the Stop Online Piracy Act was introduced to Congress. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as, the Blacklist Bill would utilize domain name system filtering to cause infringing sites to disappear from the Internet. (Kain, Online) The domain name system filtering is the same technology used by China to censor information from it's citizens. The Protect IP Act was previously rejected by the U.S. Senate and will be re-submitted to Congress in conjunction with SOPA. Both of these submitted acts constitutionality are being hotly debated. If passed the internet user could find sites that are visited daily to be blocked, email providers may be forced to censor certain links that are sent or received, and links and content that are shared on social

Eastwood 3 networks would be carefully monitored and possibly censored. (Kain, Online) The bills would also require ISP's to also monitor online searches of their customers and if a violation is made the ISP would be required to block access to the website. The bill also allows the Attorney General to ban advertisers and third-party payment processing companies from doing business with websites that are in violation. (Rudkiewicz, Online) Although the bill was created to prevent loss of profits for the entertainment industry due to pirated copies of movies, music, books, etc, the bill is getting a lot of criticism due to the lack of limitations placed on the government should the bill pass. For anyone that has read George Orwell's 1984, the idea of the bill should sound familiar. As many of the bills opponents compare SOPA and the Protect IP Act to Big Brother in 1984. They warn that the passing of these bills could be the start of full government censorship within the United States. The freedoms that the 1st amendment provide to the U.S. citizens are paramount. Any potential infringement on the right to free, true information prevents the ability of the citizens to practice "free think" and form opinions on subjects that directly affect and indirectly affect their lives. Without the ability to "free think" citizens become pawns for the government and Big Brother becomes a reality as opposed to an idea in a fictional book. Recently citizens of the United States have begun practicing their right to stand-up against the government in protests like Occupy. Without the free flow of information citizens would not know the information needed to build their opinion and practice their right to congregate and protest. Works Cited Head, Tom. "History of Censorship in the United States - An Illustrated History of United States Censorship." Civil Liberties at About.com - Your Guide to Civil Liberties News and

Eastwood 4 Issues. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://civilliberty.about.com/od/freespeech/tp/History-ofCensorship.htm>. "Internet Censorship - Law & Policy around the World." Electronic Frontiers Australia.28 Mar. 2002. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens3.html>. Kain, E.D. "How Congress an the Entertainment Industry Plan to Kill the Internet and How Citizens, Reddit Users, and a Few Senators Are Fighting Back - Forbes." Information for the World's Business Leaders - Forbes.com. 28 Nov. 2011. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/11/28/how-congress-and-the-entertainmentindustry-plan-to-the-the-internet-an-how-citizens-reddit-users-and-a-few-senators-arefighting-back/>. Rudkiewicz, Mel. "The Corsair: The Internet and Its Looming Censorship. "The Corsair: The News Site of Santa Monica College. 02 Dec. 2011. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://www.thecorsaironline.com/opinion/2011/12/02/the-internet-an-its-loomingcensorsip-2/>.