Censorship is no new idea to people, it has been around for many years, but as new technology is developed the idea of what can be censored and to what degree comes into question. Since Bill Clinton first signed the Communication Decency Act there has been much debate on whether the U.S. federal government has the right and/or the responsibility to censor the material on the internet (Wallace 3-5). In the U.S. we balance the idea that people have the freedom to speech as the first amendment says, and the idea that things such as racist hate speech aren’t appropriate to either say or to read (Hewett 6). COPA, a follow-up to CDA was the Child Online Protection Act in 1998. This act was made so that it could limit people’s usage on the internet, most aiming at children. Unfortunately it would also make it so many adults couldn’t get to what they wanted to see and would impose cost on people wanting to post things online (COPA 7-10). This act which could some believe will violate the first amendment was passed by Congress and signed into Law in October of 1998 (COPA 8).

Thesis statement:
Should the United States Federal Government be able to censor the internet because children can access it, it can be used for illegal activities, and it can contain indecent and offensive speech or should the federal government not censor the internet because of the first amendment, the inaccuracy of blocking programs, and how the internet is treated compared to speech or text?