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Thoughts On Censorship In Cyberspace
"The most stringent protection of free speech would
protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic ... The
question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances
and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will
bring about the substantive evils that
Congress has a right to prevent." - From Schenck v. United States, 1919
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935).
Censorship is the act of examining, estimating and (if deemed necessary),
excluding or limiting material (literature, video, audio and electronic data)
from public consumption, or from the view/use of minors. A "censor" (person) is
an authorized examiner of literature, plays, or other material, who may prohibit
what he considers morally or otherwise objectionable, based on some instituted
standard.
Any discussion of this issue must take into account that censorship always
implies some standard! The problem is, if I demand the power of censorship on
the basis of my standard (values, beliefs), some other citizen can claim the
same right, on the basis of entirely divergent standards. This will always be
the problem with government or institutional censorship, until everybody in the
government obeys the gospel and remains faithful to the teachings of Scripture!
And this problem needs to be kept in mind as the current discussion continues
regarding censorship in cyberspace.
"The 'Communications Decency Act,' now before Congress, would penalize anyone
using electronic telecommunication to harass, defame, or to spread obscenities.
So-called cyberporn continues to worry Christian leaders (see CT, Sept. 12,
1994, p. 42). And many Christian networks limit access to the Internet to
protect children from exposure to online pornography." {1995 Christianity Today,
Inc./CHRISTIANITY TODAY Magazines, COVER: Cyber Shock, Part 2}.
The editors of Expository Files share this concern, but we have no absolutely
just and perfect solution to this problem. We would like to provoke some thought
about the concept of censorship in cyberspace. Is it possible, the power of
censorship might be used to curtail more than obscenity? We are not suggesting
that cyberspace should be wide open and no censorship or law should prevail on
the Internet. But before we jump onto a bandwagon and make impulsive demands of
limiting materials, we would do well to consider how broad or deep any new law
might be applied.
The Potential Problem For EF
Since the inception of Expository Files in January of 1994, monthly downloads
have grown steadily. But what may be more significant, we enjoy a wide variety
of locations we never imagined. SYSOPS of religious bulletin boards at several
major universities have contacted us, asking if they can make EF available in
their electronic library. A number of "ministries" operated by people with
religious interests make the magazine available. And, of course, we are located
on
commercial online services like AOL and CompuServe. There are links to EF
locations now on several homepage sites on the WWW. Mark Copeland
has helped to distribute EF from the first issue. So, not only have actual
downloads on AOL and CompuServe increased, we are located out on the Internet at
various places. That means, when we count two or three hundred monthly downloads
we know about, there may be four or five times that figure we are unable to
tabulate.
Our concern is, if the power of censorship is given into the hands of the
government, to control objectionable literature, religious publications like EF
may also suffer. Though it may seem strange and distasteful to us, just as bold
deviant sex is objectionable to us, teaching from the Bible is objectionable
to others. This doesn't mean we would like to dismiss all talk of censorship
laws in the electronic world. But we must exercise care that the solution
doesn't become worse than the problem.
Discernment at the first level of contact
Is there some way we can promote the concept of DISCERNMENT OR CENSORSHIP AT THE
FIRST LEVEL OF CONTACT? As parents, instead of
depending upon the government to censor and filter material for us, shouldn't we
assume that responsibility and encourage others to do the same?
By Warren E. Berkley & Jon W. Quinn
The Front Page
From Expository Files 2.9; September 1995
