Should Regulation for Internet Information Be Accepted?
According to the paper from Michael Lesk, it shows the tremendous number of 12,000 petabytes. This is the number of the information on the internet in the world. Besides, around 40% of the world population has an internet connection today and most of the purpose for the internet was to search various kinds of information. As there are so much information exposed to people in the internet and it is available in everywhere in the world, it seems that people are relying on the information on the internet. But, there are some questions. How are you using those information? Are you using the information in a desirable way? Think about it. You must have some difficulties to use information in the internet and even be influenced in a bad way. To prevent some disasters, Information must be regulated in the internet.
According to the web-site internet live stats, it can be seen that the number of the internet users has increased tenfold from 1999 to 2014. Most of these internet users may use the internet for finding information. It obviously seems that the information on the internet can give people a big effect. However, perceptions that considering and doubting internet information that it may not be useful all the time has been coming out from the past. The research from Flanagin and Miriam tried to compare internet information to other traditional media and also tried to found out what information was the most credible thing on the internet through several surveys and experiments. It showed that unlike most other mass media, the Web has few centralized information filters relative to the amount of information available . Although sites that parallel their traditional media counterparts, such as the New York Times Online , do have formal information gatekeepers, the most of the web sites do not. Also, web-based information also differs from information delivered through more traditional channels in the point that it is more prone to alteration, which can be difficult to detect. Web-based information, however, is easy to create and can appear credible, even when they are not. It seems that internet users could meet an bad result by inaccurate information that is easy to believe credible.
Also, as the undesirable contents are increasing, Anna Larkina, Senior Web Content Analyst at Kaspersky Lab indicates the problem and point out that solution is urgent.
“Besides unwanted content, the Internet brings with it other dangers no less damaging for children, for example cyber-bullying or cyber-trolling. Aggressors can exploit all possible channels of online interaction – including social networks, forums, chats and messengers – which when used together can cause victims untold mental suffering. Technically, the fight against cyber-trolling is not so simple, so Parental Control is not so effective against it. As a rule children are not able to cope with aggressors on their own; therefore, parents have an important role to play in the protection of children from cyber-bullying. Ideally, parents need to pay attention to their children’s Internet activity.”
In Singapore, already the internet regulation is applied. Singapore has the most highest internet penetration and even Singapore government promotes the internet for national development. For promoting a better environment of the internet, Singapore Broadcasting Authority(SBA) is responsible for the online censorship. SBA judged that internet has negative effects and according to the Minister of information, they are trying to keep Singapore's "backyard and front yard clean by sweeping daily." The SBA regulates Internet Service/Content Providers through the Class License Scheme and the Internet Code of Practice(prohibiting the materials under the set of limitations).
People go through many difficulties when using information in internet. If you are an internet user, you must have suffered once: making your internet slow, meeting so much information that makes you confusing are those. One of the examples that the experts indicated as a big problem when using internet is "Information Overload." Information overload is a phenomenon that there are too many information uploaded on the internet so that it takes too much time to access to the page. There are three bad effects of this phenomenon, found by several experiments. First, it can make people feel powerless and anxious, and this was proved by the researchers who found out that multi-taskers have more stress hormones. Second, it can make people less creative. According to the experiment from Havard Business school, if there is less interruptions while working, people will become more creative. Third, it will make workers' productivity lower. According to David Meyer of the University of Michigan, people who complete the same tasks in sequence are more productive. These bad influences of 'Information Overload' will not only make internet users not show their capacities, but also reduce the competence of individuals, coporations, and even country. If this situation is neglected, the problem will become more serious.
Also, there are many cases information is misused. Citing 'freedom of expression', the spread of the false personal information on the internet is prevailing so that lots of people are getting damaged by those information. Displayed examples will show how regulation is urgent:
Someone took one of his colleague's name and set up a Facebook. Some true and some false facts were on the site. Those facts and events seemed to be credible and this played havoc with his personal life and relationships. But Facebook company avoided the responsibility.This happened because of the lack of control. The false information updated by a hacker had to be regulated first, and the company had to take the responsibility of the spread of the false information. However, lack of the regulation and unmethodical system caused one person to have his life go bankrupt.
Case of Jimmy savile : Post-Savile, family men, often with lives of unblemished public success, have been suddenly traduced by anonymous, out-of-the-blue allegations from 20, 30 or 40 years ago. Because of completely unrelated media stories, about completely unrelated people, mainly completely unrelated circumstances, and unrelated crimes. Based on untested historical information, presumably without a scrap of forensics or contemporaneous medical examinations.This is the case of celebrity, Jimmy Savile, a popular British MC. After he suddenly met with rumor that he raped the children, of course, he lost his job and his reputation was damaged and according to one close to Savile, he couldn't be related with those rumors. There are many celebrities who are suffering from their false personal information on the internet as the online communication has been growing larger. In the case of Korea, those rumors that are called 'Jjirasi' state about many false scandals. Lots of Korean celebrities are stressed out from these rumors and the critics who attack them with no specific evidence. It can be frequently seen that they accuse people of spreading false information and even, we can see some celebrities selecting suicide. Of course, this can happen in the case of ordinary citizen. The false information with no evidence or reason should be regulated before the problem grows much bigger.
Lastly, prevailing violent information is another reason why the information on the internet should be regulated. The violent information is easily exposed to the people today and it is a moment that those information can grow into a violent behavior in people. For example, 'The Nuremburg Files', the web site which advocates the murder of abortion doctors, listed the names and addresses of the abortion doctors. This kind of information could provoke a reader to action, and could be a positive reinforcement for negative behavior. Fortunately, this web-site was sent to the U.S court and was close, but here is an example that violent information became a reality. The students, named Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris , walked into their high school and murdered 12 of their classmates, one teacher, and wounded 23, before killing themselves. These students ,who enjoyed the violent video game, once contacted with the website posting all of the negative information, including how to make pipe bombs. They also said that their purpose for murdering was to "kill and injure as many of you as I can", the words from one website posting. The violent information made the students more confusing between the game and the reality and it seems that the internet is to blame for the students' murdering. Moreover, one of the biggest reasons for the increase of sexual abuse is that internet users are exposed to unwanted sexual information, such as sexual solicitation, pornography, etc.
It seems to be reasonable that the information regulation is necessary in the internet, according to the reasons that I displayed, but many opponents mainly insist that it's a democratic society today, that guarantees freedom and their freedom of expression should be fully granted. They make a resistance when the information they use are regulated and cite that the Court has ruled that the right to receive information prohibits a government from restricting a person from receiving information that others may wish or may be willing to impart to her. These opponents, however, are just worrying about their advantage and shortsighted. Although the constitution over many of the world has specified the 'freedom of expression', it does not mean the government should leave the internet until the citizens become in danger. In other words, the government not only have to guarantee the citizens' right of freedom, but also have to protect the citizens from the danger and have the responsibility to make a proper environment for the internet user. Even the Special Rapporteur, expert appointed by the Human Rights Council, specifies on his 2000 annual report that internet needs to have some kinds of restriction "on the ground that control, regulation and denial of access is necessary to preserve the moral fabric and cultural identity of societies is paternalistic, and presume to protect people from themselves”. Of course, regulation doesn't mean that the internet users don't have any freedom to express on the internet. It is just said that regulation is necessary for better internet environment and peaceful society
Whether the internet information should be regulated has been an issue for a long period so for many people, regulation of it might not be an considerable topic. However, without people realizing it, internet has been pervading in their lives as the technology has reached to smartphones, tablet PCs, etc.,and has been influential beyond words. In this present, it seems necessary to check if modern people are receiving internet information in a desirable way. Through the research, it was possible to specify the problems that people just simply experience while using internet and find out the results when they are not regulated. Too much information on the internet, would not only make users feel stressed but also can degrade one's skill and even stop one country's development. Also, when the false personal information is spread, it'll have a large social effect and would make one's life go bankrupt. Furthermore, the violent information on the internet are likely to make so much crimes and make the society in a state of agitation. These would seem to be trite facts but it is true these trite facts are still happening in our society so frequently. People have to remind of the negative effects of prevailing internet information. From these three situations, the need of regulation on the internet is essential, for the prevention of much bigger disasters.
