Freedom of speech is our first amendment right, but has the internet allowed people to go too far? Although definitely not academic in nature I wanted to first draw your attention to a recent article by Chen (2012) on Gawker.com that covers what is commonly called the “dark net” or “dark web” (Chen, 2012). I’m not sure if I’m happy or disappointed that I haven’t heard about this level of anonymity before. I was disappointed because as an IT specialist I should have been aware; happy because I was blissfully unaware. Basically the article explains how the FBI could not do anything about a child pornography website because it was operating completely anonymously through the ‘dark net’ a fully anonymous side of the internet operating through the Tor browser (www.torproject.com). As our professor noted in his lecture, free speech varies from one culture to another.
Freedom of speech is a confusing thing, first off we do not want to eliminate anyone’s first amendment right, yet we want to protect the innocent from those promoting hate, discrimination, and pedophilia.
Dave
References
Chen, A., (2012, June 11). ‘Dark net’ kiddie porn website stymies FBI investigation. [Online Article]. Gawker: Digital Underground. Retrieved from http://gawker.com/5916994/dark-net-kiddie-porn-website-stymies-fbi-investigation
Disclaimer: This posting is based on original research by me for a discussion in my IT Ethics and Security (6205) class at St. Scholastica.
