| Introduction
Setting
the Stage: Questions to Think About
Today,
text messaging, chat rooms, blogs, and e-zines spew out voluminous
amounts of information, much inaccurate, some slanderous. Added
to this is the huge popularity of social-networking resulting
in over 34 million members on MySpace most of which are adolescents,
teenagers, and young adults.
Does
the Internet just create a new world of free speech or does it
pose problems that call for limits on such freedom?
Should
Internet web sites filter what is posted?
Who
should be held accountable for material that may be considered
offensive, indecent, or slanderous that is placed on a Internet
web site?
Introduction
In
the fast changing world of communication technology, today’s
teenagers are being bombarded by new tools for spreading information
and opinions that were not even imagined when the First Amendment
was ratified in 1791. Today, text messaging, chat rooms, blogs,
and e-zines spew out voluminous amounts of information, much inaccurate,
some slanderous. Added to this is the huge popularity of social-networking
resulting in over 34 million members on MySpace most of which
are adolescents, teenagers, and young adults. Many ethical questions
arise from this phenomenon.
Educational
Objectives
•
The student will better understand the ethical issues involved
protecting an individual’s freedom of speech.
• The student will reflect on protection and possible abuse
when these rights to freedom of speech are extended to the Internet.
• The students will examine cross-cultural implications
based on the international nature of the Internet focusing on
the reality that freedom of speech differs significantly across
national boundaries.
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