Web Censorship: Governmental, 
Commercial and Parental Responsibilities

    It isn’t always the case that children become hapless victims of lewd material not intended for their eyes. Advertisers and marketers are all too eager to follow the “clickstream” of youngsters so that they may later target them with tailored advertisements. A 1996 complaint about this practice prompted the FTC’s Consumer Protection Bureau to take action. The FTC issued a statement declaring the “collection and sale of information from children without due disclosure and parental consent to be an ‘unfair practice’ under section 5 of the FTC Act” (www.privacyrights.org).

    All of the parental control tactics discussed above have their obvious limitations. Just as parents cannot expect to have absolute control of their children in the “real world”, they should not expect to have any more control in the cyber world; but perhaps that isn’t all bad. In their 1997 overturning of the Communications Decency Act, the Supreme Court stated that “Any content-based regulation of the Internet, no matter how benign the purpose, could burn the global village to roast the pig” (www.aclu.org). The ACLU cites this decision to make a case against any of the filtering software programs already discussed. I will use it to point out that any all-encompassing government bans on Internet content would not simply be a blatant violation of the First Amendment. It would also deprive parents of the opportunity, or more appropriately, the obligation to discuss with their children some of the bothersome things they encounter in cyberspace.     Just imagine the quality time that parent and child might spend together discussing advertising tactics and the “street smarts” of navigating the Web. Furthermore, children are bound to enjoy a greater sense of autonomy and trust when they realize that their parents care enough to take the time to empower them instead of simply shield them. Family therapist Carleton Kendrick echoes this sentiment: “When parents and children can challenge each other with a safety cushion of mutual respect and love, there is a greater probability that the child will evolve as an independent, responsible individual with a strong sense of self-esteem” (Bennett, 1998).

From the Flinstones to the Jetsons:
How Technology is Sprocketing the American Family into the New Millennium

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This project was produced for Psy 380, Social Psychology of Cyberspace, Spring 1999,  at Miami University.  All graphics in these pages are used with permission or under fair use guidelines, are in the public domain,  or were created by the authors.  Last revised: .   This document has been accessed   times since 1 May 1999.  Comments & Questions to R. Sherman