Thesis: The United States government must stop trying to reduce privacy and censorship on the Internet, because it limits fair free speech, creates distrust of the government, and wastes resources that would be better spent on other types Law Enforcement The US government must stop making laws that aim to reduce online privacy and give the government the power to effectively censor the Internet. The authors of these bills would like to say that they will allow the government to better protect itself from cyber attacks and preserve intellectual property. But what they don't say is that the laws lack some protection of privacy and civil liberties. These are rights that people in this country have begun to take for granted, while on the other side of the world people continue to give their lives in hopes of giving their children freedom. In order to protect free speech and the right to privacy, the government must stop trying to pass legislation that allows it to undermine these rights under the guise of national security. The U.S. government must stop trying to reduce privacy and censorship on the Internet because it limits free speech, creates distrust of the government, and wastes resources that would be better spent on other types of law enforcement. and communication, the Internet must be protected from censorship because it limits freedom of speech. The Internet is the key to free speech because it allows people to share information with anyone anywhere on the planet. It allows individuals to find and disseminate information, not who owns the most printing presses. This is one of the reasons why it is so dangerous... middle of paper... making our own choices is a fundamental part of America's cultural identity; what one person finds offensive may not be the least bit objectionable to another. In the case of a regulated Internet, who would have the final say on web content and its level of offensiveness? While there are certainly dangers lurking in the darkest corners of the Internet, the vast reserves of knowledge that can be accessed far outweigh them. Changing the functionality of the web could make it more difficult to access educational material in an effort to censor more controversial content. Creating a regulated Internet would require an enormous amount of manpower dedicated solely to surveillance. When added to the amount of money that would have to be spent to create filters and sift through the almost infinite amount of information available, it would be staggering.