Human Nature In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding And...

Looking back through the history of humankind, there is an eminent pattern of primitive and truculent behaviour. William Golding and Joseph Conrad recognised this basic nature of humanity and portrayed it in their novels, Lord of the Flies and Heart of Darkness. The environmental and circumstantial influence on one’s human nature is thought to have the greatest impact, as the isolation from civilisation manumits the evil inside. Human nature, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is â€Å"the general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioural traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans.† These novels exemplify the concept of this behaviour to show how the savage nature of a person is brought to light by the influence of†¦show more content†¦For the boys, the loss of clothing is seen as an adaptation to their environment, however, the placing of this transition at the beginning of the hunting, suggests the beginning of the savagery. Through this, we are reminded of humanity’s capacity for evil and how man-made moral systems are superficial. Piggy, is represented as the voice of reason, when he cleans his glasses it means that his line of logic and nature blur. His loss of sight, after having his glasses stolen represents the fall of reason. The change in Piggy’s attitude, due to the loss of sight, represents the shift of power from the reign of reason to the reign of savagery. It is the boys’ descent from civilisation into savagery that highlights that it is the eyes of civilization that keeps humanity’s darkness in check, but when we are surrounded by the silent whisper of the wilderness, we lose ourselves to the darkness. Joseph Conrad, in Heart of Darkness, explores the concept that all behaviour and choices and the need and desire of the individual lie at the very core of their human nature. Civilisation is a construct that is designed to serve as a means of control of this core. Marlow, whose thoughts and attitudes shape the readers perception of the story, has a revelationShow MoreRelatedComparing The Novel Lord Of The Flies And Heart Of Darkness2292 Words   |  10 PagesTopic: Comparing behavior of two main characters from two different books Introduction There are both similarities and differences between the protagonists of the Novels Lord of the Flies† (Golding) and â€Å"Heart of Darkness† (Conrad). In each case we have the supposedly civilized individual(s) degenerating into savagery. As well, other characters are involved and highly influenced by the protagonist(s). This report discusses these two books and what can be observed from comparing works of essentiallyRead MoreA Comparison of Lord of the Flies by William Golding to Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad1602 Words   |  7 PagesComparison of Lord of the Flies by William Golding to Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Works Cited Missing I compared the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding to Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The novelsRead MoreComparing The Novels Lord Of The Flies And Heart Of Darkness4107 Words   |  17 PagesThere are both similarities and differences between the protagonists of the Novels Lord of the Flies† (Golding) and â€Å"Heart of Darkness† (Conrad). In each case we have the supposedly civilized individual(s) degenerating into savagery. As well, other characters are involved and highly influenced by the protagonist(s). This report discusses these two books and what can be observed from comparing works of essentially different world perspectives – one was published in 1902 and the other in 1954Read MoreCritical Analysis Of Heart Of Darkness1107 Words   |  5 PagesSteven Serrano Ms.Leblanc AP Lit 2 25 September 2017   Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   Heart of Darkness Inner evil   Ã‚  Ã‚   Heart of Darkness, a novel written by Joseph Conrad, tells the story of a character named Marlow, who is recalling his journey to Africa down the Congo River to a group of seamen on a boat. Joseph Conrad’s characters are constructed around the ideas that were present in society when the novel was written. Kurtz and Marlow are created to be naive and to allow action to be the truest medium to characterizeRead MoreHuman Nature And The Desire For Superiority1565 Words   |  7 PagesHolly Donohoe Period B2 Human Nature and the Desire for Superiority It’s no doubt that superiority and power has played a huge role in the past present and will in the future. Throughout American Literature, it is a dominant trait in many protagonists and especially antagonists. The desirable trait has caused many conflicts and hardship and in turn, has led to the demise of a civilizations in the past. In the film Apocalypse Now, the novella the Heart of Darkness, and the poem The Hollow Men, itRead MoreModern English Literature3556 Words   |  15 Pagessocial injustice in Victorian society and exalted nature, beauty, and love. His style was noted for its charm, delicacy, and descriptive detail. * H.G. WELLS He wrote science fiction like the time machine. He also wrote social and political satires criticizing the middle class life of England. A good example is Tono-Bunhichaywhich attacks commercial advertsing. * JOSEPH CONRAD He wrote remarkable novels as the Nigger of the Narcissus and Lord Jim where he depicts characters beset by obsessions

Essay about Arthurian Features in That Hideous Strength

Arthurian Features in That Hideous Strength Tales change with every teller. Features may be added or subtracted, stories may be broken apart or combined. Often the story-teller will adapt the tale for his own purposes to emphasize some theme of his own. C. S. Lewis uses and modifies older sources in many ways in his novel That Hideous Strength, incorporating themes and portions of Arthurian literature to add color and emphasize the subjects of his plot. Lewis includes many direct references to older Arthurian literature in his novel. The leader of his group of heroes is the former philogist Ransom, at first known as Mr. Fisher-King, who has a wounded foot. The name and the wound are obvious reminders of†¦show more content†¦As Cecil Dimble searches for Merlin in the woods, he recalls the ancient houses whose mortar had been ritually mixed with babies blood (Lewis, p. 233), reminding readers about the early stories of Vortigerns vanishing tower and the druids plot to destroy the young Merlin by having his blood spread on the foundation. When Ransoms friendly bear, Mr. Bultitude, destroys the awful severed head through which the leaders of the N.I.C.E. (National Institute of Controlled Experiments) receive instructions from the evil eldils, or spirits, Lewis seems to be referring to Arthurs dream in Geoffreys Historia where a bear and a dragon fight together. There the bear is slain, but here he is victorious against the supe rnatural beast he fights against. Dreams have been important in much of Arthurian literature, from the Historia of Geoffrey of Monmouth to Waces Brut and the alliterative and stanzaic Morte Arthures. In those works, a vivid dream came to Arthur at some crucial point or points, whether on the way to Gaul, in his camp at Rome, or in England before his battle with Mordred. In That Hideous Strength, dreams appear not just at important moments, but regularly. Jane Studdock discovers herself to be a seer, able to dream of real events either happening or about to happen, and thus supplies important information to the Pendragon and his companions. Her dreams are more realistic and informative thanShow MoreRelatedEssay about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight1732 Words   |  7 PagesSir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem written during the medieval period about the Arthurian legend. Although the author is anonymous, it is apparent that the dialect of Sir Gawain points to an origin in provincial England, and it represents the cultural centers which remote from the royal court at London where Geoffrey Chaucer spent his life (Norton, 200). This poem is considered one of the best works of Middle English literature. One reason is that theRead MoreFigurative Language and the Canterbury Tales13472 Words   |  54 Pagesthe author, poet, or playwright creating a work. 5. anaphora: repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginnings of successive clauses. †¢ The Lord sits above the water floods. The Lord remains a King forever. The Lord shall give strength to his people. The lord shall give his people the blessings of peace. -Ps. 29 †¢ â€Å"Let us march to the realization of the American dream. Let us march on segregated housing. Let us march on segregated schools. Let us march on poverty. Let us march

Animal Farm vs the Russian Revolution Free Essays

string(37) " because the society is not perfect\." As people are burdened with their social and economic situations, they tend to think that the government has no interest in responding to their legitimate complaints. Sooner or later, the only way to rectify their complaints is to revolt. The allegory Animal Farm, by George Owell is a great example of the rebellion between the animals and humans. We will write a custom essay sample on Animal Farm vs the Russian Revolution or any similar topic only for you Order Now The events in Animal Farm symbolize the Russian Revolution of the1900s to 1950s. Although many people were involved in the Russian Revolution, there were five instrumental men including Joseph Stalin, who was illustrated as Napoleon in Animal Farm. The Russian Revolution was one of the most important revolutions; it was a revolution against economic oppression. The Russian Revolution was all began by the idea of the historian and revolutionary, Karl Marx. He was the most influential political philosopher of the 19th century (â€Å"The History Guide†, par. 1). Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto, it was published in 1848 (â€Å"The History Guide†, par. 6). His idea of communism explained that each individual person would work to endorse the country and not just for self gain. Marx was the one that inspired Russian radicals who opposed tsarist rule (Strickler 61). Through out his life, people did not acknowledge his social, economic and political ideas  until his death in 1884(â€Å"The History Guide†, par. 1). The Russian history started badly after the death of Czar Alexander III in 1894. Nicholas II was then became the new czar. He was not prepared to rule; he was afraid of what’s going to happen to him and Russia (Strickler 70). Nicholas II was not attentive in sharing his power, but people were calling this to occur when he came in throne. Furthermore, he was physically weak, senseless, and he was a horrendous judge of people (â€Å"Background of†, par 5). During his first ten years of Nicholas II’s ruling; peasants protested their poverty, factory workers struck against the brutal working conditions, and people demanded a better government (Strickler 70). At the same time, Russia was in a war with Japan, for control over Korea and Manchuria in northern China. In February 1904, the Japanese defeated the Russians. By the end of 1904 people realized without a doubt, they were going to lose the war. After the defeats by Japan, things changed. â€Å"People could no long tolerate their desperate living conditions† (Strickler 71). In January 1905,  thousands of Russians marched in St. Petersburg to deliver a petition. â€Å"They called for an eight-hour workday and for an increase in wages† (Strickler 71). As the broad crowd assembled, the government startled. They sent thousands of troops around the city. On Sunday, January 22, 1905, the troops and the protesters met; their meeting soon became destructive. As result, thousands of people died in what became known as â€Å"Bloody Sunday†. Strikes continued to take place; it was all over the country. Workers were on strikes, railways were paralyzed, and universities were taken down (Strickler 71). In response to the protests; Nicholas agreed and published the â€Å"October Manifesto†. It granted freedom of conscience, speech, association, and promise people would not be imprison without trial (â€Å"Tsar Nicholas II†, par. 16). Nicholas II and his government avoided a revolution by creating a Duma. Even though the revolution was avoided, but people still drive for radical changes (â€Å"Russo-Japanese†, par. 4). In 1914, World War I broke out in Europe. The Russians was unprepared; they were lacked of leadership, food supplies, and weapons (Strickler 77). As more and more Russians got killed, supports for the war vanished. Things were getting worse; transportation system was tied up and there was not enough food for the population. As result price went high up (Strickler 78). By March 15, 1917 Czar Nicholas II faced widespread oppositions, revolts, and lacking military supports (Strickler 79). Therefore, Nicholas II was abdicated. After Nicholas II abdicated, Russia was ruled by a temporary government led by Aleksandr Kerensky (Strickler 80). Unfortunately, he was overthrown on November 7, 1917 by a political group called Bolsheviks (Strickler 79). The leader of the Bolsheviks was Vladimir Lenin. He followed Marx’s ideas of communism. Lenin quickly solved the problems facing Russia. Within only a year, the new government ended the World War I. Lands were returned to peasants and workers had the power to run their factories (Strickler 80). Later, the Bolsheviks became known as the Reds. Their rivals were the Whites, a variety of groups by their opposition to the Bolsheviks (Strickler 80). France, United States, and Great Britain were afraid of the spread of communism, so they supported the Whites. To help overthrow the Bolsheviks, Japan and United States sent troops to invade Russia from the east. In spite of these foreign troops, the Reds won the war (Strickler, 81). In 1922, Russia and their neighbors formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Soviet Union (Strickler, 81). After Lenin’s death in 1924, there was a power struggle between Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. Stalin wanted to continue establishing the power of the Communist Party through out the country for the next twenty years. On the other hand, Trotsky wanted to build weapons to resist the West because they were trying to destroy Communism (â€Å"The Death of Lenin†, par. ). In august 1917, Trotsky was the member of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik, which had Lenin as a quixotic leader. Trotsky became second in command after Lenin (â€Å"Trotsky†, par1). He was assigned People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs in 1918(â€Å"Trotsky†, par2). Trotsky also managed the founding of the Red Army (â€Å"Trotsky†, par1). Unfortunately, after the death of Lenin, Joseph Stalin prevailed and Trotsky was exiled to Mexico (Trueman, par5-6). Under the power of Stalin, â€Å"Workers had little real power to control their workplaces. The government did not allow for civil rights† (Strickler 81). Stalin continued his ruling until his death in 1953 (Strickler 82). Through out the Russian revolutions, Marx’s idea influenced many revolutionists to use his ideas of communism to lead a revolution that changed the history of Russia. The idea of communism did not work because the society is not perfect. You read "Animal Farm vs the Russian Revolution" in category "Papers" Everybody has his or her own way of living; they are different individuals. Joseph Stalin was one of the important roles in the Russian Revolution after the death of Lenin in 1924 (Strickler 81). Stalin was the second leader of the Soviet Union (â€Å"Joseph Stalin†, par1). His real name was Joseph Vissarionovich Djugashvili. When he was young he was already interested in politics (Gibson, 15). From that moment, he was associated with the political underground in the Caucasus. He soon followed Vladimir Lenin. Stalin’s experience made him useful in the Bolshevik party (â€Å"Joseph Stalin†, par3). After Lenin’s death, Stalin had a great opportunity to take his claim to become the leader of Communist Party. Stalin’s effort to bend the country to his conviction caused gargantuan suffering. Six million people die during the famine in the 1920s and 1930s. Many also died from hard labor. He also executed everyone that opposed him (Strickler 82). The ruling body of the Communist Party; Zinoviev and Kamenev joined force with Stalin against Trotsky (Gibson 26). In 1926, Trotsky was expelled from the Politburo, the ruling body of the communist Party. With Trotsky gone, he no longer need of Kamenev and Zinoviev. In order to get rid of them, he allied himself with Bukharin, Rykov, and Tomsky (Gibson, 26). Little by little, all of his opponents were dead and Stalin had the power over Russia. By 1930s eight million political opponents were arrested and eight hundred was executed (Strickler 82). In total, Stalin was responsible for the death of forty million people within the borders of the Soviet Union (â€Å"Joseph Stalin†, par. 7). In 1928, Stalin launched the first Five Year Plan; it was created to manufacture the USSR in the shortest time and, in the process, to precipitate the collectivization of farms (Gibson, 28). The plan was put in action brutally; it was aimed to make USSR self-sufficient. Stalin’s first Five Year Plan was completed by 1933. His second five year Plan (1933-1938) continued and expanded the first (Gibson 36). Stalin’s third Five year Plan was interrupted by the World War II. It was known as the bloodiest war in human history. Great Britain, France, and the United States joined Stalin to fight against Germany, Italy, and Japan. Through out the war, forty million people died. Of these, half were Soviet citizens (Strickler 82). Following World War II, Stalin continued his ruthless control over the Soviet Union until his death on March 5, 1953(â€Å"Joseph Stalin†, par. 7). Although he was a heartless ruler, he did bring consequential economic progress to Russia during the 1920s and1930s. During those years, the Soviet Union was becoming a powerful, industrialize country. The education, health, and equality for women were much better (Strickler 82). Stalin did a lot to help Russia but murdered millions and millions in pursuit of his dictatorship. â€Å"To his calloused heart, a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic† (Nosoro 10). The pig – Napoleon in Animal Farm is a reflection of Joseph Stalin. In the book, Owell described Napoleon as a tyrant. Napoleon enjoyed his luxury life with the other pigs by abusing the power that he’s given to hypnotize the animals; he made them do all the works. The animals worked relentlessly  on his windmill plan and they hardly get any food. While Napoleon stayed in his farm house and enjoying all the apples and milk alone (Owell 73, 85). Just like Napoleon, Stalin had all the power to himself and living in a blissful live while the peasants suffered. Many people endured the bad working conditions and famine during Stalin’s Five Year Plan (Gibson 53). Both Napoleon and Stalin got their way often. After Lenin’s death, Stalin successfully exiled Trotsky to Mexico and had the power of Russia in his hand. Similarly, Napoleon managed to get Snowball out of farm and he became the leader of Animal Farm (Orwell 68). Even after when Snowball was off the farm; Napoleon continued to blame on him when things on the farm went wrong. He blamed on Snowball when the wind knocked down the windmill that they built (Orwell 82). In Stalin’s situation, he evoked Trotsky as a threat after he murdered him (Gibson, 30). Although Napoleon and Stalin were clever, both were lousy speakers. Since Napoleon was not a good speaker, he used Squealer as his mouthpiece. Squealer is a good mouth pig. He knows how to twist and change things around and makes it sound good. â€Å"â€Å"I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra labor upon himself. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is pleasure! On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility†, said Squealer† (Orwell 69). The purpose of it was to make Napoleon look good. Indeed, like Napoleon, Stalin also has his own resource. His resource was the propagandas; it’s documentaries and films that made him look like a hero and a father to the country. Although Owell described Napoleon based on Stalin, but there are a few differences between them. Before Stalin becomes the dictator of Russia, he took many steps to get there. He allied with the Politburo (the ruling body Communist) to get rid of one and another (Gibson 23, 26). Unlike Napoleon; whose became the leader of the Animal Farm right after he ran Snowball off the farm. In the Russian Revolution History, Stalin exiled Trotsky and murdered him because he was afraid that he might come back and overthrown him (Gibson 23). It was never mentioned in the allegory that Stalin killed Snowball. Throughout the Russian Revolution and Animal Farm, both Napoleon and Stalin weren’t able to achieve the goal of communism or equality. George Orwell created Napoleon under Stalin’s image, despite that fact that everyone is not exactly the same. George Orwell wrote Animal Farm, simply to explain the connection between the live of the animals on the farm and the Russian Revolution. The allegory mainly target Joseph Stalin. Through out the Russian revolution, Stalin tried to make Russia a better country, but failed. He abolished the idea of communism and ruled his country as a tyrant. If Stalin didn’t kill Trotsky, Trotsky might’ve been the leader of Russia. With Trotsky’s warm heart and intelligent Russia would’ve been better. Stalin may look good on the outside, but he truly is hypocrite. Works Cited â€Å"Background of the Russian Revolution. † Saskschools. ca. World War One and the Destruction of the Old Order. 11 March 2011 Gibson, Micheal. Russia Under Stalin. England: Wayland, 1972 â€Å"Joseph Stalin. † Jewishvirtuallibrary. org. 11 March 2011 â€Å"Karl Marx and the Theory of Communism. † Saskschools. ca. World War One and the Destruction of the Old Order. 12 March 2011 Nosotro, Rit. â€Å"Brutal ruler of communist Russia. † Hyperhistory. net 9 October 2010. 12 March 2011 Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Penguin Group, 1946 â€Å"Russo-Japanese War and the Revolution of 1905. † Saskschools. ca. World War One and the Destruction of the Old Order. 12 March 2011 Strickler, James. Russia of the Tsars. California: Luccent Books, 1998 â€Å"The Death of Lenin and the Problem of a Replacement. † Saskschools. ca. World War One and the Destruction of the Old Order. 12 March 2011 Nguyen 8 ; http://www. saskschools. ca/curr_content/history20/unit1/sec6_11. html; â€Å"The History Guide: Karl Marx. † Historyguide. org 30 January 2008. 12 March 2011 â€Å"Trotsky. † Trotsky. net. 11 March 2011 Trueman, Chris. â€Å"Leon Trotsky. † Historylearningsite. co. uk. 12 March 2011 â€Å"Tsar Nicholas II: Biography. † Spartacus. schoolnet. co. uk. 11 March 2011 How to cite Animal Farm vs the Russian Revolution, Papers

CONTENT ON THE INTERNET FREE OR FETTERED Essay Example For Students

CONTENT ON THE INTERNET: FREE OR FETTERED? Essay Focus:This paper examines the nature of the problem caused by potentially offensive material on the Internet and summarizes current efforts to regulate content, along with reactions to those efforts. 1. Introduction: what is the problem?Earlier last year, anyone could have been forgiven for believing that the world had just discovered the Internet, and that it had, in the process, concluded that the Internet was awash with pornographic images, drugs information and general threats to the safety and good order of society. What was worse was that nobody appeared to be in charge of this new phenomenon: indeed, it was proudly proclaimed that no-one owns the Internet, except perhaps the millions of people throughout the world who contribute to it in various ways. This is seen in many quarters as its major benefit freely available information from numerous sources but it has also come rapidly to be regarded in some quarters as its most worrying feature. Everyone with access to the required technology is free to make material available via the Internet, and there appears to be no control over that material and so the cyberporn debate, amongst others, began on the WWW, in the media, an d in legislatures. As a result, suggestions have appeared which link the use of the Internet with the Oklahoma bombing, extremist political groups, the manufacture of ecstasy and other drugs, and with the ready availability of pornographic images and these are all problems which public libraries and schools are concerned about as they move towards providing access to the Internet. There were also fears that it was too easy to find this material inadvertently (as distinct from consciously searching it out): again it was felt that there was a threat to the innocent and the unwary, although an investigation, reported in the Guardian newspaper, estimated (Holderness, 1995) that the odds against finding a random pornographic image thus seem to be worse than 70,000:1. Given that a well-known British broadsheet newspaper recently listed the URL of a World Wide Web (WWW) site which included links to eight so-called top shelf magazines, inadvertent discovery can be regarded as a problem, although some commentators have denied this, saying that it requires effort to find these sites and to download images and so on. Inadvertent retrieval of offensive material is also less likely due to the increasing use of warnings placed at the start of WWW pages: my recent research suggests that the number of these warning signs appears to have grown considerably of 81 sites I investigated, 45% now have a warning notice which, amongst other things, requires users to be over the age of either 18 or 21. In some cases, users are required first to register by quoting a credit card number: this is not used to charge for access, simply to verify age, and a few sites have now begun to quote the Communications Decency Act as a reason for requiring proof of age. !Few if an y of the other sites actively prevent under-age users from accessing the pages, but at least there is no excuse for not knowing what the site contains. Of course, many would argue that such warnings will only serve to encourage access, especially by children and young people. It is not particularly difficult to find this material if one is consciously looking. The adult bulletin board systems advertise freely in many magazines, including some of the now well-established journals for the Internet, while telephone numbers of BBS and network addresses circulate freely in the newsgroups. On the WWW, the various search engines will retrieve Web pages with little difficulty, using keywords in sophisticated search strategies. Professor Harold Thimbleby suggested (Thimbleby 1995) at last years British Association meeting in Newcastle that 47% of the 11,000 most often repeated searches were pornographic, though it is very important to note that this does not indicate what proportion of the total number of searches this represents: unfortunately, Lycos will not release this information, so it is impossible to judge the relative extent of such searches (Whitney, 1996). Thus, enter the word sex on the Lycos search engine (which indexes over 130 million unique URLs, or Internet addresses) and you will told that there are 30,976 documents containing that term. However, of the first 50 URLs listed, 27 (54%) appeared not to contain pornographic images, but were instead either serious discussions of sexual matters, duplicate entries of one site, lists of newsgroups on the Internet, etc. Similarly, a search on drugs found 92% of the first 50 sites (17,504 were found) could not be considered as actively encouraging drug use, and of the first 50 documents listed under explosives, 60% stemmed from organizations with a legitimate interest in explosives such as professional institutions, etc. , although a number of the remaining sites were parts of The Terrorists Handbook, which does give recipes for bomb-making. The problem of accurately calculating the relative volume of potentially offensive material has confused the Internet since its growth first became noticeable. It is too easy to generate figures and then to use generalizations and apply them to the whole of the Internet to create the wrong impression, but it is often this false perception which generates so much concern in parents and legislators. This was a major criticism of the study by Marty Rimm last year which featured in Time Magazine , and was also used by US senators pushing through the Communications Decency Bill. Rimms study (Rimm, 1995) was interpreted by US Senators as proving that 83.5% of the Internet consisted of pornographic images, when in fact he only analyzed the adult sites and then extended his conclusion to the entire Internet. Examining only adult sites, it was hardly surprising that he could claim to have found a large percentage of such images. A more accurate figure has been calculated by Hoffman a!nd Novak , who point out that less than one-half of 1% (3% of 11%) of the messages on the Internet are associated with newsgroups that contain pornographic imagery. (Hoffman and Novak, 1995). The point appears to be that, while this material is available over the Internet, it is not there in the quantities which some people fear, though it is very difficult to change entrenched attitudes. A good friend who is a school librarian, told me recently that she is being given every encouragement to provide Internet access. Her first question was, But how do I stop the pupils finding all the pornography?. Once one page with the sought after material has been found, it is usually possible to link from that page to others on the same theme, just as one can follow citations in a journal article. Some WWW pages are simply that: links to other related pages, like bibliographies of their subject. The conclusion is that material which could give offense and which legislators in the UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Germany and New Zealand (to name but some of the countries actively investigating Internet content) are concerned about is there, but not in the quantities which some branches of the popular media would have us think. Having said that, it does appear that a lot of use is made of these sites, especially those providing the alleged pornographic images, though last year. The Guardian also found that the pornographic newsgroups generated much less traffic than, say a group listing job opportunities (Holderness, 1995). In a recent analysis, I found a high of 58,198 accesses per day and a low of 198 for 12 randomly chosen sites: the average daily figure for these sites was 14,578 accesses. Again, this figure must be treated cautiously, as it may not, in every case, represent the number of individuals accessing the site, but rather the number of times text or an image was!downlo aded: some accesses may result in multiple downloads. Some sites claim accesses far in excess of this: one million plus in a few months has been seen. This high level of demand is also a contributory factor in the rapid turnover of sites, which close down or are closed down regularly. The most frequent reason for closure is sheer overload on the server involved, which causes problems for other users: 41% of sites closed down in the course of one investigation and the single most frequently cited reason (58% of cases) was system overload. Concern over legal action or breaches of acceptable use policy tend to be less frequently cited as reasons for closure. The JANET Acceptable use policy in the UK already prohibits the use of JANET for a range of materials, including the obscene, libel and copyright infringement (UKERNA, 1995). We might also note that such sites have a relatively short life-span: 87% had been closed down within 6 months of start-up and 43% lasted only 2 months or less. So far, we have considered Internet access to the material which has caused most reported concern to various groups, but if we are considering the question of free or fettered access to networked resources, we might also look at a wide range of material which could be subject to criticism on completely different grounds, if only because of the rapidly increasing demands being placed on Internet bandwidth. Given that the original purpose of the Internet was academic research, why should such recreational material as home pages for football clubs, popular music groups, television or a students interests and hobbies be allowed space on servers? Somewhere on the Internet, Im told, is a list of one young mans CD collection: is this a sensible use of the resources? In the United States at least, the continuation of such sites (as well those containing the potentially more offensive material) are justified under the First Amendment, and they are symptomatic of the change in the na!ture of t he Internet from academic research tool to multi-media information resource. I want simply to raise the question here because it is part of the wider question of Internet regulation some universities do not permit students to maintain their own home pages because it is an inappropriate use of school resources. A further step in this direction has been taken by one British university which logs the thirty most popular URLs each week. The resulting list is examined and access to any sites which contravene user regulations may be blocked. This includes those sites which it is felt constitute a waste of university computing resources, and deliberate or reckless overloading of access links or of switching equipment is prohibited under the UKERNA JANET Acceptable use policy. So, to summarize this first part, we can say that there is material available over the Internet which causes concern in some quarters, either because of its content or because it is seen as a less than appropriate use of computing resources. We can also note that some degree of regulation is already in effect, especially in the university sector, though increasingly service providers are taking note of the problem. CompuServe, a major Internet provider, announced that it was blocking access to some 200 newsgroups, following complaints from the German Government about obscene materials which were being accessed from Germany. CompuServe say that there is no way in which they can selectively prevent access by users in one country, so their action applies to all CompuServe users. In addition, the German Land of Baden-Wrttemburg is investigating Deutsche Telekom to see if it can be considered as assisting in the dissemination of the views of a US-based neo-Nazi (Schofield, 1996)!. Comparing the two plays Essay4. How can we control the Internet?With that in mind, let us turn to ways in which some form of control can be exercised over the material which is currently found on the Internet. 4.1 Self-regulationThe most time-honored method is that of self-regulation: individuals or systems managers and administrators control what is made available from the systems under their control. It is they who have been responsible for most of the closures of sites which I mentioned earlier, primarily because of the load such sites place on the server, or because the material does not accord with an acceptable use policy. Many system administrators admit, however, that it is technically very difficult to control which sites their users access (as distinct from the material which users place online), though acceptable use policies are similarly relevant and there is some evidence of various monitoring procedures (which are made known to users) to ensure that use policies are adhered to. It would appear from a 1992 study, however, that obscene or harassing material is not the primary concern of systems administrators: the most frequently occurring incidents are virus infection and the printing o!f non-academic materials on university-owned printers (Stager, 1992). Complaints that, for example, the contents of BBS were obscene were mentioned by less than one third of the computer centre directors in this survey. There is also, as Stager has pointed out, a potential source of confusion in the minds of computer centre directors. More than two-thirds of those asked agreed that university-operated bulletin boards are subject to restrictions if their content is clearly libelous or obscene, but less than half agreed that they had a general understanding of what my campus community considers obscene. Again, we have the problem of defining our terms. I have already mentioned the growing use of warning signs as an example of self-regulation: they do not prohibit access, but no-one can be under any illusion about the content of such sites. Acceptable use policies on the part of organizations (such as universities and private sector companies) and of service providers must also count as self-regulation, and there are instances where these have been used to prohibit access to, and provision of, material judged to be offensive and/or illegal. The UKERNA guidelines are an example, since it as a result of these that many UK universities block access to the more controversial newsgroups, but many such institutions and providers have developed similar policies: many of these are available on the WWW. The British Computer Societys Schools Committee has produced guidelines to prevent computer misuse which recognize the existence of potentially offensive material and give advice on the development of a suitable policy (British Comput!er Soci ety Schools Committee). For many Internet and WWW users, self-regulation is the only way in which to control content, anything else being seen as an infringement of freedom of speech or civil liberty (especially in the United States). In the United Kingdom, this seems, for the moment, to be the route which will be taken by Government, which feels that a code of conduct is the best route forward, and presumably the Internet industry will now sit down to establish that code, preventing the storage and distribution of offensive material. 4.2. Parental/Teacher controlAs Internet access becomes a growing feature of schools and homes, parents worry about what their children are seeing and reading in class or in the privacy of their rooms, and teachers are concerned about the implications if, during one of their classes, a pupil stumbles across or goes looking for a pornographic image, a discussion on abortion rights, or where to buy marijuana. Many have argued that, rather than introduce sweeping legislation which will, it is claimed, be the end of the Internet, parents and teachers should take responsibility for their childrens actions. The analogy is often drawn with teaching our children to cross the road safely and to deal with traffic: we dont let them wander off on their own, but show them the dangers and how to avoid them. Gradually, as they learn and mature, they are allowed to do things on their own. Similarly, it is argued, parents should accompany their children on their first Internet surfing, pointing out the dangers in the process. To help parents and teachers in this, a number of software packages have been developed to shut out access to the more offensive material. Programs like NetNanny, CyberSitter, SurfWatch and Internet Filter block access to sites containing certain listed words: this stop list comes built-in to the software, but it can be added to by parents to suit specific requirements. In some cases, attempts to access prohibited sites are logged and can be inspected by parent or teacher, which could, if it was known, help to stop such attempts. There is even a version for business use: presumably it could also be used to prevent staff from wasting time surfing the Net!4.3 Government legislationHowever, anyone who has kept an eye on the scene over the last twelve months will be aware that the big (and now rather complicated) story in controlling the Internet is the passage of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) through the US Senate, initially accompanied by two other broadly similar bills, plus a fourth which is believed to take a slightly different line and could be more acceptable to the majority of Internet users. The amended CDA was passed by a single vote in a House/Senate conference committee and became effectively an amalgam of two bills passed by the House and the Senate respectively. The three most restrictive bills, which have come in for the most criticism, all seek to make it illegal to transmit indecent material and would make both online service providers and content providers liable. The fourth bill was thought to avoid such action and to empower parents and teachers to control Internet access. The CDA was passed at the beginning of February 1996, and signed into law on 8 February. It was immediately the subject of a law suit to the US Attorney General by the American Civil Liberties Union and 19 other complainants, who have succeeded in having some parts of the act declared unconstitutional: as a result, it is in abeyance at the time of writing. A similar suit has been filed by a coalition of industry and online organizations, including the American Library Association. The chief criticism directed at the act relates to its attempts to make service providers liable and to the fact that, at the last minute, the word indecent was substituted for the word obscene. The argument against this development is that the concept of indecent material is vague but more wide-ranging than obscene, and that it would include not only sexually explicit material but texts which are now regarded as classics of literature. The oft-quoted example is that this bill would prohibit the distribution of such classic works of fiction as Catcher in the Rye or Lady Chatterleys Lover , when most thought that this was a battle already won. The bill would also give the US Federal Communication Commission some authority to regulate online speech. It should be noted that opposition to the CDA is not limited to the online community and such organizations as Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, the American Civil Liberties Union, or the Center for Democracy and Technology. Newt Gingrich has already suggested that such efforts are unconstitutional and the US Justice Department has said that the legislation is unnecessary (it believes it has all the legislation they need to prosecute where necessary). Other opponents have said that such legislation will only result in the creation of an underground Internet, where the material objected to will still circulate freely and could still be accessed by those in the know. Not only would this legislation prohibit literary works, but also the serious discussions of many topics and problems to do with sexual matters. There would be a threat to AIDS information, mutually supportive discussions of abuse and many other online forums which, enthusiasts claim, can be very important to those affected. Its effect on discussions of abortion rights have already been challenged as a breach of the US constitution. This is currently the only impending legislation which seeks to control content on the Internet: many other countries are investigating the question, and the UK government, for example, would prefer to establish a code of conduct, as I indicated earlier. However, I think we can be sure that, if the USA passes this or similar legislation, many other countries will face considerable pressure to do likewise: the pressure is already there in the French efforts to introduce European legislation. 5. ConclusionThe question of a free or fettered Internet is not an easy one: so many variables come into play, and in many instances we can only have a personal reaction to the problem of offensive material on computer networks. The overwhelming majority of Internet users agree on the need to protect our young people from this material, but the way to do so, they argue, is to involve parents and teachers and to educate our children, just as we educate them about the dangers of road traffic. The problem, it is argued, is not as serious as some would have us think, and legislation is too big a hammer for this particular nut: it would destroy more than it would protect. The next few months are going to be both interesting and crucial to the future shape of the Internet. ReferencesBritish Computer Society Schools Committee (1995) Preventing the misuse of computers in schools, Swindon, British Computer Society. CCTA Ethics Collaborative Open Group (1995) Superhighways Ethics Project: ReportFederal Department of Communications and the Arts, Australia (1995). Consultation paper on the regulation of on-line information services, 7 July 1995. The Guardian (1996). Singapor to censor Internet. 6 March, 12. Hoffman, D. and Novak, T. (1995) A detailed analysis of the conceptual, logical, and methodological flaws in the article: marketing pornography on the information superhighwayHolderness, M. (1995) In search of a sea of sex, The Guardian, 2 August,19. 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