Jordan Times
Friday - Saturday, November 30 - December 1, 2001

Jordan joins debate over Internet access controls

By Maia Malas

While the argument over Internet regulation is ongoing, there is a common conception that governments and corporations have the duty of enforcing content regulations in order to protect the rights and well-being of Internet users who Jordan joins debatesernet accessare minors.

Although government censorship over the Internet is sometimes equated with state intervention, many countries are finding it necessary for their governments to issue measures to regulate Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and obligate them to assume some responsibility for supposedly inappropriate material that is accessed through their services by minors.

In the United States for example, the Family-Friendly Internet Access Act of 1997, introduced in the House of Representatives, amended the Communications Act to require ISPs to provide screening software to permit parents to control Internet access by their children.

Jordan's ISPs are not obliged under any laws to provide Internet screening services.

“I have to admit that the advantages of the Internet are countless, and what makes it so useful is the fact that it provides you with free information,” said a concerned mother.

“However, now that I have a 7-year-old son, I am beginning to worry about the abundance of information available to him,” she added.

The notion of censorship that is being deliberated here in Jordan refers more specifically to user control and surveillance of one's own household Internet.

This form of control could be made available in two ways.

One is by the ISP providing its users with the software or with the additional service to have domestic Internet control.

The other is that Internet users could purchase the suitable software from any software shop of their choice.

“In Jordan, software for Internet screening are available at software shops. However, since the ISP is not required to provide this service, they do not receive that much attention,” explained one computer specialist.

While many believe that controlling information that is accessed by minors, particulary pornographic sites, is a legitimate cause, others disagree.

Those who oppose such controls, justify their positions by stating that minors should be represented and respected as thinking individuals and that they should be free to choose.

Proponents of the worldwide campaign against Internet child pornograpy consider the creation of such sites a crime.

In almost every country including Jordan, the penal code criminalises anything that can prove harmful to the well-being of minors, whether it be emotional or psychological.

But in Jordan there is no law that obliges ISPs or network providers to create some sort of control.

It is important to not that deliberation over Internet control for minors does not only refer to censoring sexually explicit material.

The abundance of dangerous information like how to create explosives for example, in addition to other potentially harmful material is included in the larger argument.

“As an ISP, we cannot really have that kind of control over the Internet. On one hand, it is technically difficult to apply, and on the other hand, it would go against the freedom of choice and expression that the Internet stands for,” observed a marketing expert at one of the local ISPs.

While the majority of people are in support of having free Internet and highly oppose government or corporate intervention in information accessibility, many are becoming aware of the rising problem of the exposure of minors.

“I think parents should be the ones to control the Internet use in their homes, but I think that ISPs should also be involved in providing this service. Otherwise, many families would not even be aware that they have that option,” suggested the concerned mother.

Rather than state-based censorship over the Internet, some experts in the field suggest, a state level drive to raise awareness over the issue of children's rights and protection.

This will perhaps urge ISPs to provide all their users with an Internet screening option, and which will consequently give people the means to introduce this responsibility in their homes, they concluded.

While the argument over Internet regulation is ongoing, there is a common conception that governments and corporations have the duty of enforcing content regulations in order to protect the rights and well-being of Internet users who Jordan joins debatesernet accessare minors.

Although government censorship over the Internet is sometimes equated with state intervention, many countries are finding it necessary for their governments to issue measures to regulate Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and obligate them to assume some responsibility for supposedly inappropriate material that is accessed through their services by minors.

In the United States for example, the Family-Friendly Internet Access Act of 1997, introduced in the House of Representatives, amended the Communications Act to require ISPs to provide screening software to permit parents to control Internet access by their children.

Jordan's ISPs are not obliged under any laws to provide Internet screening services.

“I have to admit that the advantages of the Internet are countless, and what makes it so useful is the fact that it provides you with free information,” said a concerned mother.

“However, now that I have a 7-year-old son, I am beginning to worry about the abundance of information available to him,” she added.

The notion of censorship that is being deliberated here in Jordan refers more specifically to user control and surveillance of one's own household Internet.

This form of control could be made available in two ways.

One is by the ISP providing its users with the software or with the additional service to have domestic Internet control.

The other is that Internet users could purchase the suitable software from any software shop of their choice.

“In Jordan, software for Internet screening are available at software shops. However, since the ISP is not required to provide this service, they do not receive that much attention,” explained one computer specialist.

While many believe that controlling information that is accessed by minors, particulary pornographic sites, is a legitimate cause, others disagree.

Those who oppose such controls, justify their positions by stating that minors should be represented and respected as thinking individuals and that they should be free to choose.

Proponents of the worldwide campaign against Internet child pornograpy consider the creation of such sites a crime.

In almost every country including Jordan, the penal code criminalises anything that can prove harmful to the well-being of minors, whether it be emotional or psychological.

But in Jordan there is no law that obliges ISPs or network providers to create some sort of control.

It is important to not that deliberation over Internet control for minors does not only refer to censoring sexually explicit material.

The abundance of dangerous information like how to create explosives for example, in addition to other potentially harmful material is included in the larger argument.

“As an ISP, we cannot really have that kind of control over the Internet. On one hand, it is technically difficult to apply, and on the other hand, it would go against the freedom of choice and expression that the Internet stands for,” observed a marketing expert at one of the local ISPs.

While the majority of people are in support of having free Internet and highly oppose government or corporate intervention in information accessibility, many are becoming aware of the rising problem of the exposure of minors.

“I think parents should be the ones to control the Internet use in their homes, but I think that ISPs should also be involved in providing this service. Otherwise, many families would not even be aware that they have that option,” suggested the concerned mother.

Rather than state-based censorship over the Internet, some experts in the field suggest, a state level drive to raise awareness over the issue of children's rights and protection.

This will perhaps urge ISPs to provide all their users with an Internet screening option, and which will consequently give people the means to introduce this responsibility in their homes, they concluded.

Back to November 30, 2001