Candidate's Political Party Affiliation example essay topic

Computer Science Government Intervention of the Internet During the past decade, our society has become based solely on the ability to move large amounts of information across large distances quickly. Computerization has influenced everyone's life. The natural evolution of computers and this need for ultra-fast communications has caused a global network of interconnected computers to develop. This global net allows a person to send E-mail across the world in mere fractions of a second, and enables even the common person to access information world-wide. With advances such as software that allows users with a sound card to use the Internet as a carrier for long distance voice calls and video conferencing, this network is key to the future of the knowledge society. At present, this net is the epitome of the first amendment: free speech.

It is a place where people can speak their mind without being reprimanded for what they say, or how they choose to say it. The key to the world-wide success of the Internet is its protection of free speech, not only in America, but in other countries where free speech is not protected by a constitution. To be found on the Internet is a huge collection of obscene graphics, Anarchists' cookbooks and countless other things that offend some people. With over 30 million Internet users in the U.S. alone (only 3 million of which surf the net from home), everything is bound to offend someone. The newest wave of laws floating through law making bodies around the world threatens to stifle this area of spontaneity.

Recently, Congress has been considering passing laws that will make it a crime punishable by jail to send "vulgar" language over the net, and to export encryption software. No matter how small, any attempt at government intervention in the Internet will stifle the greatest communication innovation of this century. The government wants to maintain control over this new form of communication and they are trying to use the protection of children as a smoke screen to pass laws that will allow them to regulate and censor the Internet, while banning techniques that could eliminate the need for regulation. Censorship of the Internet threatens to destroy its freelance atmosphere, while wide spread encryption could help prevent the need for government intervention. The current body of laws existing today in America does not apply well to the Internet.

Is the Internet like a bookstore, where servers cannot be expected to review every title Is it like a phone company who must ignore what it carries because of privacy Is it like a broadcasting medium, where the government monitors what is broadcast The trouble is that the Internet can be all or none of these things depending on how it's used. The Internet cannot be viewed as one type of transfer medium under current broadcast definitions. The Internet differs from broadcasting media in that one cannot just happen upon a vulgar site without first entering a complicated address, or following a link froman other source. "The Internet is much more like going into a book store and choosing to look at adult magazines". (Miller 75). Jim Exon, a democratic senator from Nebraska, wants to pass a decency bill regulating the Internet.

If the bill passes, certain commercial servers that post pictures of unclad beings, like those run by Penthouse or Playboy, would of course be shut down immediately or risk prosecution. The same goes for any amateur web site that features nudity, sex talk, or rough language. Posting any dirty words in a Usenet discussion group, which occurs routinely, could make one liable for a$50,000 fine and six months in jail. Even worse, if a magazine that commonly runs some of those nasty words in its pages, The New Yorker for instance, decided to post its contents on-line, its leaders would be held responsible for a $100,000 fine and two years in jail.

Why does it suddenly become illegal to post something that has been legal for years in print Exon's bill apparently would also "criminalize private mail", ... "I can call my brother on the phone and say anything-but if I say it on the Internet, it's illegal" (Levy 53). Congress, in their pursuit of regulations, seems to have overlooked the fact that the majority of the adult material on the Internet comes from overseas. Although many. S. government sources helped fund Arpanet, the predecessor to the Internet, they no longer control it. Many of the new Internet technologies, including the World Wide Web, have come from overseas. There is no clear boundary between information held in the U.S. and information stored in other countries.

Data held in foreign computers is just as accessible as data in America, all it takes is the click ofa mouse to access. Even if our government tried to regulate the Internet, we haven control over what is posted in other countries, and we have no practical way to stop it. The Internet's predecessor was originally designed to uphold communications after nuclear attack by rerouting data to compensate for destroyed telephone lines and servers. Today's Internet still works on a similar design.

The very nature this design allows the Internet to overcome any kind of barriers put in its way. If major line between two servers, say in two countries, is cut, then the Internet user swill find another way around this obstacle. This obstacle avoidance makes it virtually impossible to separate an entire nation from indecent information in other countries. If it was physically possible to isolate America's computers from the rest of the world, it would be devastating to our economy. Recently, a major university attempted to regulate what types of Internet access its students had, with results reminiscent of a 1960's protest. A research associate at Carnegie Mellon University conducted a study of pornography on the school " computer networks.

Martin Rimm put together quite a large picture collection (917,410 images) and he also tracked how often each image had been downloaded (a total of 6.4 million). Pictures of similar content had recently been declared obscene by a local court, and the school feared they might be held responsible forthe content of its network. The school administration quickly removed access to all these pictures, and to the newsgroups where most of this obscenity is suspected to come from. A total of 80 newsgroups were removed, causing a large disturbance among the student body, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, all of whom felt this was unconstitutional. After only half a week, the college had backed down, and restored the newsgroups. This is a tiny example of what may happen if the government tries to impose censorship (Elmer-Dewitt 102).

Currently, there is software being released that promises to block children's access to known X-rated Internet newsgroups and sites. However, since most adults rely on their computer literate children to setup these programs, the children will be able to find ways around them. This mimics real life, where these children would surely be able to get their hands on an adult magazine. Regardless of what types of software or safeguards are used to protect the children of the Information age, there will be ways around them.

This necessitates the education of the children to deal with reality. Altered views of an electronic world translate easily into altered views of the real world. "When it comes to our children, censorship is a far less important issue than good parenting. We must teach our kids that the Internet is a extension and a reflection of the real world, and we have to show them how to enjoy the good things and avoid the bad things.

This isn't the government " 's responsibility. It's ours (Miller 76)". Not all restrictions on electronic speech are bad. Most of the major on-line communication companies have restrictions on what their users can "say". They must respect their customer's privacy, however. Private E-mail content is off limits to them, but they may act swiftly upon anyone who spouts obscenities in a public forum.

Self regulation by users and servers is the key to avoiding government imposed intervention. Many on-line sites such as Playboy and Penthouse have started to regulated themselves. Both post clear warnings that adult content lies ahead and lists the countries where this is illegal. The film and videogame industries subject themselves to ratings, and if Internet users want to avoid government imposed regulations, then it is time they begin to regulate themselves.

It all boils down to protecting children from adult material, while protecting the first amendment right to free speech between adults. Government attempts to regulate the Internet are not just limited to obscenity and vulgar language, it also reaches into other areas, such as data encryption. By nature, the Internet is an insecure method of transferring data. A single E-mail packet may pass through hundreds of computers from its source to destination. A teach computer, there is the chance that the data will be archived and someone may intercept that data. Credit card numbers are a frequent target of hackers.

Encryption is a means of encoding data so that only someone with the proper " key" can decode it. "Why do you need PGP (encryption) It's personal. It's private. And it's no one " 's business but yours. You may be planning a political campaign, discussing our taxes, or having an illicit affair. Or you may be doing something that you feelshouldn't be illegal, but is.

Whatever it is, you don't want your private electronic mail (E-mail) or confidential documents read by anyone else. There's nothing wrong with asserting your privacy. Privacy is as apple-pie as the Constitution. Perhaps you think your E-mail is legitimate enough that encryption is unwarranted.

If you really are a law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide, then why don't you always send your paper mail on postcards Why not submit to drug testing ondemand Why require a warrant for police searches of your house Are you trying to hide something You must be a subversive or a drug dealer if you hide your mail inside envelopes. Or maybe a paranoid nut. Do law-abiding citizens have any need to encrypt their E-mail What if everyone believed that law-abiding citizens should use postcards for their mail If some brave soul tried to assert his privacy by using an envelope for h ismail, it would draw suspicion. Perhaps the authorities would open his mail to see what he's hiding. Fortunately, we don't live in that kind of world, because everyone protects most of their mail with envelopes. So no one draws suspicion by asserting their privacy with an envelope.

There's safety in numbers. Analogously, it would be nice if everyone routinely used encryption for all their E-mail, innocent or not, so that no one drew suspicion by asserting their E-mail privacy with encryption. Think of it as a form of solidarity (Zimmerman)". Until the development of the Internet, the U.S. government controlled most new encryption techniques.

With the development of faster home computers and a worldwide web, they no longer hold control over encryption. New algorithms have been discovered that are reportedly uncrackable even by the FBI and the NSA. This is a major concern to the government because they want to maintain the ability to conduct wiretaps, and other forms of electronic surveillance into the digital age. To stop the spread of data encryption software, the U.S. government has imposed very strict laws on its exportation. One very well known example of this is the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) scandal.

PGP was written by Phil Zimmerman, and is based on "public key" encryption. This system uses complex algorithms to produce two codes, one for encoding anyone for decoding. To send an encoded message to someone, a copy of that person's "public" key is needed. The sender uses this public key to encrypt the data, and the recipient uses their "private" key to decode the message. As Zimmerman was finishing his program, he heard about a proposed Senate bill to ban cryptography. This prompted him to release his program for free, hoping that it would become so popular that its use could not be stopped.

One of the original users of PGP posted it to an Internet site, where anyone from any country could download it, causing a federal investigator to begin investigating Phil for violation of this new law. As with any new technology, this program has allegedly been used for illegal purposes, and the FBI and NSA are believed to be unable to crack this code. When told about the illegal uses of him programs, Zimmerman replies: "If I had invented an automobile, and was told that criminals used it to rob banks, Would feel bad, too. But most people agree the benefits to society that come from automobiles - taking the kids to school, grocery shopping and such - outweigh their drawbacks".

(Levy 56). Currently, PGP can be downloaded from MIT. They have a very complicated system that changes the location on the software to be sure that they are protected. All that needs to be done is click "YES" to four questions dealing with exportation and use of the program, and it is there for the taking. This seems to be a lot of trouble to protect a program from spreading that is already world wide. The government wants to protect their ability to legally wiretap, but what good does i tdo them to stop encryption in foreign countries They cannot legally wiretap someone in another country, and they sure cannot ban encryption in the U.S. The government has not been totally blind to the need for encryption.

For nearly two decades, a government sponsored algorithm, Data Encryption Standard (DES), has been used primarily by banks. The government always maintained the ability to decipher this code with their powerful supercomputers. Now that new forms of encryption have been devised that the government can't decipher, they are proposing a new standard to replace DES. This new standard is called Clipper, andis based on the "public key" algorithms. Instead of software, Clipper is a microchip that can be incorporated into just about anything (Television, Telephones, etc. ).

This algorithm uses a much longer key that is 16 million times more powerful th anDES. It is estimated that today's fastest computers would take 400 billion years to break this code using every possible key. (Lehrer 378). "The catch: At the time of manufacture, each Clipper chip will be loaded with its own unique key, and the Government gets to keep a copy, placed in escrow. Not to worry, though the Government promises that they will use these keys to read your traffic only when duly authorized by law. Of course, to make Clipper completely effective, the next logical step would be to outlaw other forms of cryptography (Zimmerman)."If privacy is outlawed, only outlaws will have privacy.

Intelligence agencies have access to good cryptographic technology. So do the big arms and drug traffickers. So do defense contractors, oil companies, and other corporate giants. But ordinary people and grassroots political organizations mostly have not had access to affordable "military grade" public-key cryptographic technology.

Until now. PGP empowers people to take their privacy into their own hands. There's a growing social need for it. That's why I wrote it (Zimmerman)". The most important benefits of encryption have been conveniently overlooked bythe government. If everyone used encryption, there would be absolutely no way that an innocent bystander could happen upon something they choose not to see.

Only the intended receiver of the data could decrypt it (using public key cryptography, not even the sender can decrypt it) and view its contents. Each coded message also has an encrypted signature verifying the sender's identity. Thesender's secret key can be used to encrypt an enclosed signature message, thereby " signing" it. This creates a digital signature of a message, which the recipient (or anyone else) can check by using the sender's public key to decrypt it. This proves that the sender was the true originator of the message, and that the message has not been subsequently altered by anyone else, because the sender alone possesses the secret key that made that signature.

"Forgery of a signed message is infeasible, and the sender cannot later disavow his signature (Zimmerman)". Gone would bethe hate mail that causes many problems, and gone would be the ability to forge a document with someone else's address. The government, if it did not have alteriormotives, should mandate encryption, not outlaw it. As the Internet continues to grow throughout the world, more governments may try to impose their views onto the rest of the world through regulations and censorship. It will be a sad day when the world must adjust its views to conform toth at of the most prudish regulatory government. If too many regulations areinacted, then the Internet as a tool will become nearly useless, and the Internet as amass communication device and a place for freedom of mind and thoughts, will become non existent.

The users, servers, and parents of the world must regulate themselves, so as not to force government regulations that may stifle the best communication instrument in history. If encryption catches on and becomes as widespread as Zimmerman predicts it will, then there will no longer be a need forthe government to meddle in the Internet, and the biggest problem will work itself out. The government should rethink its approach to the censorship and encryption issues, allowing the Internet to continue to grow and mature. Ember-Dewitt, Philip. "Censoring Cyberspace: Carnegie Mellon's Attempt to Ban Sex from it's Campus Computer Network Sends A Chill Along the Info Highway". Time 21 Nov. 1994; 102-105.

Lehrer, Dan. "The Secret Sharers: Clipper Chips and Cypher punks". The Nation 10 Oct. 1994; 376-379. "Let the Internet Backlash Begin".

Advertising Age 7 Nov. 1994; 24. Levy, Steven. "The Encryption Wars: is Privacy Good or Bad" Newsweek 24 Apr. 1995; 55-57. Miller, Michael.

"Cybersex Shock". PC Magazine 10 Oct. 1995; 75-76. Wilson, David. "The Internet goes Crackers". Education Digest May 1995; 33-36. Zimmerman, Phil.

(1995). Pretty Good Privacy vs. 2.62, [Online]. Available Ftp: net-dist. mit. edu Directory: pub / pgp /dist File: Pgp 262 dc. zip Proposition 198 would allow: all persons who are entitled to vote in primary elections, including those not affiliated with a political party, to vote for any candidate regardless of the candidate's political party affiliation. Thus, voters in primary elections would be allowed to vote for candidates across political party lines. Furthermore, the initiative provides that county election officials prepare only one ballot for all voters. The candidates for an office would be listed randomly on the ballot and not grouped by political party affiliation.

The candidate of each political party who receives the most votes for a state elective office becomes the nominee of that party at the next general election. The only candidates immune from these provisions would be those candidates running for office in political party committees. These elections would still be restricted to voters affiliated with each party. The Legislative Analyst determined that Proposition 198 would have no fiscal impact on California, other than possible minor savings to counties, since they would not need to prepare and print as many ballots (1996 California Voter Guide). Proponents of the measure argue that California's closed primary election system results in political extremists being elected on both ends of the spectrum, because it limits voters' choices to candidates within their own party, and excludes 1.5 million independent voters from voting in primary elections at all. This, they maintain, contributes to legislative gridlock, and stacks the deck against more moderate problem solvers.

They also contend that Proposition 198 would increase voter participation by giving voters a real choice and by forcing candidates to focus on issues, not just partisanship. By opening up the primary and giving independent voters and minority party voters a real say in who the candidates will be, supporters of the proposition claim that it would lead to the election of candidates with a broader base of voter support (1996 California Voter Guide). Finally, those in favor of the proposition point out that the political parties have grown stronger and healthier in other states that have adopted an open primary system. Supporters of Proposition 198 included former state Senator Rebecca Morgan (R-Saratoga), Senator Lucy Kille a (I-San Diego), former GOP sate controller Houston Flournoy and former Fair Political Practices Commision Chairman Dan Stanford (California Journal 2/96). Those against Proposition 198 argue that the sole purpose of primary elections is for registered voters of each political party to select nominees from their party for the general election, and that an open primary would invite political mischief by allowing self-serving politicians and special interest groups to manipulate the system through the use of specialized targeting. Voters registered to one political party should not be allowed to interfere in the nominations of candidates of another party, they say, just as private clubs and organizations do not allow non-members to participate in their internal affairs.

The measure is unconstitutional, they add, citing a ruling by the United States Supreme Court that political parties have the right to determine who votes in their primaries (1996 California Voter Guide). Finally, opponents of the proposal suggest that rather than increasing voter choice, Proposition 198 would limit it, since outside interference would diminish the importance of joining a political party. Major opponents of Proposition 198 included the officials of both major political parties, as well as former GOP U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn and former Democratic Attorney General John Van de Camp (California Journal 2/96). Proposition 198 passed, with a total of 59.51 percent of the vote in favor of the proposition and 40.49 percent against. I have included a map, courtesy of the Secretary of State's web page, that shows the results broken down by county and percentage (Secretary of State). I voted for Proposition 198 out of sheer frustration over the fact that none of the political parties adequately reflect my concerns.

That is, I agree with some of the policies of each of the parties, yet I disagree with other policies of each party. Before the open primary went into effect, I found myself at odds over which party to affiliate myself with, since there was no way to vote for a candidate as an individual without registering and voting for that candidate's party. I mean, should I register Republican, since I believe in smaller government, less taxes, a strong military and the right of the unborn to live Or do I register Democrat, because I belive in protecting the environment, supporting organized labor and helping the poor Finally, thanks to the passage of Proposition 198, I can decline to affiliate myself with any particular party, and still vote for the individual candidate that I feel best represents my interests. Others, however, do not seem to share my enthusiasm over the success of Proposition 198. According to Ted Radke, a political science instructor at Contra Costa College, open or blanket primaries tend to favor the rich, the media favorites, and those candidates with greater name recognition.

Radke suggests that candidates who are given more media attention, and those who have enough money to make themselves well known (such as Al Ch ecchi) will receive a disproportionate amount of the vote due simply to the fact that voters will recognize their names over those of other candidates. (Radke) Mr. Radke makes a valid point. However, even in retrospect, I believe that I made the right decision. I feel that my right to vote inherently imparts to me the responsibility to be an informed voter. I read each of the candidates statements and listen to them carefully as they debate.

I lend no credence to the mud-slinging and negative campaign ads that are so prevalent on television and radio. Therefore, when I mark my ballot, my choice has been made according to my honest judgment of the candidate's character and position on the issues of importance to me. I prefer the open primary system, and would vote yes on Proposition 198 again.