Respond with 150 words
America is considered a libertarian government, with freedom of the press and freedom of speech guaranteed in the Constitution. Since colonial times, however, the United States has consistently censored material ranging from political and military topics to material containing obscenity. Why is America's media more authoritarian regarding some topics and more libertarian regarding other topics? How can censorship of objectionable material be compatible with the First Amendment?
Respond with 150 words
In September 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in a way that offended and angered many people in the Muslim world. Some people described the cartoons as Islamophobic or racist, while others defended the publication as an exercise of free speech. What is your opinion of the publication of these cartoons? What is the newspaper or other media's responsibility when considering the publication of offensive material? Should the government have any influence in the decision?
Respond to this statement with at least 50 words
A positive and negative aspect to e-mail and collaborative and social networks sites is that once you have posted or sent something, that information can be retrieved. Anyone who is computer savvy can retrieve information that has been deleted. It is really important to be selective and careful about what you e-mail or post as you may not want this information available at a later time. On the plus side, if you accidently delete something that is critical, someone with good IT skills should be able to retrieve it with a little work. Some e-mail can be permanently lost, but I do not think that is the case with social network sites. As far as I am aware, if you post something on a social network site and delete it, there is a way to recover what was deleted; although, the average person would probably not able to recover the information.
The company I work for sends out occasional reminders that anything that is sent via the organizations e-mail can be recovered. This is to keep employees from e-mailing the wrong kinds of information. It may be more related to sending confidential information to a competitor, rather than e-mail of a personal nature, but it is a good reminder that what you send can come back to haunt you.
When people are suspected of a crime, the police, FBI, CIA, or whoever will take that persons laptop to retrieve information; this has been very helpful in solving cases, and obtaining leads or other information.