REGULATION AND CONTROL OF THE INTERNET - IS IT FEASIBLE - IS IT NECESSARY

Discusses the demand for, and problems of, regulating access to the In ternet and describes the results of a two-part survey into the questio n, Sixty-five sites on the World Wide Web were found to contain images which could cause offence, though relatively few might be considered 'pornographic', and most had some form of control exercised by the sit e owner, A number of sites had closed down due to the demand placed up on them, but there was also evidence of closure by another body, The s econd part of the study reports on British universities' measures to c ontrol access by staff and students: the majority exercise no control other than that recommended by the UK Education and Research Networkin g Association (UKERNA), but the principal reason given is the impracti cality of controlling the Internet, rather than content. Argues that r egulation would damage the free flow of information over the Internet, which provides an unprecedented opportunity for the exchange of infor mation on a global scale.