IELTS sample essay: should internet be regulated?
Some people believe that strict policies are necessary to regulate internet because a lot of harmful content is available online with very little or no regulation. Others oppose this view and think that the internet should not be regulated.
Sample response
The internet has changed the way we access information. It is a web of infinite knowledge accessible to everybody with a personal computer and an internet connection. The best thing about internet is that it makes searching information easy and automated. You just need to key in your query and software robots called search engines will find answers for you – all in a matter of seconds. Some people believe that the internet needs to be regulated because it freely provides both good and bad content. Others, however, disagree with this view and believe that the internet should not be regulated.
It is true that the internet provides harmful content with little or no regulation. Tens of thousands of websites containing obscene, racist and hateful content are available online. The problem with the internet is that it is merely a vast pool of data and it doesn’t understand the distinction between good and bad. If you have got an internet connection, you can access all websites on the internet. This free availability of inappropriate and hateful content is definitely a threat. For example, children surfing the web may accidentally find adult content. What’s more, in recent years internet fraud has increased. Therefore it might seem reasonable that strict policies are necessary to regulate the internet.
On the flip side, regulating the internet may affect its usability to a great extent. Right now the internet allows anybody to publish and share content online. In fact, one of the factors that led to this enormous growth of internet is the ease with which users can contribute and share information. Stricter regulation will definitely make this difficult or even impossible. If people are required to obtain permission to post online, it will seriously impair the functionality of internet.
As for the dangers of inappropriate content, well, several software suites are already available to make internet safe for kids. For example, parents can block adult websites with special software thereby making the net safe for their kids. Effective anti-virus software tools available to make online surfing and shopping sessions safer. And hence it seems educating people about safe and unsafe online habits is far more effective than introducing strict regulations. This will still make the internet a free territory while at the same time protecting users from harmful content.
