The spread of the content for public mass media is greatly impacted by the spread of globalization in the world. This has greatly affected the individual lives of the younger generation as they are presented with the opportunity of viewing illegal and restricted content. Due to this, certain states advocate for the increase of cyber security in order to curb the unrestricted flow of illegal content found on various websites and several mobile applications. Countries like New Zealand and the United States understand the relevance of increasing cyber security by introducing severe control instruments regarding the publication of restricted information found on the internet. This summary paper talks of the notion of the restricted content which is used by the states authorities’ representatives in New Zealand as well as the United States so as to prosecute those who violate the legislation imposed on the cyber security protection.
The New Zealand government implements a policy that is aimed towards improving cyber security within the country giving the state leadership the permission to exercise strict control over the imprisonment of the offenders found viewing restricted content on the internet. The goal of this government policy is to reduce the young generation’s exposure to the restricted content that is regarded as abusive. This objectionable or restricted material entails any kind of publication that entails sexual matters, criminal actions, and violent behavior that may possibly be of harm towards the society and its welfare. The New Zealand state authorities included some topics that may fall within the objectionable material scope notion. These may include; children exploitation for sexual aims, use of violent behavior to forcefully subject people to involuntary sexual relations, bestiality, and actions regarded to as violent or cruel among many others. The New Zealand government assumes that if the content mentioned above decreases, the young generation shall be allowed to behave in a proper manner. This is because statistics done by several researchers tends to prove that when children are exposed to violent games as well as films, it causes their conduct to be unpredicted.
The New Zealand current legislation entails a policy on the purchase restriction of DVD’s and videogames that are illegal to people below the established age. This current legislation also prohibits the distribution or sale of sexual content material for people below the age of 18. There are general classification labels that are to be addressed so as to provide people with the understanding on the correct use of illegal content in New Zealand. They include; Green: where anybody is entitled to view a certain item or film, yellow: here, certain information is not to be viewed by certain society groups and red: here, restriction is based on someone’s age. Bearing in mind the objects that fall within the policy of New Zealand, it is of importance to know that possessing or downloading any form of objectionable content from the internet is regarded as criminal activity by the authorities. The country’s legislation states that one can be imprisoned up to 10 years in case he/she is found guilty of possessing illegal material. However, the imprisonment may go up to 14 years if a person is found to intend to sell or distribute the material for commercial purposes.
In New Zealand, the usage of hate speech is referred as the biggest issue that falls under the scope of objectionable material. The usage of hate speech is portrayed to have different attitude by two social groups whereby the promotion of community standards society carries the belief that restricting hate speech is quite unnecessary because it restricts freedom of expression. New Zealand’s government approach contrasts that one of the United States whereby the state authorities in the United States exercise control over obscene material spread which is limited to sexual content files where hate speech is restricted accordingly. The United States constitution imposed the implication that no citizen of it should be deprived of the chance to bring forward their personal opinions about certain issues. Another ungoverned dimension by the United States constitution is child pornography distribution. Unlike the United States, it is right for one to assume that New Zealand has a much stricter approach when it comes to penalties due to the imprisonment as well as the financial compensation for the possession of objectionable material.
Including fines and penalties help in controlling the behavior as well as the conduct of people in regards to the law. Therefore parents are recommended to; install filters in personal computers in order to filter the information used and accessed by the children as well as other people. Also, they are advised to launch educational programs to educate children about the restricted content. Installing spam filters is also another recommendation to parents, as well as creating a report system with which the agents control the availability of objectionable content in online platforms as well as educational facilities. The last recommendation to parents is to avoid transferring unreliable links. In summation, it is proven that realization of these recommendations may help in limiting the spread of the discussed restricted material in states like New Zealand and the United States. It is also proven that exposing children and the young generation to abusive content greatly influences their behavior in a negative manner hence all states should possess important instruments that limit the availability of restricted material on the internet as it impacts the quality of life as well as the nation’s welfare.
Works Cited
No author, (2016). Legal Aspects of Cyber Security in Terms of Objectionable Material (1-29). (Notes Summary)
