LETTERS: INTERNET USE REQUIRES INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY

To the editor:

After being smothered by recent media overexposure about the Internet, I became appalled at the insinuations made, without proof, that made it sound like the student who concocted a bomb in fact got the information from Central High School and retrieved it from the Internet.

I know these items exist on the Internet, but I also know that most bookstores carry books that contain plans to build much more dangerous devices than the ones in recent headlines.

In all this negative publicity about the Internet, nobody has heard about the positive aspects. The Internet is a plethora of information (some good, some bad) that used correctly can bring great rewards. It is a compilation of the ideas, thoughts and theories of millions of people worldwide.

The recent articles retrieved from the Internet that have been brought into question have been in circulation for more than a decade. Anyone with a computer and half a brain could have retrieved this information with a little effort.

All it takes is one person's actions to penalize a whole group of people. Basically, this will draw the same conclusion as most other problems today: Lack of parental supervision and no morals being implemented in the children of today's society lead to a deadly mixture and disastrous results.

DEREK WATSON, Central High School Student

Cape Girardeau