This paper examines how, in an Internet=based world, PICS (Platform for Internet Content Selection) uses software that is put as a filter between the individual receiving the
information and the online information provider. It describes how PICS is an incredibly
flexible and potentially
effective mechanism for content control on the Internet. It also discusses how it just might be too flexible and effective, since it creates an infrastructure that can be easily adopted to enforce a tight
censorship net. It also shows how PICS can be manipulated by a
government as a censorship tool because it can be installed to function as a censorship net, catching or filtering out whatever the government wants excluded.