Internet Censorship

The conflict we are currently facing is a recent one. The freedom of speech and censorship of the internet is rather a complicated issue. That is due to many misinterpretations that the people have about the same. Because the freedom and censorship are violated, this topic is one to discuss about.

The Internet’s continuous advancement has produced the need for an on-going debate on whether or not the government should have the power to control the Internet. The idea of the government having control over what each country’s citizens can see on the Internet is also called Internet Censorship. Internet Censorship “is the control or suppression of the publishing of, or access to information on the Internet.” Internet Censorship varies from country to country depending on each country’s current usage and philosophy of how it should be used. (toptenreviews.com) Currently, there are ten countries including

There has been much debate about the commonwealth’s and the Australian communications and media authority’s campaign to give the Internet censorship that is not required. For reasons such as freedom to talk about ideas, to talking to people around the world. In china there are estimated to be around 30 thousand police surfing the web, covering up websites the government does not want you looking up. Things such as just searching up “human rights” will bring you to a page that says you cannot access, and this is mainly the cause of communism.

Parents are too busy to pay any attention to their children and protect them from improper images. The author Aric Sigman states, "The main obstacle is a generation of parents afraid of confrontation and being authoritarian or too busy surfing themselves" (what we need...). What is important here is that parents are not taking the time of responsibility to be strict on what their kids watch or hear. Other cases parents are to caught up dealing with their own struggles they lack the everyday task of parenting when it comes to technology. Adult material is too accessible to viewer on the internet, that's why we need censorship.

This article addresses how Internet freedom is a right of individuals in the United States. It states that the US Department of State has adapted to the information age in such a way as to harness individual agency ( ‘civilian power’) for the promotion of state power. This will be great to use in my article because it will show the United States views on Internet censorship and if it actually does take away power from its citizens.

Did you know that 25.3% of people encounter at least one form of internet censorship while using the internet and the number of people that are affected by internet censorship on any given day is 1.72 billion? (“32 Amazing Internet Censorship Statistics”).This is because of the censorship problems here in America. Censorship is defined as the act of “examining books, movies, letters, etc., and removing things that are considered to be offensive, immoral, harmful to society, etc,” according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary. However, censorship has now evolved to not only protecting, but blocking the flow of ideas. Censorship also gives companies power to fire workers for stating their opinion. Our first amendment gives us the freedom of speech. Is censorship taking that away?

Like any other form of media the Internet can be censored, which means that full access to materials on the Internet can be restricted. To the general public, this is not considered a good thing, since it restricts their access to knowledge. One of the hallmarks of a repressive government is the restriction of information to keep its citizens under control. Yet, at the same time the unrestricted power of the Internet can cause much social and political harm, which is why there are many who support the idea of Internet Censorship. At the same time this restriction dulls a community, diversity and growth of ideas come from the unrestricted flow of information. An isolated community generally does not synthesize new ideas on its own.Thus,

In December of 1994, a young college student named Jake Baker posted one of his fiction pieces in an alt.sex newsgroup. Usually, his contributions to this widely-read site consisted of short stories about rape, torture, and murder of women. In this particular newsgroup post, he continued with his usual contributions; however, he took it a bit further by writing about one of his fellow classmates, using her name and identity in the piece. Faculty members at the University of Michigan discovered his story and later expelled him from school. Federal agents then raided his house, arrested him, and discovered copies of e-mail Baker had exchanged with a Canadian, mapping out his and the Canadian's plan to

eventually taken down due to copyrights and legality it trespassed in, but even after its demise, many new sites that allowed torrenting and other p2p file sharing began to spring up all over the internet. This led to the development of many of the sites that are still around today, such as the recently deceased Pirate Bay, Bittorrent, and many others. With the development of all of these newfound websites, it set the way for internet downloading as never seen before. People had before been restricted to VHS and CD burners, but never before something of this magnitude. With the massive increase in pirating done over the internet, companies and individuals soon became aware of the possibilities that could happen if their music or product became available to pirate.

1. Almost every person I know requires a different approach. I know to avoid or change the wording of some topics around certain individuals because their response to it may be either indifferent or negative.

For example, The FBI has many sites hosting illegal services, such as drugs or weaponry. These sites are called ""Honeypots"" because they are used to catch people with the intent of breaking the law with offers of lawbreaking goods and services. They could also check a person's search history if it has incriminating content within, or if they have suspicion of said person. The US is lax on monitoring and censoring content, as if it is even close to China. China is one of the countries with the most censored version of the internet around. They recently outlawed the use of VPN software, which could previously be used to access sites previously blocked by their government. With the recent repeal of Net Neutrality, the government has gained a possible way of determining criminals. The loss of Net Neutrality, which was passed on the 14th of December, meant that the internet could be broken up into smaller packages containing certain services instead of being a single package. This could hinder how the US monitors internet content if people decide that they do not want to pay for access to social media

The internet has allowed for instantaneous transfer of ideas, images, videos, texts, news and anything else that can be represented on a screen that “confines of powerful and interlocking institutions: family, education, entertainment, commerce, career, the law, the military, religion and others”(Source D). In the United States, some claim that if these “institutions” were to offer too much freedom they would be unable to “perpetuate the social relations that keep them functioning”. If the internet were to be censored, important ideas would be silenced and individuals' freedom would be diminished. For instance, the government could hide information that makes them look bad or they could censor opposing ideas. Ideas do not belong to anyone, so humans should have the freedom to sift through any and every idea, image or information source on the Internet, and nobody should be able to take away someone's freedom to share

Each day, technology is improved to satisfy customers, and to teach humans much more about the world that they live in. Though recently, more younger viewers have gone on the internet, and learning things they should not learn. Bringing in the topic, should there be a censor for the internet? Yes, censor for the internet should be encouraged. Children are finding out inappropriate websites, there would be less problems with others stealing work, and a decrease in identity theft. With the help of censorship of the internet, none of the problems listed will have a higher chance of not happening.

The freedom of speech that was possible on the Internet could now be subjected to governmental approvals. For example, China is attempting to restrict political expression, in the name of security and social stability. It requires users of the Internet and electronic mail (e-mail) to register, so that it may monitor their activities. In the United Kingdom, state secrets and personal attacks are off limits on the Internet. Laws are strict and the government is extremely interested in regulating the Intern et with respect to these issues.10 Laws intended for other types of communication will not necessarily apply in this medium.

Some people wonder who came up with the idea of internet censorship. Other people want to know which countries use it. Some ponder over the idea of what really is internet censorship. Internet censorship is controlling what can be viewed, and which sites can be used on the internet. Some things about internet censorship are countries that use it, and who started the idea of it.