Internet Censorship

Most who argue against censorship believe that it goes against a person’s right to freedom of speech. Within this argument, most people wonder “just when, and on what grounds, the state is justified in using its coercive powers to limit the freedom of individuals” (West). When thinking in this mindset, individuals tend to antagonize the government, because they come to believe that it suppresses their individuality and fail to consider the fact that it unites people who share its similar beliefs. As a result of the recent spike in technology and use of the Internet, the public must continually alter its definition of freedom of speech and expression. As the media offers more and more methods of communication, many of which are relatively self-regulated by users, more methods of expression develop, which may render other forms of expression obsolete, or even socially unacceptable (Qazi). Without understanding how much freedom of speech one is entitled to, one may never hope to defend that freedom if it ever comes under attack. Because technology develops so quickly that one definition will hardly suffice for a short period of time, people will find it increasingly difficult to understand how much right to expression they are allowed and will therefore fight for any and all that they may attain, never considering the benefits of censorship in the slightest. In America especially, people idealize the idea of democracy, the investigation of truth, and independence (Fieser). In

While many believe censorship to be a necessity in certain contexts, the idea of censorship is at fault in its attempt to control and stop the advance knowledge of the world today.There is fear of

My reality was shattered as all my aspirations of making my life easier with the internet suddenly tumbled down into my stomach as it sank. I went back to working on my group project about an imaginary amendment being added to the constitution to strip the electoral college of its power. We were using google drive to streamline the work and I sank even lower to the ground. Google drive could be gone if a fat cat CEO decided something was wrong with google drive. This caused me to despise censorship. At this very moment I defined the scourge of humanity known as censorship as the denial of any piece of information or content to any person or persons who seek to find them. I was envigorated by this gut punch and starting to tell my family, friends, and teachers. I became so furious, but I also found out the rest of the internet was too. Huge companies such as Google, Wikipedia, and Mozilla were furious at the notion of limiting people's free speech and access to the internet. They organized an internet blackout out day where thousands of websites blacked out access to protest SOPA. This caused so much pressure and backlash on congress that they were forced to stop the bill. All my worries were washed away following this

A multitude of countries and organizations use censorship for various reasons. However something they all have in common is the one providing the censored material does not want the reader or viewer to know something, whether that be the true state of a country or the real history of a matter. Censorship is a constant tug-a-war between two sides for the truth over a subject. This form of restriction can be observed from the early 1900’s to today’s modern times, and can also be seen worldwide in countries that have little to nothing in common.

This is ostensibly a problematic task given the role of personal biases in determining the parameters of censorship. Particularly since whistle-blowing revealed the mass surveillance programmes of the American and British governments, the belief in increasing gatekeepers for online content has been widely denounced by digital rights activists. For example, writing in The Guardian, Glenn Greenwald (2013), the close confidante of Edward Snowden, referred to calls for greater internet censorship as “far more menacing than - and at least just as hateful as - bigoted Twitter hashtags and online homophobic jokes”. Though perhaps overly hyperbolic, such an argument is understandable when considering that the horrors of Abu Ghraib would have likely gone unnoticed had it not been for the “digital world in which we live” making the circulation of images so easy (Sontag 2007 [2004]: 137). As this essay has consistently shown, without the free flow of information offered by the internet, our ability to hold authority figures and governments accountable is limited. After all, it is not merely a coincidence that censorship of the internet is typically high on the agenda of autocrats throughout the world (Agarwal, et al., 2010: 7). However, as the “pizzagate” incident demonstrates, we should not let an unwavering

Censorship in China has gained much attention recently because of the conflict between Google and the Chinese government’s self-censorship policies. In fact, censorship has been practiced since ancient China and the intensity only increases by the years. Nowadays, the most notable measure of censorship is being done on the Internet. More and more restrictions have been put into actions by the Chinese government, which make the life of Chinese Internet users, the Chinese netizens, very inconvenient. With the intensity of censorship increasing and the censoring technology improving, Internet censorship has mainly negative effects on Chinese society.

The Internet is, quite literally, a network of networks. It is comprised of ten thousands of interconnected networks spanning the globe. The computers that form the Internet range from huge mainframes in research establishments to modest PCs in people's homes and offices. Despite the recent hype, the Internet is not a new phenomenon. Its roots lie in a collection of computers that were linked together in the 1970s to form the US Department of Defense's communications systems. Fearing the consequences of nuclear attack, there was no central computer holding vast amounts of data, rather the information was dispersed across thousands of machines. A set of rules, of protocols, known as TCP/IP was

People say that if the government were to censor what users can have access to on the internet, it will make it harder for terrorists to recruit people and even impossible to recruit them online. A problem arises if the government abuses its power. For example, if the government were to see something that don’t agree with say for instance a user on a website attempting to organize a peaceful protest, it could be labeled as an act of terrorism by the government just to get it removed. Actions like these may not happen in the United States but they do happen in other countries where their government has control over almost everything that its citizens have access to. Sally Driscoll and Tracey M. DiLasio said in the article titled “Counterpoint: There is no Need to Create New Censorship Laws Specifically for the Internet” “the influence of the Internet continues to spread around the world, many countries are struggling with the question of how best to control it. The worst censorship occurs in countries such as China, North Korea, and Vietnam. Saudi Arabia and Iran maintain the tightest Internet controls in the Middle East. Some of these ideals may also violate human rights laws.” Punishment for anything that may seem controversial in the eyes of the government in some of these countries can range from imprisonment to being tortured to death. There are people within some of these countries that may have family members outside of the country and their only means of communicating are through the internet. In some countries, you can be sentenced to death just by talking with someone outside of the

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

Censorship may be protection from inappropriate materials, but it also limits free speech. For the limitation of free speech, it is reasonable why people are emphatically against censorship. It is understood that there is a need to filter some of the materials released in today’s society, but too much is being done by people who have no right meddling with everyone’s rights. Civilization has always been plagued by a never ending battle being fought over what is deemed right and wrong. In today’s culture, censorship oppresses everything in the media. From movies and music to television and even news stories, most of the content viewed today has been filtered one way or another. Restrictions have been in place since early societies have been

The aim is to tighten political control and get Internet users to censor themselves by bringing them face to face with their censors or their agents.”(Anonymous)

These days the internet has become an essential part to living for almost everyone but one of the controversial topics that people bring up is that whether or not the government should regulate information on the internet. Both sides have valid points which form a reasonable argument. Some people would say that they need to because of the dangers lurking around in the cyber world but the reasons for why the government shouldn’t regulate the Internet outnumber the reasons for why they should. The federal government should not regulate or censor information on the internet because doing so violates the first amendment and citizen’s right to privacy, degrades the educational value of the web, prevents the promotion and facilitation of

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.

There are lots of countries that use internet censorship. A few of them are China, North Korea, and Russia. China is one of the leaders in using and censoring the internet. They have the biggest internet censorship system on the globe. Their system grew rapidly compared to most of the other countries censorship systems.

Internet censorship is developing far and wide and influences us, regardless that as United States citizens, we have additional technological opportunities than what many other nations do. Numerous Americans underestimate the opportunities that living in the United States permits us. Whether we are sending electronic mail, posting on our social media pages, or seeking out the latest news, we are ensured the opportunity of self-expression and an inexhaustible amount of information right at our fingertips. Censorship takes control of people's expression, and many countries, governments, and leaders support it for this reason. Internet Censorship in the United States in comparison to different nations brings to light the global and ethical issue regarding the basic human rights of education, communication, and freedom.