Control of Information on the Internet - Essay Example

Control of information on the internet Control of information on the internet refers to managing practices that governments and private organizations employ with an aim of controlling publishing of information and its access to the mass through the internet. This practice is sometimes referred to as internet censorship. The decision to censor information is normally compelled by reasons among others; religious, normative, commerce, legal or threats to security. Different scholars and human rights activists hold different opinions on the idea of internet censorship some holding the opinion for and others against. The opinions held depend mostly with the extent of censorship which varies from one nation to another or one organization to another. It is imperative to note that some countries exercise total internet censorship while others limits the access of information in response to proceedings such as country’s elections, mass demonstrations and riots. Notable events that recently led to internet censorship include the occurrences of the Arab spring in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen, authorities in the affected nations restricted access to information on the internet because they perceived as being used by rebels to cause instability. However, their efforts did not succeed due to the porous nature of the cyberspace. In as much as censorship aims at total or partial control of information, this may not be possible in practical because national borders are porous to online information. For instance, restricted information in one country may be hosted by a neighboring nation and accessed by citizens of the latter. Therefore, censoring aims at working to control access to information in the face of numerous challenges such as lack of legal or physical controls over the information placed on the websites. As a result, censorship requires bringing into play technological means such as blocking of sites or allowing access to a portion of selected website content. Some countries go to the extent of placing strict limits to domestic and overseas information. Sensitive contents such as political topics and related content are highly restricted by those in power. Reporters and media agents who have defied government orders have often found themselves being harassed. The form of harassment ranges from violent treatment to jailing for reporting content which expose top secrets about those in power for example corruption allegations or content that is a threat to security matters for example public stability concerns. It is important to note that the notorious journalists and those who try to defy censorship orders are in most cases driven out of the country by governments with a view of totally stopping information delivery through websites. It is worth noting that the distinction between the receiver and the publisher of the information posted on the internet is a complex matter because unlike the ancient information delivery methods, information hosted on the internet allows all posting individuals and agencies the right and power to publish without pre censorship activity. Thus the use of internet has contributed to a large extent the freedom of expression and press. Even though most governments have great experience and sophisticated tools to impose censors on the published information, their tools and experience face enormous challenges due to a number of reasons which include among others; Information sources are vast The sources of information that is hosted on the internet are far much beyond reach to most governments. This has made gagging of content almost an impossible venture unlike in the control of domestic information. It is worth noting that whereas governments and authorities would like to control this information, the publishers and senders may be residing in a country that enjoys freedom of expression and press. Thus, the source of the published information is beyond the borders of these governments and therefore not subject to jurisdiction and control. Accelerated speed of information transfer The means and speed at which electronic information is transmitted has over years increased to a level that is almost impossible to control. This transfer is so fast and diversified that makes it hard to establish the sender and receiver. It therefore demands for a rigorous scrutiny which is too expensive and time consuming. Interpersonal exchange of information The emerging technologies have made it hard to distinguish between mass medium and personal medium. There is no clear boundary between messages sent as mail, posting and broadcasting for example a personal message could most probably be broadcasted as mass broadcast and therefore the contradiction created makes the enforcement of laws almost impossible as doing so would deem as an act of intrusion into someone’s privacy and individual right of expression and speech. Internet lacks a central controlling body The internet provides freedom of speech, expression, smooth flow and exchange of ideas as a means of public and intellectual progress. The flow of ideas and expression of freedom enjoys uncontrolled cyberspace and lacks a central controlling body. Thus any attempt by the authority to control or cause blockage to access of information via the local or domestic internet service providers proves futile because the denied information can still be accessed via other international service providers. Dynamic features such as re-routing The present day internet tools have the ability to resist suppression. For instance, the dynamic re-routing feature has the ability to redirect communication through an alternative link in case the intended link is cut off. This has made censorship a difficult venture to most authorities. In the view of the above points, censorship is intended for selfish reasons, notable among others; corruption, abuse of human rights and injustices. Censorship slows down economic growth, global access to information, and intellectual advancement among other reforms. This practice is against fundamental human rights. Country’s economic growth and progress depends largely on the technological advancement and freedom to use the cyberspace information. As it stands, the internet as a communication channel is used to express ideas. The practice of censorship denies the right to access and disseminate information on the internet. Several reasons have been given to justify reasons for censorship which include; offensive sites, obscene communications, racist and fascist comments, harmful messages or those that can undermine state security, inciting comments among other content. All these reasons centers on computer ethics and security matters, this is justifiable but looking closely at the negative effects of internet censorship gives an insight that the practice shouldn’t be warranted by all means because of a number of reasons; Some sections and postings on the internet is not good for young minds especially the young children. This part of the content may be good for the adults and therefore censoring this information will amount to abuse of human rights and freedom of expression and speech. It is therefore advisable for the internet service providers to control dissemination of information to a vast population instead of letting all the control be done by the government. This is because the government will be subjective in censorship in that the whole content may be censored not because it is bad but because those in power don’t like it. Moreover, it is the duty of the parents to control what the children access in the internet. This is possible with the use of internet control tools that when activated make obscene content unable to download. It is important to note that this control method is very efficient as it only impedes content on selected computers and not the entire site. Another way of controlling internet surfing by kids is to subscribe to an approved online access sites for young people. The selected site will filter information to ensure that unhealthy content is sieved. Therefore, the holder of the server does the work on behalf of the mass. It is hence meaningless for the government to censure all the information on the internet in the name of protecting children as it can be done using means that will not subject the censorship exercise to impediment of human rights. The other reason against internet censorship is the fact that internet covers a large cyberspace. This means that several countries share same content over the internet; it then implies that no country or single state can control what is posted on the websites because what is outlawed in one country may be fully acceptable in another. The above assertion is supported thus; “Nations have different views on what is permissible on the internet…” (Oumarou, 1998, P.38.) Fundamental human rights and freedom of speech ought to be respected by governments and organizations, what is deemed fit for access through the internet by user should be availed. It is then the responsibility of the person accessing the internet content to choose from what is hosted. Finally, authorities ought to understand that information on the internet is as good as those in the books and magazines and is therefore unfair to censure such information. As Bruce asserts…if censures of the past had been successful in eradicating art, philosophy and literature they deemed ‘indecent’ or ‘obscene’, we would not be able to cherish some of the work by world’s greatest minds. It is therefore wrong by all standards to censure internet content as this translates to blockage of human progress. Works cited. Anna Frances Grundy. Women, Work, and Computerization: Spinning a Web from Past to Future: Proceedings of the 6th International IFIP-Conference, Springer publishers, 1997. Print. Bruce, Marty. Censorship on the Internet. "Why Censorship is wrong." Retrieved on April, 1996. http://www.purplenet.net/~marty/ip.htm Lewis, Peter H. Cyber Reader. "No More 'Anything Goes': Cyberspace Gets Censors” Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996. Print. Sherry Turkle. Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet A Touchstone book. Simon & Schuster, 1997. Print. Victor J. Vitanza. Cyber Reader. Allyn and Bacon, Michigan, 2009. Print. Read More