Internet Censorship in the GCC Region - Essay Example

? Internet Censorship in the GCC Region This paper intends to evaluate the presence of internet censorship in the countries of the GCC region. In this regard, it has been noted that internet censorship is a significant part of the society in these countries and plays a noteworthy role in the welfare of the people belonging to the community and the nation altogether. Contextually, the concerned authorities in these countries forbid the materials present in the internet that have the potential to unfavorably hinder the welfare of the nation by any mean. Internet Censorship in the GCC Region Censorship is regarded as the control of speech or other communication in public, which is deemed to impose objectionable or harmful impacts on the targeted audiences or the society altogether. It has become quite evident in the contemporary work, wherein issues related to the aforementioned aspects are quite common. In order to acquire a comprehensive understanding, a discussion regarding internet censorship would be vital. In this regard, internet is undoubtedly regarded as one of the most widely used technologies in the world today. In relation to this significant aspect, the aspect of internet censorship is regarded as the approach or the part of censorship which provides certain necessary restrictions on accessing various sorts of published contents in the World Wide Web (WWW). It would be vital to mention that internet censorship rules differ from one country to other and also from one particular region to other. In the GCC region comprising countries like Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, censorship has a different face altogether (Mohammed, 2012). However, there are certain controversies associated with internet censorship that are also visible in the GCC region. In GCC countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE, it is deemed that certain information available or websites in the internet will have radical impact on the society along with the vulnerable individuals, as these might promote violence or attack people. Accordingly, the censor board tends to ban these sites and restricts in accessing specific information on the internet (Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc, 2008). These aspects raise controversies regarding internet censorship and a debate emerged over the benefits and the harms of internet to the society or the mankind. Hence, it can be affirmed that the decisions that are usually taken with regard to internet censorship in various regions of the world are subjected to several controversies. Thesis Statement Considering the brief discussion illustrated above regarding internet censorship, the later part of the discussion will mainly focus on depicting the importance and the purpose of internet censorship in the world today along with worthy and relevant examples. The paper will also seek to provide an in-depth understanding about the aspect of internet censorship in the GCC regions. Internet Censorship Definition Censorship is regarded as the approach of the concerned authorities situated in almost every nation of the world towards supervising and controlling the information or the ideas that are disseminated within the people living in the society. This might include examining the books, plays, films along with television shows and restraining the contents that might be unpleasant for the people living in the society. Correspondingly, the approach of internet censorship is examining the contents that are published, uploaded or accessed in the internet and restraining the objectionable part for the people of the nations. It would be vital to mention that the approach or the criteria of selecting objectionable contents might differ with the values and morals of the concerned authorities from region to region (Oklahoma State University, 2013). The Purpose of Censorship The significance of Censorship is ought to differ from region to region owing to the purpose for which it is being practiced. However, in general, the purpose of censorship is to preserve the development of the society through restraining information or its source (in case of internet censorship) that can have negative impacts on the value and the integrity of the society. It has been apparently observed that in today’s society, people often gets influenced from the approach or the thinking of others and thus perform their activities accordingly. Hence, censorship does not prevent any individual or group to enjoy their freedom of speech, rather it restrains certain critical aspects that might impose unfavorable impact on the people who follow them. Again, in relation to the case of internet, there are certain contents that impose negative impact on children or adults and encourage them to perform unfavorable and inappropriate acts. Thus, in this regard, the purpose of censorship is to restrain those contents and ensure welfare of the people in the society at large (Laws, 2013). Use and Abuse of Censorship The uses and abuses of Censorship have been central point of discussion for the developed and the developing nations of the world. Censorship is used to prevent the bad influence of certain contents to the people, further allowing them to live peacefully. It is deemed that people in the society have the rights to depict their individual thoughts and expressions but in certain cases, they misuse those rights to provoke others which call for the use of censorship including in the field of internet. On the other hand, there are certain scenarios wherein censorship is used in a wrong way by concerned authorities. It is strongly believed that press have the rights to publish any fact on the internet, which is true about the negative activities performed by any top figure in the society including governmental authorities that are further censored. This can be regarded as negative use of censorship, as it prevents people from knowing the truth (Trove, n.d.). Examples of Internet Censorship in Different Countries As previously mentioned, different countries have diverse approaches regarding internet censorship. For example, in Turkmenistan, the concerned authorities restrict individuals to access several sites and make constant supervision of email accounts of people including reliable providers like Gmail and Yahoo. Sites run by human rights along with news agencies are banned in the country. Furthermore, in China, the internet censorship board allows only the providers that assure filter searches, erase inappropriate materials and block suspicious sites among others. The censor board blocks contents relating to pornography, religious movements and certain blogging websites among others. In Iran, bloggers who criticize government or religious figure are strictly harassed. Contextually, the censor board restrains contents such as political blogs, pornographic contents and sites related to woman rights. In Saudi Arabia (one of the GCC countries), almost 4, 00,000 internet sites are blocked owing to its political or religious content. Censorship also restrains internet sites or information that relates to gambling or circumvention tools. The strictest scenario of internet censorship can be seen in the country of North Korea, wherein only 4% of the total population can access internet, which might be owing to the reason that most of the internet sites are blocked in the country (Listverse, 2013). Hence, it is quite apparent that different countries have different extent of using internet censorship in their region. Internet Censorship in GCC The above discussion made it apparent that different countries follow different criteria for restraining contents in the internet as per the censorship program. This aspect can also be visible in the countries situated in the GCC region. There are six countries that fall under the GCC region that comprise Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Internet in the Middle East region has been rapidly growing since its inception. In UAE, the censorship board is quite strict towards the internet sites that are concentrated towards political and social area, imposing negative impact upon maintaining the integrity and prosperity of the region. Apart from this, the censorship board of this region also prohibits accessing pornographic and other relevant sites that might have bad influence on the values and morals of the people (especially the children) living in the society. Likewise, in other countries of the GCC region, internet sites that might have the potential to negatively influence the welfare of the country are strictly prohibited to access via internet. For example, in Saudi Arabia, immoral sites containing pornographic material are banned for unfavorable impacts imposed towards children and adults. Likewise, the country also bans the sites that are deemed to promote Shia ideologies, which can again be viewed as inappropriate, affecting the values and cultures of the country. The scenario is almost quite similar in Bahrain wherein filtering of certain internet contents is mandatory for the internet service providers. Amongst these contents, the major part includes pornography (like in other gulf countries mentioned above), sites including political along with religious views and contents related to royal families and government that are also banned in order to maintain unity and peace in the nations (Alqudsi-ghabra et al., 2011; Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc, 2008). Hence, it is clear that censorship related to internet services are quite in almost all the countries that fall under the GCC region. In-depth Analysis of Internet Censorship in the Countries of the GCC Region Internet censorship is very important in the contemporary society wherein people easily gets influenced from external information especially found in the internet, irrespective of the fact that they might not work in favor of their welfare. The significance along with the strictness of internet censorship approach can be seen in the countries located in the GCC region. It would be vital to mention that the approach of internet censorship is set upon certain criteria that entail substantial, pervasive and selective. These three criteria are implemented while filtering internet materials related to political along with social aspects, internet tools and conflict or security aspects. Political aspects include the information or the data that opposes human rights, governmental policies and religious movements. The social aspects include internet based information that is associated with sexually explicit contents and illegal drugs among others. In relation to security aspects, information or opinions related to militant groups or movements are taken into concern (Alqudsi-ghabra et al., 2011; Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc, 2008). The approach of censorship board in six different countries of the GCC region can be better understood with the help of a table which has been depicted below. Observably, the government of Saudi Arabia is mostly pervasive in its approach which means that the nation is quite strict and restrains all socially explicit sites and internet tools. This might be owing to the reason that the government of Saudi Arabia strongly believed that these two facets will hamper the thinking along with the values of the young generation and will also ignite social issues altogether. Correspondingly, the countries of Qatar, Kuwait and UAE have pervasive approach towards socially explicit sites and internet tools, as all these countries possess similar sort of values and ethics. Apart from the social aspects and internet tools, all the countries belonging to GCC region have similar approach towards conflict/security filtering which seemed to be selective in nature. This depicts that only selected sites that have the potential to pose maximum threat to the security of the nations are restricted for the viewers to access. As far as political filtering is concerned, there lays a clear difference which shows upto what extent the censor board of these countries consider the politically controversial sites as inappropriate (The Guardian, 2013). Countries (GCC region) Political Filtering Social Filtering Internet Tools Filtering Conflict/Security Filtering Saudi Arabia Substantial Pervasive Pervasive Selective Bahrain Pervasive Pervasive Substantial Selective Qatar Selective Pervasive Pervasive Selective Kuwait Selective Pervasive Pervasive Selective Oman Selective Pervasive Substantial Substantial UAE Substantial Pervasive Pervasive Selective Fig 1: Approach of Internet Censorship in Countries of GCC Region Source: (The Guardian, 2013). Argumentative Discussion It is deemed that decision which is usually taken by censor board of any country is mainly for the welfare of the people and the nation altogether. This aspect is also applicable for the internet censorship approach which undertake by various countries of the GCC region. However, it can be argued that censorship, up to a certain extent obstructs freedom of speech of individuals or groups, presenting their viewpoints via internet medium. The information might reveal unrealistic data about the policies of government or any other political party, but it is also a fact that this information is quite important to be known to the common people. The best example can be news articles, which show promises to convey the truth to the people, wherein the presence of censorship is highly uncertain. Again, owing to censorship and its approach of filtering sites, several potential educational resources get obstructed. For example, in school and colleges, at certain times, there are topics related to sexuality and drug intake for which students would not be able to find information. Additionally, it has been noted that with the help of internet, people can interact with others belonging to same country or in different regions, ensuring the development of further relationship amid them at large. However, owing to censorship, a few of the nations including the countries of GCC region filter some/all of the internet tools that are used for communication purpose, which further creates a social gap among people (Al-Saqaf, 2012; Trove, n.d.). Hence, the argument can be sum-up with the point that though censorship is for delivering greater benefits to the people and the country altogether, it also provides certain disadvantages for the people in terms of gaining broader knowledge on various topics. Conclusion From the overall analysis of the paper, it can be comprehended that censorship is viewed to be one of the imperative parts of the society. It plays a major role in assuring the welfare of the people belonging to various nations. It is generally imposed on the statement or the speech of the people or the contents in the World Wide Web that deemed to pose unfavorable impacts on the people, culture and every aspect of the society altogether. In order to obtain a comprehensive understanding in this regard, the paper contains an in-depth illustration regarding the notion of internet censorship in the countries located in the GCC region. The analysis showed that most of the countries in this region are quite strict with their approaches towards restricting the access of explicit and controversial internet contents by a greater extent. Hence, it can be concluded that internet censorship in the region of GCC is indeed significant and an inevitable part of the society. 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