Issue of the Internet Freedom - Research Paper Example

Internet freedom Internet freedom refers to the unrestricted access to information present on the internet. The internet provides useful information that meet the individual’s different preferences which range from entertainment, education, religion, political among others (Davis 24). It may also provide extra information, which is unknown to the party that is searching for information. Eventually, this might serve to better the concerned party. Therefore, internet freedom hence can become advantageous or disadvantageous in relation to the usage (Davis 34). One of the benefits of Internet freedom exists in different sectors of the economy especially business organizations. Throughout the years, different business organizations have been able to benefit from the use of the internet which has helped these firms grow and expand and also in a way advertise the company. This is because the internet has opened them up to a larger market whereby people around the world have access to the services offered by these organizations (Davis 54). For example, a company like Ebay has made it probable for all people to trade goods, as well as exchange services through the internet saving people time and costs they would have incurred bygoing round the world in search of these same goods and services. Organizations have also mutually benefited from each other. For instance companies are able to outsource the different services or commodities that they might need from the wide selection of firms and individuals that present their profiles online. This is seen clearly when companies outsource recruitment services from other companies (Davis 67). Throughout the years, internet freedom has been a resourceful and information's a valuable source for people in the education sector. Both teachers and students within various educational organizations refer to the internet when looking for information about topics they might be researching (Christine 45). The internet contains a wide range of information about different topics; moreover, there is the presentation of information provided from different people’s perspective on the various topics. This allows students, and teachers to analyze and evaluate the different perspectives provided and come up with a detailed compilation. Internet freedom has also allowed for correspondence within the field of education. Most institutions are now embracing the use of e-learning. This service eliminates the barrier of geographical distance between the student and the learning institution and enables students to pursue and achieve the same quality of education from a specified institution without being physically present there. The main requirement tends to be a computer with an internet connection and both teachers and the student can converse and interact in the virtual classes creation. Testing and grading can also be done through the same way (Christine 98). Internet freedom has also allowed students around the world to interact and share their different ideologies on various topics whether controversial or noncontroversial. This has shown to be beneficial especially when discussing prevalent issues such as global warming, HIV/AIDS etc. This also may play a part in fostering strong relations and co-operation among diverse peoples. From all these benefits of internet freedom, there is facilitation of knowledge expansion in and out of the education sector (Christine 55). Internet freedom has also encouraged the growth of the entertainment industry. People resort to the internet when in search of ways of entertaining themselves by listening to music, watching movies or interacting with other people on social networking sites. The internet provides a wide range of entertainment options to cater for diverse and unique preferences of different individuals (Adam 63). The current popular form of entertainment dominating the internet in this modern day is the use of social network websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype among others. People resort to socializing as a new way of passing time and keeping themselves entertained; therefore, the social network sites provide some sort of a platform through which people from around the world can interact, make new friends and share ideas. Individuals in the entertainment industry owe a terrific deal to internet freedom as it has enhanced their marketing strategies and their reach in terms of product appeal. There is a perception of this in various musicians, movie producers, actors and other such professions in this field use the internet in order to advertise and market their work, which is in the form of music albums, movies and so on (Adam 35). This method of marketing can be seen as somewhat full proof as the capability of the knowledge of the marketed product gets guarantee of reaching almost every household around the world provided that they own a computer with an internet connection. There is a perception that internet freedom in this case has made processes much easier, faster and more efficient. In terms of market research, internet freedom has made it possible for individuals in the industry to gauge themselves in terms of their popularity among the general public and the relative reaction that their products solicit. This feedback can be in turn used to come up with better marketing strategies (Adam 66). Also, purchases of these products can be made through the internet thus providing a means of livelihood for the artists. Websites like YouTube have made this possible by providing unlimited and unrestricted access policies which encourage internet freedom. Despite the pros brought about by internet freedom with regard to the entertainment industry, there has also been an up rise of consequences. Internet freedom has encouraged the growth of violence, pornography, and drug and alcohol abuse among other vices. The widespread information available on the internet which has unrestricted access; therefore underage individuals are capable of accessing harmful information (Mulembo 77). Therefore, there is an obligation for children especially in developed countries to mature quickly before their time. They engage in alcohol abuse, pre-marital sex, as well as drug abuse, which result into teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, psychological and physiological disorders. Internet freedom contributes to the degradation of the society and its norms and moral values. Politicians around the world are discovering the role of the internet in swaying voters in their favor. Therefore, most of them turn to the internet as a tool in their campaign strategy, whereby they either reach out to the public to garner support or they quash the opposition by applying defensive strategy such as propaganda through the internet. In the worst case scenarios, authoritative regimes censor their opposition’s websites curtailing information flow to the public (Mulembo 80). This perception is blatant in countries like Egypt, Syria during the recent power revolutions. Politicians garner support, and sometimes get contributed campaign funds through their websites and social network accounts. They use these as forums to state their political and personal manifestos and what they hope to accomplish, change, rectify or better once elected. The ease in information accessibility by the public proves to be advantageous compared to skeptical media outlets which present the campaign material in a negative way (Davis 37). Through personal websites, a politician is in some way given a voice, and a platform to explain their ideologies in a way that he/she sees fit. Such websites provide Q&A forums where politicians can answer questions from the public directly and better represent themselves (Weber 79). Through internet freedom, there is an enhancement of a sense of accountability among politicians. This is because these sites serve as a direct manifestation of the politicians ideals and eliminates chances of representation as the politician is in charges if the content uploaded. The restriction of internet freedom occurs through internet censorship. Internet censorship refers to the process in which governments around the world control the publishing of information and public access to this information (Adam 75). Governments might choose to carry out this process personally or request other people to create restrictive measures to bar the public from internet access. However, private individuals or organizations might take it upon themselves to regulate internet access by making it available only to authorized personnel. There are different types of internet censorship. These include; political, social norms and morals, security and intellectual property censorships. Political censorship involves curtailing the flow of information via the internet by ruling governments to ensure the opposition’s ideologies do not get to the public. Situations like this normally occur in countries with authoritarian or dictatorial forms of governments (Mulembo 100). The censorship of social norms and morals occurs to ensure information going against the society’s expectations remain accessible only to authorized people, for example, restriction of child pornography. Security censorship occurs in organizations whereby they implement filtering measures to ensure personnel only have access to websites that are crucial to the organizations requirements, for example, filtering of social network websites (Weber 33). This allows for proper time utilization within the organization. The final censorship measure is on the internet restriction of intellectual property (Adam 90). This helps to safeguard intellectual property rights by preventing people from committing copyright infringement acts that attract legal liabilities. It is essential to note that people around the world are in disagreement over restrictive internet freedom. Those opposing internet censorship are of the opinion that it limits people’s inherent right to access to information. They further add that, internet censorship goes against the core reason, as to why the establishment of internet in the first place, which was to make provided unrestricted information to the entire public. In addition, they purport that governments’ abuse internet censorship by using it to impede their competitors’ flow of information during the campaign and election periods (Jane 79). In such a case, internet censorship proves destructive in that people are incapable of making informed decisions about the preferred candidate because they lack information about some of the candidates (Mulembo 99). Those supporting the restriction of internet freedom advance that this tool proves useful especially in times of crisis in a country, for example, during internal or external warfare situations within a country. This is because, internet restrictions control what information people can access from the internet. Therefore, destructive information from instigators and insightful citizens can be blocked from reaching the rest of the public helping to prevent unrest. In conclusion, internet freedom presents both positive and negative effects to internet users around the world. Despite this, keeping true to the notion of cause and effect, with the keeping out of harmful information, truthful information stays inside. Thus, providing the rest of the globe with an artificial sense of well-being of the region in question as is the case in North Korea (Jane 68). Therefore, if not monitored well, the practice of the restriction of internet freedom may rob people affected of a wealth of knowledge on the internet. However, this knowledge, whether crucial or insignificant it might be might serve to better the life of people around the world in need of the information. Keeping this information from them is tantamount to infringement of their inherent right to information (Mulembo 89). Religious doctrines; spread by various religions continue to gain prominence because internet freedom eases the process of spreading these doctrines (Davis 77). Leading religions capitalize on this; therefore, they create websites containing dogmatic religious ideologies designed to lure internet users into accepting their beliefs. In most cases, religious information proves beneficial to most internet users searching for a cause to believe. The provision of religious information spread across various websites on the internet; provide a frantic individual a wide range of religious beliefs to choose (Davis 80). The choice to join a religion that appeals to him more than other religions is, therefore, left to the individual. However, some religions rely on people's desperation to find a suitable faith; to ensnare unsuspecting individuals, and in turn use them to wreck havoc and spread false ideologies (Bingham 12). They further, boldly justify their inhumane actions by claiming that their actions' sanctioning is by a supernatural entity, for example, jihad warriors use their Islam religion to justify their acts of terrorism. In addition, most cases of religious cyber terrorism also find their basis in dogmatic religious ideologies spread via the internet. Internet freedom in such cases proves disadvantageous (Patricia 43). Works Cited Arnold, Davis. Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act Of 2001. Washington: General Books LLC, 2011. Bingham, Jane. Internet Freedom: Where Is the Limit? New York: Heinemann Library, 2006. Figliola, Patricia Moloney. Promotig Global Internet Freedom. New York: DIANE Publishing, 2010. Jane, Muli. U. S. Initiatives to Promote Global Internet Freedom. Washington: DIANE Publishing, 2010. Mulembo, Alex. Global Internet Freedom: Corporate Responsibility and the Rule of Law. New York: BiblioGov, 2010. Thierer, Adam D. Who Rules the Net?: Internet Governance and Jurisdiction. New York: Cato Institute, 2003. Weber, Samantha R. Promoting Global Internet Freedom. New York: Nova Science Pub Incorporated, 2010. Zuchora-Walske, Christine. Internet Censorship: Protecting Citizens or Trampling Freedom? New York: Twenty-First Century Books, 2010. Read More