Strengths and Weaknesses of Internet Censorship - Term Paper Example

Running head: COMPUTER SCIENCES AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Censorship of Internet Insert Insert Grade Insert Censorship of Internet Introduction The internet provides a platform for the society to exchange information at a minimal cost. In the United States of America services provided by the internet are believed to be the driving force behind democratization and freedom in the society (MacKinnon 2008).The internet plays a vital role in the dissemination of information in the world today. It provides virtually everything that you require from getting directions from one place to another, downloading books, reading newspapers among others. With internet you don’t have to visit a library to read a book or a newspaper vendor in order to read a newspaper. The World Wide Web is open to anyone who has a device that can connect him/her to the internet. Someone can post anything on the web like manufacture of bombs, inciting citizens to riot, sexually explicit material, pictures of the family and many other issues. Internet posts can be beneficial to the society if it gives good knowledge and the author gives accurate information. However, some posts have caused revolts in some countries or moral decay. All over the world countries and its citizens are grappling with the issue of free internet expression and censorship (Kalathil, 2010). Internet Censorship is defined as a step taken by the government or society to control access to ideas and information on the internet (Internet Censorship, 2013). Internet censorship is vital due to the growth in information and communication systems. This is important in order to control what information reaches the citizens to avoid revolutions and moral decay. However, some regimes have used censorship to deny citizens access to certain information which may threaten their unpopular or oppressive regimes. This paper examines how internet censorship has worked and how it has been detrimental in the society. Strengths of Internet Censorship Internet censorship ensures that sexually explicit images and videos are not viewed especially by children. It ensures that those using children pornographic articles and videos are sued and the site can be closed. This ensures that moral decay in the society is prevented because such sites encourage children to engage in sexual activities that are not suitable at their age. Internet censorship ensures that speech or words of author that may cause harm to a specific group or individual is not disseminated. Videos or articles that may attack a particular race or religion may be blocked to encourage religious and racial harmony. There is information that a country may consider to be sensitive and should not be passed to the public. As sensitive as this information may be, there are those who may have access to it like the intelligence agencies and if internet is not censored they can easily pass this to the public. Censorship ensures that search information is not passed to the public and hence preserving the secrets of the nation. Countries may have military information that may not want the enemy state to know about. Censorship ensures that such information is not passed to the enemy state via internet. Any site that publishes such sensitive information may be blocked and authors prosecuted (Buzzle, 2013). There are pictures or videos on the internet that may influence people negatively, examples are scenes of people smoking, or consuming alcohol that may lead people to copy them. Censuring may ensure that such scenes are not passed to the citizens. This ensures that the moral standards of the country are maintained. There are online articles and videos that have stunts that may be dangerous to the public if they copy. Censorship in a particular region ensures that such sites are blocked. There may also be partial censorship where those seeking to access search information may be required to verify the age in order to protect minors from accessing adult only material. Politicians and individuals may use the internet to pass to the public political propaganda that can propagate violence and threaten the political stability of a particular state. Internet censorship can ensure that such information can be intercepted and blocked from reaching the public. Internet censorship can also protect the privacy of people. Where it is practiced, it prohibits one to write information that is deemed private about an individual without his or her permission. This promotes privacy among individuals. Plagiarism is the use of one’s published or unpublished information without permission or acknowledgement. In other words it amounts to using ones published or unpublished work as if it is yours. Censorship prevents plagiarism as access to plagiarized work is blocked and can even lead the author to be prosecuted. Companies sometimes use the internet to advertise their goods and services. These companies sometimes may give exaggerated or inaccurate information about their goods and services. This usually misleads the public and they may order for the goods based on the posted information which in the real sense may not be true. Internet censorship ensures that this does not happen. Companies that are found spreading false information about their products may risk having their websites blocked. Terrorism is a global concern as it threatens the security of various countries. Dangerous technology like the manufacture of bombs may be spread on the internet. This may encourage terrorists to manufacture the bombs and use them on their malicious missions. Censorship ensures that such information is not available on the internet and sites that publish such information are blocked. In the case of emergency, internet censorship can assist in controlling rumors and panic. In such situations anyone can post any information that may cause panic across the nation, if the information that is posted is censored it prevents inaccurate or inappropriate information from reaching the public. Such a strategy was employed by India in 2008 when The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel was attacked by terrorists. Weaknesses of Censorship Internet censorship may be detrimental to the society and should be avoided whenever possible. Child pornography is inappropriate and should be discouraged at all costs but there are already legislations that deal with the producers, viewers, and distributors of such information. Some information may not be appropriate to the society but the only way to deal with them is allowing the society to be exposed to them and let them decide for themselves on how to combat them. Internet censorship can only lead to the groups that produce and view the prohibited information to go underground and secretively still produce or view the offensive information. Such sites may be more popular than when they are allowed. With the improvement of information technology, many people may rely on the internet as a source of news and entertainment. Print media is less censored as compared to internet. This is because it is recognized as the main means of distributing information in the society. As we shift from print media to online articles as a source of information, there is need for removal of some censorship otherwise the society may be denied the right of information. Internet censorship may seem impossible; this is because a country may restrict information that is produced in their country but not in foreign countries. For example, a country may remove all home reference to pornography but it may be possible to access similar material in other countries. Freedom of speech may be curtailed by ID requirements that are brought about by internet censorship. There are some publications that could be well published anonymously. Such publications may be about the evils of oppressive regimes, call for a revolt against social injustices among many others. These publications may lead an oppressed group to rise against the oppressor and lead to liberalization, but they may also cause victimization and prosecution of the author. The information would well be passed to the society if the ID would not be required but in situations where it is required, the authors may fear reprisal. ID requirement limits the freedom of speech which is one of legitimate human rights (Just Answer, 2013). Internet censorship may lead to removal of all sex-related topics. This may affect teaching of reproductive health and dangers of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS. Dictators may use internet censorship to maintain their oppressive leadership. They post only information that hail their regimes and block all information that opposes them. In this case the citizens fail to get vital information about the ills of such regimes and may continue to suffer under their iron rule. Censorship leads to withholding of information and keeps the society ignorant about what is going on. The information that is withheld may not be harmful to the society as such but it may have been done in order to continue oppressing them. The world is becoming a global village. Through the internet the people can know what is going on in other parts of the world. One can make friends on the social networks in other parts of the world without necessarily having to travel there. Internet censorship has in some cases led to blocking of social networks like Facebook. This works against globalization. In today’s world most of business transactions and advertisements are geared towards being done on the internet. Internet censorship may lead to blocking of all internet communication and in such cases lead to stoppage of all business transactions. This may lead to companies losing a lot of income and has an impact on the country’s overall economic performance. In such a case, individuals may also incur more costs like travelling to the companies or making phone calls in order to inquire about certain products. Internet censorship may be done to suppress the people or prevent harmful information from reaching them (Faris, 2011). In both cases, it may lead to the society becoming so curious about the information that is being withheld. This may lead to protests and threatening of the country’s security. Many ISPs have mechanisms through which users report information that they deem to be offensive and once alerted they delete or block it. This is self regulation and it works well because it is not subject to opposition by users. It is not biased as compared to regulation that is done by governments. Some authors have argued that why should adult only material for instance be completely blocked when there are already software’s that parents can use like the ‘net nanny’ to prevent children from accessing such information? Case examples China China is a fast growing country and it is emerging as one of the world’s economic giants. Internet usage has rapidly grown in that in 1994, China had 20,000 internet users and in 2006 the number had grown to 384 million (Jujaroen, 2011). Foreign ideas infiltrate into China from all parts of the world via the internet. China’s authoritarian government fears that this inflow of information may cause the population to turn against the government. Given that China is heavily populated it is very hard to control it and the government has resorted to media and all channels of information dissemination. China adopted the “The Great Firewall” technology that censors and blocks many websites, controlling the information that can be accessed by China’s internet users (Minteh, n.d). This approach has received great criticism from the western media as it is seen as infringing on the citizens right on access to information and hence violating their basic human rights. Egypt Internet censorship was done in Egypt during the Arab spring. They virtually blocked the internet. For some period access to internet was completely blocked by pressurizing telecommunication providers and ISPs to block access to the internet (Chima, 2012). The government did this in order to prevent anti-government sentiments that were spreading across the web. Egypt is just one such example but there are other countries that have sometimes blocked entire internet communication or some websites. The shutdown according to the OECD had direct impact on the economy as it lost 19 million US dollars in five days. Apart from the economic impact, the shutdown was also a violation of the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Egypt. This was a violation of article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human rights, which Egypt is a signatory. The article advocates for freedom of access to information. It stipulates conditions under which limitations can occur but it must be within preservation of the respecting the rights and reputations of others. North Korea North Korea is considered as one of the most technologically censored country in the world. The government controls all computers that access the internet. The websites that can be accessed are few and contain mainly academic materials. Few chat rooms are allowed and the government heavily monitors them. India Censorship is occurring in India at a great extend (Nair, 2012). In 2001, the communication Convergence Bill was meant to introduce internet censorship. In 2003, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team was created and given power to block websites that may be giving information that is offensive to the government. Although the government attempts to block the material that they deem dangerous to the public, it is important that it is done so with recognition of the citizen’s rights to information. In India, like China, censorship is done in order to prevent infiltration of foreign ideologies that may lead to overthrow of the government. Being a populous country, it is very hard to control and suppression of information channels is necessary. Sometimes the government, however, does so without proper consideration and ends up infringing on the citizen’s right to access to information. Conclusion Internet censorship is a double edged sword. Censorship can be done to maintain the country’s political stability and prevent moral decay. However, with technological advancement, the internet is overtaking other information media as the main source of information dissemination. Most people now rely on the internet to provide them with the necessary information because it is relatively cheap and easy to access. Censorship of the internet may deny the citizens the right to information, which is one of the human rights recognized globally. Censorship can also be used by tyrannical regimes to suppress passage of information to the citizens. By keeping the population ignorant they reduce the chances of the people rising against them. Freedom of the internet must be encouraged and censorship must be done whenever it is only necessary. Reference List Bonneau, J. (2009). Internet Censorship and Resistance. UK: Cambridge University Buzzle (2013). Pros and Cons of Censorship. Retrieved from Chima, R. S. (2012).Internet Freedom & Censorship. India: Jindal Global Business School Faris, F. R. (2011). Internet Censorship. Retrieved from Internet Censorship (2013). Internet Censorship Debates. Retrieved from Read More