The Policies of Cyber Space - Term Paper Example

ID number: Internet Censorship in China and in the US Introduction Internet censorship in China is regulated under a wide variety of laws, rules and administrative regulations. Approximate 60 regulations were made by the Chinese government and these regulations have been implemented in domestic and multinational organizations and public sector entities operating in China. Government took initiatives not to protect the contents in the web sites but to protect the access of individuals of China. This country has the maximum number of cyber crime and imprisoned journalists in the whole world. The fact is known by all that Chinese government dislikes mass protest. So they built the pattern of censorship of Chinese social media in such a systematic way so that communist party can avoid any kind of grass root gatherings. US government also took effort to protect internet freedom through the different US cyber space programs and policies. The policies of cyber space outlined by the president of US also helped in developing network technologies and digital infrastructure. These policies also help to enhance individual privacy, international and national security. These can safeguard the freedom of expression and increase any person’s ability to communicate with other persons. These regulations and policies also help in continuous innovation for increasing economic activities. The government in US promote internet freedom concept in an effective way. In recent year US government has funded some programs to Chinese government regarding internet censorship. Supporting Reasons about Internet Censorship in China Internet censorship helps to block inappropriate materials from children and create a safe environment for accessing the internet. Many times some unwanted contents come across by accident which are not suitable for the mind of children. They may take any kind of wrong steps by their immature brain after observing those unwanted contents. So this will be very much harmful for their present situation and future condition. Again internet censorship increases privacy by blocking different social networking sites such as twitter, face book etc. These sites are providing personal details which a hacker can find by hacking the face book or twitter account (CQ Researcher, 270-272). For this reason the Government of China has implemented some censorship program regarding the said issue. It also prevents piracy. It has blocked all the pirate sources such as “The Pirate Bay”. Here individuals, software and media companies can easily uploaded and downloaded contents illegally and without any cost. So Chinese Government has taken steps to prevent such kind of practices. Internet censorship also helps to block pornographic websites which is very much essential for the young generation of the country. They will diverted from their educational focus and academic study if they can get access of such kind of web sites and also it is important for the future of the country to keep away them from such kind of offensive materials. Many people can illegally spread such things over the boundless mediums. Internet censorship prevents such kind of activities also (Lawrence and Lum 15-20). Many internet providers have entered in the Chinese market to promote the human rights which are very much related to the factors with the internet censorship. The Consolidated Appropriation Act which was implemented in the year 2008 stated that permission should be given on the access of internet and exchange of confidential information through internet to the closed societies. A fund of $ 15 million dollar was approved by this act to develop software which can be used to control the access of internet in two countries and these countries are China and Iran. In China there are approximate 384 million citizens who access the internet and this number is nearly a quarter of total internet user in the world. So the government has taken so many policies to protect the interest if the internet users. Overall, it can be said that internet censorship reduces the frequency and the amount of internet based crime in this country. There is a certain limit beyond that people can not able to get access and through this way government can control the overall activities which are related to internet in a successful way. Chinese government used various methods to censor internet and these processes are IP blocking, URL filtering, packet filtering, connection reset, DNS filtering and redirection etc (Sutter 271-275). Opposing Reasons about Internet Censorship in China Some opposing reasons also can be observed in China in case of accessing internet and on internet censorship. It is called violation of human rights. Every citizen in the country has full freedom of speech but internet censorship does not help in such kind of freedom. For this reason many citizens are feeling disturbed as they are not be able to raise their voice even if some unwanted situation arise in their life as well as their societies. In such closed and bounded situation voice of media has been suppressed. If government does any mistake then also people or media cannot raise their voice because of this stringent rules and internet censorship (Jiang 5-10). In this country internet censorship prevents people from sharing their views and opinion especially on certain topics such as politics, religion and other social problem in the country. Internet censorship also bounds the market from accessing few website companies and those companies are facing losses or the amount of profit is decreased in this country year after year. So their business activities are hampered in this particular region (U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission 291-295). For example this can be said that Face book is blocked in China. So this website looses many of its users and for this reason the profitability of the company also is hampered for the rigid cyber rules of the government of China. People of this country cannot get opportunity to contact with other people who live in different countries. They are confined in their own country and do not get access to communicate with the outside world or receive any kind of messages from them or heard the voices of them. Again this can be said that human right violation is a common practice in China. Many videos and articles are published in the world media about this topic but based on the secondary information. Primary information cannot be accessed because of the internet censorship. It prevents the truth of corruption within the country to come out in front of the whole world (Zhou 122-124). Supporting Reasons about Internet Censorship in US Internet censorship is very transforming in nature in US. The government of US has taken initiative to implement more than one global program activities in this regard. These programs provide new internet technologies that allow individuals to access online information in repressive environment and people can communicate freely across the countries through internet. In this country no such rigid and stringent rules and regulations are visible against the usage of internet. Even circumvention technologies allow users to access blocked sites also. People can get censored information by using different proxy servers. These implemented new technologies increase the freedom of internet in such a way that also improves mobile communication technologies (Axelrod-Contrada 32-35). US governments always think that during the time of stress proper censorship can keep the nation composed otherwise it would be harmful for national security. For example it can be said that if any terrorist group send any video to the police of US then that video should be kept in a confidential way otherwise the process of investigation may be hampered. So this kind of information should not be shared with public of the nation. Again, if government is facing any kind of problem such as lack of manpower for upcoming war then it can utilize the medium of internet otherwise people cannot understand the real situation of the country. When they will get know the actual condition then they will be ready to face the battle which will be positive sign for the country. Therefore, in such case US government is generally shared all the necessary information with the common people of the country. Some US based companies are already started practice for censoring contents about their organization in internet and if all the organization will follow the same way then mal practice by using internet will be reduced within very short span of time in future (Zuchora-Walske 43-50). Opposing Reasons about Internet Censorship in US As the policy of internet censorship in US is not very rigid and stringent so sometimes violence is created through internet against any decision of government. People are argued even not thinking about the certain decisions taken by government that those decisions are good or not. As they are getting full freedom of speech so they just want to utilize that power in a wrong way. As a result government compiled to stop from taking many productive steps which may be beneficial for the country. Without analyzing government’s point of view people start violent activities to stop certain activities. Identity theft is another problem in US due to the open internet censoring policy (Human Rights Watch 30-35). Hackers can easily hack and get all the necessary details about any particular person. Accessing pornography by the under 18 children is increasing day by day in US based countries. On the other hand media miss utilize their freedom of work which also a harmful step for the nation. Sometimes they spread wrong information by using internet and people get panicked. Again political parties in the country used censorship of internet for their own benefit which is a major drawback (Figliola 18-21). Conclusion From the above mentioned discussion this is clear that China and US both the countries have some positive and some negative points regarding internet censorship. In case of China it is observed that Chinese government is very much rigid in this case and implemented some strict rules for accessing internet. US government is applied more flexible rules than China in case of internet censorship. Again US government also helps China by providing some monetary fund so that Chinese government can improve the condition of internet censorship in their country. In China government can control identity theft, access internet content, online publishing etc by using technical filtering methods and of course implementing extensive guidelines and regulations. But sometimes such kind of extremely blocking activities hamper the interest of human rights. US government also implemented so many regulations to control the mal practices using internet. One of these regulations is Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). By using this particular act school and colleges can filter software and block unwanted sites. Though some drawbacks still exist in those countries but it can be said that both the countries have taken sufficient steps regarding internet censorship to protect their own nation as well as their own country. Works Cited Axelrod-Contrada, Joan. Reno V. ACLU: Internet Censorship. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish. 2007. Print. CQ Researcher. Issues in Peace and Conflict Studies: Selections From CQ Researcher. London: SAGE. 2010. Print. Figliola, Patricia. U. S. Initiatives to Promote Global Internet Freedom: Issues, Policy, and Technology. Collingdale: DIANE Publishing. 2010. Print. Human Rights Watch. "Race to the Bottom": Corporate Complicity in Chinese Internet Censorship. Netherlands: Human Rights Watch. 2006. Print. Jiang, Ying. Cyber-nationalism in China: Challenging Western Media Portrayals of Internet Censorship in China. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press. 2012. Print. Lawrence, Susan and Thomas Lum. U.S.China Relations: Policy Issues. Collingdale: DIANE Publishing. 2011. Print. Sutter, Robert. U.S.-Chinese Relations: Perilous Past, Pragmatic Present. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2013. Print. U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Report of the U. S. -China Economic and Security Review Commission 2008. New York: Government Printing Office. 2008. Print. Zhou, Jinghao. Chinas Peaceful Rise in a Global Context: A Domestic Aspect of Chinas Road Map to Democratization. Maryland: Lexington Books. 2010. Print. Zuchora-Walske, Christine. Internet Censorship: Protecting Citizens or Trampling Freedom?. Minnesota: Twenty-First Century Books. 2010. Print. Read More