Internet censorship is controlling what a user could and could not see. Even though an individual merely searches for something as little as cats, Internet censorship still occurs. It is this unnecessary censorship that is killing young minds today. Internet censorship can be carried out in many ways. A government agency for instance can do it; or the worst of all, a private organization, looking at you AT&T. Even though business firms may think that they are stopping individuals from receiving “unsafe” information, they are in fact doing the opposite. By censoring something that started out as a distribution channel for “free-information,” the business firms and governmental organizations not only harm themselves, but the future generations too that rely abundantly on the Internet for information. Internet censorship is a curse and should have no place in such a high technology oriented world.
To begin with, net neutrality is a major thing that is needed. Everyone lives with and uses the Internet. It is like a child to his or her mother; the mother has to take care of the child. Recently, the FCC announced that it would push for the “ death of net neutrality” which would mean that all Internet traffic would be treated equally (Abbruzzese). Let’s pretend that our ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are freeways on which our data travels. With net neutrality, ISPs would not be able to open up new lanes for “fat users,” that is everyone would have the same speed limit (Abbruzzese). By doing this, not only will the information be not available at an instant, it would make the situation worse than it already is.
The picture on the right, explains this horrendous thing that the FCC is pushing for. The Internet would become similar to...
... middle of paper ...
...eb. 16 May 2014.
Nunziato, Dawn C. Virtual Freedom: Net Neutrality and Free Speech in the Internet Age. Stanford, CA: Stanford Law, 2009. Print.
Pepitone, Julianne. "SOPA Explained: What It Is and Why It Matters." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 17 Jan. 2012. Web. 14 May 2014.
Abbruzzese, Jason. "The FCC and Net Neutrality: What You Need to Know Before Thursday." Mashable. Mashable.com, 15 Mar. 2014. Web. 15 May 2014.
Steward, Bart. "Here's How to Contact the FCC in Support of Net Neutrality! - Bart Stewart." Bart Stewart. N.p., 3 Mar. 2014. Web. 15 May 2014.
"Websites Go Dark to Protest SOPA." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 18 Jan. 2012. Web. 16 May 2014.
"China’s Internet Censorship | China Law & Policy." China Law Policy RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
"Cyber Security Bill CISPA Is Passed - Security Affairs." Security Affairs RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2014.
On any given day in 2015, you would be hard-pressed to walk into a room at random in America without encountering a Smart Phone. There is hardly a library left that does not feature a quiet chorus of clicking keyboards from the laptops within. We are, in essence, permanently plugged in to the Great and Powerful Internet, and we rely on service providers (ISP’s) to provide us with this now-important resource. Lately, though, getting Internet is becoming less and less simple as folks debate the enforcement of Internet— or “net”— neutrality in the United States. There are a lot of inflated egos arguing back and forth on the subject, and the phrase “net neutrality” is becoming widely recognized amongst every day Internet users. But how many of these people actually get what is going on, here? What is net neutrality, and why are household net surfers and economists alike getting
It is interesting to note that some of the new Internet regulations contradict International Laws signed by the Chinese government. China signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1998 that states that “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print…or through any other media of his choice”.
The emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web brought upon a medium of communication with a range of opportunities for the world. However, this medium is, in due course, subject to the control of a few major companies. The enigma of information flow is the central concern of net neutrality. Consumers, competition and network owners would benefit directly from the regulation of network neutrality because it would provide a positive impact to those parties as well as provide equality.
At the beginning of 2012, a series of coordinated protests occurred online and offline against Stop Online Piracy Act Bill (SOPA) that expands U.S. law enforcement’s ability to combat online copyright infringement. As this protest involved many influential websites like Google and Wikipedia, it certainly draws national attention on SOPA. Whether censorship should be used online against online materials infringing property rights, as included in SOPA, is the controversial issue. Even though SOPA eventually was terminated by the Congress, things behind SOPA cause further debates. The relationship between censorship, free speech and copyrights in this bill is worth discussing. In SOPA, copyrights are enforced by censorship, but censorship at the same time violates free speech. Although SOPA’s online censorship on unauthorized online material is an effective method to protect internet copyrights, it resistants innovation and compromises freedom of speech.
National Coalition Against Censorship. National Coalition Against Censorship. Ed. NCAC. n.d. Web. April 22 2012.
If anyone is offended by what is said on the internet, then they can remember to not visit the webpage next time and hold themselves accountable. This paper will examine the issue of internet censorship constituting a violation of the American people, individual rights, common good, and the constitution. Many laws were proposed to censor the internet, most fail in Congress but 3 have succeeded.... ... middle of paper ... ...
"Internet Censorship." What does this mean to us? What is restricted? Censorship is summarily defined as the suppression of objectionable material. That means that material such as pornography, militant information, offensive language, anti-religion, and racism would be restricted in use. Freedom would not only be restricted to material placed on the web, but also what you could access, and where you could explore. Should the right of Freedom of Speech be taken away from us on the Internet? Having stated this, should there be any restrictions and if so, what's the limit of censorship?
Internet is a powerful tool that allows users to collaborate and interact with others all over the world conveniently and relatively safely. It has allowed education and trade to be accessed easily and quickly, but all these benefits do not come without very taxing costs. This is especially true when dealing with the likes of the Internet. Countries in the European Union and Asia have realized this and have taken action against the threat of net neutrality to protect their citizens, even at the cost of online privacy. Internet censorship is required to protect us from our opinions and vices. Every country should adopt Internet censorship and regulation since it improves society by reducing pornography, racism/prejudice, and online identity theft.
Schmidt, E. E., & Cohen, J. (2014, March 11). The Future of Internet Freedom. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from
that some of the material that is on the net needs to be filtered and regulated. The word censorship is defined as examining any material and prohibiting what is objectionable, according to Webster’s II dictionary. Censoring the internet is a violation of the first ammendment rights of every citizen in the United States. There are two general truths that some people feel are attitudes towards censoring the internet. The first is that very few people admit to favoring it. The second is that no matter who you are, in a matter of minutes spent surfing the net almost anyone can find something that they find to be offensive. In fact, some web surfers feel that the truly inappropriate things are inspired by one’s own religion. For example, the Nurenberg Files website showed pictures of mangled fetuses with the photograph, name, and address of some abortion clinic doctors.
21 Nov. 2013. ernet-protection-act>. "Supreme Court Refuses To Revive Online Censorship Law." American Civil Liberties Union. N.p., 21 Jan. 2009.
Freedom of Speech in Cyberspace: Government Restrictions on Content in the United States of America
Censorship is blocking or hiding something that is considered unacceptable to the public eye or a group of a certain age. In looking at the effects of censorship on society, it is apparent that it can both be beneficial and harmful. Censorship is seen to be beneficial through preventing dangerous people from viewing government documents and preventing children from viewing inappropriate content. Censorship can be harmful when it comes to taking away rights declared in the Constitution and setting unequal standards for men and women. These examples show how effects censorship has on society can be both good and bad. Looking at facts and credible opinions is a way to truly see how censorship has negative and positive effects.
The Internet is an extremely educational and communicative tool. Everyone can access a tremendous amount of information and connect with people on the other end of the planet; it is capable of doing everything. Nowadays, the society is facing a variety of challenges and controversies which are mostly related to religion, morality, the economic crisis, etc., and the most talked-about issue in today’s world is “Internet censorship”. Although the Internet is very useful, many people are suggesting the idea of censoring the Internet; however, the government should not censor the Internet because a free and open Internet usage has many positive impacts on people’s lives.
Herumin, Wendy. Censorship on the Internet: From Filter to Freedom of Speech. New York. Print.