Internet Censorship In The United States

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There are multiple sides to the debate over the amount of censorship the United States' internet should have, two extremes have been chosen in order to form a mutual agreement of them. Having no censorship or filtration is the first extreme; nothing on the internet, including apps, articles, and social media sites, are monitored, filtered, or blacklisted. These people who are against complete, or absolute, censorship argue strongly that internet regulations will take away the first amendment. Cornell Law School defines the first amendment as the following: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people …show more content…

Having no restrictions means that there would be no need for this process, saving the concerns of if the first amendment would be violated or not. In Andrew Griffin's article, "Government Outlines Plans to 'Regulate the Internet' and Get Rid of Problem Content," he provides insight into the process of a government trying to begin laws to censor parts of the internet, with England and Parliament being the central focus. With the United Kingdom having made attempts to pass proposals that will "tackle bullying and abuse" as well as a "nationwide system to stop children watching pornography," they have faced heavy criticism from both the citizens and internet companies, especially social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Griffin stated this issue per the following: "[S]ocial media companies will also be asked to commit to a 'code of conduct,' but won’t be forced to under law because pushing through legislation would be too long and difficult for the beleaguered Conservative government." Many of the attempts made at regulation have been watered down in order for any agreement to pass, and nevertheless ministers are not relenting on censorship …show more content…

These social media websites, such as Twitter and Google, have been replaced with alternative apps created specifically so that the Chinese government can monitor them closely and have full access to all information that is stored on them by citizens. In Hoffman's article he claims that, "China doesn't just block individual websites—they use techniques to scan URLs and web page content for blacklisted keywords like "Tiananmen" and block such traffic." Hoffman here mentions 'Tiananmen,' which refers to the Tiananmen Square massacre that occurred 29 years ago in Beijing. This word and its related search results are censored due to the massacre being pro-democracy. Because of this, the Chinese government is attempting to remove it from their citizen's minds—and they are succeeding. A study from Kuang Keng Kuek Ser gives the 'staggering results.' "Only 15 out of 100 Beijing University students could recognize the “Tank Man” photo, which is the global symbol of the bloody

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