Internet Censorship: Censoring Freedom

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With today’s technology, communication and information can travel across the world in a matter of seconds. Ever since the internet was first made publically available in 1991 the ease of accessing entertainment, education, and information has been increasing every year. We now live in an age where roughly 30% of all people in the entire world are connected to the web ("World Internet Usage Statistics New and World Population Stats"). However, despite the obvious advantages of the internet’s freedom, some countries are trying to control the internet and display what it deems appropriate for the public eye. Many countries, including Australia, China, and North Korea implement a system to filter web content. Even the United States is now in debate to construct a system to filter the internet and remove sites that are considered censor-worthy. Although this may sound like a semi-logical approach to uphold our internet, countries that have this system abuse the censor for more than hiding adult content from children or removing drug paraphernalia sites. Chinese web content filters, for example, do not allow pro-democratic information, religious materials, and any speech considered improper. Another problem that also arises from the use of internet filters and blocks is that it is a direct violation of the freedom of speech granted by the constitution. Because of the many burdens and problems internet censorship brings, it is of great importance that we keep our American internet just like our country, free.

Internet censorship is nothing original for many people around the world. Several large countries around the world have been using this form of communication blocking to channel the actions of the internet away from what users...

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