Long-Term Effects Of Censorship

Controlling and Commanding, The Effects of Censorship

Incomprehensive is the only accurate way of describing the depth of the world wide web. With a plane so large it can be easy to see the bad, leading some to want national censorship of the internet. However, Internet censorship should not be put into effect. The internet has proven to be the most user friendly creative space and should not be handicapped in any way.

Due to how accessible the internet is to everyone, some say the internet should be censored for everyone to keep them in a safe environment. 88 percent of Americans use the internet and many of which are minors (Aaron Smith). Even though some might run into bad materials, everything on the internet can be found in real life.

Belinda Luscombe, a Time magazine researcher, said this about the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) blacklist for websites “some selections appeared politically motivated at worst. Sites advocating legal euthanasia, Satanism and even Christianity were blacklisted” (Belinda Luscombe). In 2008 The (ACMA) proposed a national ban on inappropriate materials on the internet which they advertised saying it would only protect the people. However after their list of blacklisted websites was realised Michael Malone, Managing Director of iiNet, an Australian ISP said "It became increasingly clear that the trial was not simply about restricting child pornography or other such illegal material, but a much wider range of issues including what the Government simply describes as 'unwanted material' without an explanation of what that includes" (Belinda Luscombe). To think that this was a one time occurrence would be naive as it has happened nearly everywhere in some form. The United States Government enforcing the ban on showing photos of U.S. military coffins coming back from Iraq in 2003 was criticized as nothing but a ploy by the government to curb opposition to the war (Censorship). As can be seen widespread censorship is not practical as it is easily tainted and not well

Censorship started 2500 years ago in ancient greece and societies in the middle east by the government censoring the written word. Leading to the Nazi region, Soviet Union and China, the most recent offenders, to try and make it work themselves (Censorship). But it has never worked for any of those countries. China being the only one that still practises it today has been slowly loosening their censorship realizing it is not what the people need. In 2008 Google launched Google.cn in order to fit China’s strict guidelines for internet censorship. Then one year later China saw videos of Chinese government officials beating protestors so Chinese officials hacked and banned many Sites including twitter, facebook and youtube. This of course sent Google into outrage and caused google to completely uncensor their site in China. China responded by blocking google and switched to new internet providers who meet all of China's expectations without question. Google says that having to censor their own content completely went against their ideals but they thought that by providing their website they could at least provide more resources than others (Introduction to Internet). By the year 2016 China’s new extreme censorship still exists, however it does not work. Frequently companies and supply Chinese citizens with unblocked networks in order to help as much as they can to better