As recent events have shown, The Internet has played a vital role in various social movements across the Middle East. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming the new soapboxes for people to stand upon and speak their mind. As with all opinions though, there are people who disagree with them, and want to discuss the opposing side or stop them altogether. A corrupt government or other leaders in power can try to use Censorship to stop an opinion from being heard. This is the case of a recent situation in Egypt where the Internet was turned off for two months. While the Egyptian government thought that turning off the internet would stop protests about its political policy, it only fueled the fire after which the government was then overthrown. But what is censorship in both a literal context and an anthropological context? What are the types of internet censorship other than a complete shutdown and how many people actually use the internet in Egypt?
Merriam Webster Defines Censorship as the following:
“To examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable ; also: to suppress or delete as objectionable ”
This means, if one considers an object questionable by their own social standards they try to suppress that object by deletion, redaction or transfiguration. This does not however, explain in what social context the decision was made. Across the globe different cultures and societies have different definitions for what is “Acceptable.” Because anthropology is “the study of human beings … in relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture” , seeing how people live will give great insight to what might be consid...
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... protesters took to the streets. The act of censoring Facebook shows that it holds great cultural capital among Egypt’s people. In general, the government was forced to turn to radical displacement rather than soft critical censure.
Overall the protests succeeded in President Mohammed Hosni Mubarek’s resignation but even before the government was overthrown, a 2008 comment from Wael Nawara, an avid blogger and vice chairman of Egypt's El Ghad opposition party speaks true about the situation and what it became. "I think the time for censorship is gone," he says. "The government realizes this but they are trying until the last minute to slow the wheels of change. Forces of technology, changing cultures, changing modes of communication... This is a phenomenon that no government or alliance of governments can block. This is evolution and no one can stop evolution."
The article named “spring awakening” wrote by Jose Vargas describes the impact of social media in converting the mentality of young Egyptian generations into bold and defend their inalienable rights as a citizen. This article justifies how social media can mobilize a tremendous number of people to stand up for their rights. The reasons that inspire my emotion is emerging of “Wael Ghonim” as a legendary vocal figure of action for change, revelation of social media as earthquake for change, and fundamental soci-political change.
The internet is a place where people can freely express their political or other views for people to see. A recent study, Freedom of Net, by the activist group Freedom House shows both the immense censorship of information around the world and the declining freedom of information around the world, “Two-thirds of all internet users, 67 per cent, live in countries where criticism of the government, military, or ruling family are subject to censorship” (APF & Bell). The report by Freedom House digs into the censorship of government criticism, military criticism, and negative views on the ruling family in two thirds of countries studied in the report with governments around the world are silencing the voices of people and their publications. By censoring the people's voices, the governments are able to control the population and their views on not only their own government, but also countries around the world. Governments around the world are stepping up their censorship of public information posted on social media by taking actions to suppress the publications before they even begin. The report by Freedom House shares how police around the world are arresting and punishing those who have taken to social media to complain about a topic that makes the country look bad. The report states: “Social media users face unprecedented penalties, as authorities in 38 countries made
There are over 2,405,518,376 internet users on a global scale. More than 50% of the world has a form of Internet censorship, and of those countries China, North Korea, Iran, and Vietnam heavily restrict its citizens. This recent topic has reached new heights in the US with the growing number of internet access. More and more people are debating whether the internet should be censored. Internet censorship is the control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the internet.
For years, the topic of censorship has a been highly controversial issue. Over the centuries, many people have fought and died to gain the freedom of speech and ideas. The impression that creative ideas and important information should be hidden from society and controlled by the government, is a discordant one. Censorship is the act of controlling the freedom of speech, ideas, and information. Unsuprisingly, people in the nineteenth or the twentieth century had no problem with the controversial issue of censorship. A century ago, technology just started to make itself known in the world. People had the radio, the television, and the typewriter. Although the internet was invented, it was hardly used as frequently as individuals, in modern times,
We want freedom, we want our voice to be heard. Through social media we try to stay connected with people. However our governments fear the social media because it can lead to revolutions like the one in Egypt. Our governments use internet censorship to protect themselves. Although some of use try to oppose it, there is a population that is fine with it. That is the connection of internet censorship with modern day politics. It directly affects the way people look at their government and their regime and their political views. The three countries I talked about use internet censorship however there are differences between them. North Korea is the most extremist country and it is maybe an example of what China and Turkey might be like one day. These countries are all related to each other somehow and
The common image that comes to mind on the topic of censorship is that of book burning. Dating back to ancient times, the easiest way to deal with unwanted writings has been to get rid of them, usually by heaping them into a blazing pyre. In his most famous science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury warns of a futuristic society where all literature is destroyed under a kerosene flame and the citizens' freedoms are kept in check by the lack of written information. In fear of this kind of totalitarianism, many bibliophiles have fought against all manners of censorship, wielding the first amendment and the rights recognized by our fore-fathers. But with the technological advances of this the last decade of the twentieth century and the up welling of a new informational medium comes a new twist to the struggle for freedom of expression.
"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?
Libaries across the nation are in a dilemma, should they filter what information is available to it's visitors via the Internet? This scenario is being debated all across the United States. Many states are arguing over whether or not the library has the authority to limit what information is accessible via the Internet computers at the library. The argument is over the First Amendment right of Free Speech. There are family groups who are actually in favor of allowing unfiltered access on the Internet, not what one would think. These groups also support the notion of parents being with their children while they are on the Internet, not something that all parents have the luxury of being able to do. Other groups want the public Internet access points to be filtered, making the claim that any child at anytime can be harmfully exposed to Internet information that they may incorrectly understand. I will be showing options on what the local library should do, and explaining how I think the issue should be addressed from a topology standpoint as well as a technical one.
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.
Censorship as defined by Wikipedia is the suppression of speech or other public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by a government, media outlet or other controlling body. This context in itself is not acceptable as we have no rights to limit a person’s freedom of speech as that is the basic right we have as humans. However, censorship is a step taken by relevant authorities in order to maintain national security and stability, limit actions that may insight disregard for the law be it violence or causing harm to others and prevent the corruption of children. The first point that is going to be pointed out in this essay is regarding national security and stability. It is a common practice by governments aro...
Censorship allows governments more control of society than they already have, slowly progressing governments utilizing censorship to a dictatorship. Often times, this censorship can lead to immense rebellions. A good example of this is in China, where Google has been censored by a provider called The Great Firewall of China, which censors information that could be viewed as defamatory or insulting to Chinese government and culture. According to the article “Google turns off China censorship warning” as published by BBC News Technology, “Google has had a rocky relationship with the Chinese authorities since January 2010, when the company said it may shut down Chinese operations due to a ‘sophisticated and targeted’ cyber attack. Google said at the time that it was no longer willing to censor the Google search engine”. Many journalists have also taken a look at Egypt, which also utilizes censorship. According to “Egyptian authorities step up censorship” as published by the Committee to Protect Journalists website, the new military-run Egyptian government is censoring news outlets and keep journalists, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates. “Egyptia...
The Egyptians yet to accept freedom of speech, Bassem Youssef had to shut down his program, “Egypt 's most popular satirist Bassem Youssef weekly TV show, which lambasted presidents and politicians, has been cancelled because of pressure on the station airing it and a climate in the country that no longer accepts satire” (Hendawi, 2014). In addition, “he performs his satire in a country that is still testing the limits of its hard-earned freedom, where those who speak out against the powerful still have much to fear” (Rayman, 2013). Moreover, recently an activist called Fatma Naout expressed her religious opinion on T.V. and as a result she was accused of insulting religion. As a consequence, she was sent to prison for three years and fined LE 20, 000, equivalent to over $2550 (Gamal El-Din,
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.