Currently that our world is moving into a replacement technology era, the Internet is currently within the middle of the censorship issue. As mentioned in class, “the term censor can mean anything from the outright banning of content in any medium to the partial screening of specific content dubbed inappropriate; sometimes it can even mean making the availability of certain material difficult or practically impossible for certain groups to obtain.”
Web access is currently one among the quickest ways to speak with others, acquire info on just about something, and get things while not having to depart your home. What does Internet censorship mean? Internet censorship puts restrictions on what data are often promulgated or viewed on the web. Governments and alternative organizations ordinarily use web censorship to stop access to take over data furthermore on harmful or sensitive content.
However, web censorship also can be used as a disinformation technique to advertise specific spirituality and political agendas. There are several terms of the justifiability of censorship that matters such as digital, print, radio, television, speech, book and sometimes it also includes the alternative arts. According to Wikipedia, it defined book censorship as, “Book censorship is the act of some authority, government or otherwise, taking measures to prevent access to a book or to part of its contents.”
Censorship may be thought-about objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient as determined by a government, media outlet, or another dominant body. It can be done by government and private organizations or by individuals who engage in self-censorship. It may or may not be ethical. Many countries offer sturdy protections against censorship by law, however, none of those protections areas and may be censored. There are some situations where censorship can be justifiable such as the Internet. Internet was firstly found in the US to help the country in the times of war, but nowadays it has become a whole lot of information engine on any topic. On the other side, China is the country who was against this facility where it did had issues with a very named company Google.
According to an article “Google and China have been locked in an awkward tango for over a decade, constantly grappling over who leads and who follows. Charting that dance over the years reveals major shifts in China’s relationship with Google and all of Silicon Valley. To understand whether China will let Google back in, we must understand how Google and China got here, what incentives each party faces—and how artificial intelligence might have both of them dancing to a new tune.”
The reason behind this article was that China did not want the information that has been published in public for security reasons. Internet Censorship should be controlled by the government as there is information of religions, society, government, etc. which are viewed by everyone in the nation. For example, videos and articles published against religion or culture can create dispute among the citizens of the country.
Internet Censorship is administered to government programs to keep trustworthy to the public. Government is responsible to control the ideas of society. Should the Government have full authority on the internet? According to me, it is completely fine to allow the government to decide the information that we access is appropriate or not. Censorship is also important to keep children away from corrupting their minds in which inappropriate videos and images are accessed by the youth which is needed to be removed by authorized bodies. If the government has the right to censor these vulgar materials which can save to destroy children’s innocence.
Censorship mainly depends on what people write as one information written wrong can be harmful to people in the society and to the nation as well. For example, an e-mail containing dangerous information like bomb plans, threat, etc. have no right to spread over the internet and to discard is the right thing to do. In this way, the government does not violate the rights of freedom of speech by protecting their people from alarming information. This limits free access to all the information on the web which will not create ignorance of its citizens. The internet is an extremely educational commutative tool which is used by student’s right from kindergarten everyone can access tremendous information, so to keep it censored is essential. The government should prevent students from having access to bad websites and filtering library programme to block students to access.
Censorship apparently exceeds types of context together with speech, books, music, movies, and alternative arts, the press, radio, television, and therefore the net for a range of reasons together with national security, to regulate obscenity, pornography, and hate speech, to guard kids, to push or limit political or spiritual views, and to forestall slander and libel. There is a need for censorship in almost all the way it commutes to youngsters, especially in books censorship is necessary as it is the main tool of education to children and young people. There are several books and magazines in public and private library which should be provided to certain age people. On the same way, it should be freedom of choice in fear.
According to the article, Dangerous words, Censorship in the public school, “Problems tend to be resolved much more quickly and effectively when all involved- parents, students, teachers, administrators- are aware of district policies and procedures and can work within a complaint process which is already in place.” Basically, everyone is equally responsible for dangerous words books in public schools and libraries. Parents, teachers, administrators should utilize the censorship process in an effort to protect children and young adults from books that they seem dangerous.
References
- Internet Censorship – Article on the topic of internet censorship
- Book Censorship – Wikipedia page on book censorship
- Electronic Frontier Foundation – Organization dedicated to protecting digital rights, including fighting against censorship
- Council on Foreign Relations – Backgrounder on media censorship in China
- Human Rights Watch – Advocacy group focused on human rights, including freedom of speech and fighting against censorship
- Amnesty International – Human rights organization fighting against censorship and promoting freedom of expression worldwide
- International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) – Network of organizations working to defend and promote freedom of expression