Internet Censorship

Recently I had to write a research paper on a topic of my choice, so I chose internet censorship. Here's my paper for all those interested and a big thank you to those who allowed me to interview them! :) 

Internet Censorship; Should the Government Be Allowed to Do It?

The government should positively not be allowed to censor the internet because censorship over the internet has negative effects on schools, businesses and takes away our freedom of speech. Some countries have already began using internet censorship and recently a bill to censor the internet called SOPA was being discussed which many people opposed because of the above reasons.

First of all, what is internet censorship? Internet censorship is the control or suppression of the publishing of, or access to information on the Internet. It may be carried out by governments or by private organizations either at the order of government or on their own initiative. Recently a bill intending to censor the internet was brought to attention, this bill is called SOPA. SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) is a United States bill introduced by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Provisions include the requesting of court orders to bar advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with infringing websites, and search engines from linking to the sites, and court orders requiring Internet service providers to block access to the sites. The law would expand existing criminal laws to include unauthorized streaming of copyright material, imposing a maximum penalty of five years in prison. SOPA has not yet been passed in the United States but has been shelved for the second time as many people opposed it.

Although SOPA has not been passed yet, there are other countries who do censor the internet.  An example of one of these countries is China. Internet censorship in China is among the strictest in the world. The government blocks web sites that discuss the Dalai Lama, the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters, Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement, and other Internet sites. As people began protesting to stop the censoring of the internet, the Chinese government tightened its grip on electronic communications, and appeared to be more determined than ever to police cell phone calls, electronic messages, e-mail and access to the Internet in order to smother any hint of antigovernment sentiment. The government’s computers intercept incoming data and compare it against an ever-changing list of banned keywords or Web sites, screening out even more information. The motive is often obvious: Since late 2010, the censors have prevented Google searches of the English word “freedom.”

As we can see from China's example of internet censorship, the right to freedom of speech is taken away from people with the act of censoring the internet. If SOPA were to pass then our freedom of speech and expression would also be taken away, even if we do not live in the United States as a lot of the websites we (in Canada) use are American websites. The following is an excerpt from an article on The Globe and Mail's website. "'If I was in China, I wouldn't be mildly annoyed, I'd be pretty angry (about censorship). But, as we saw with SARS, what is happening on the other side of the world can have a large and direct impact on us — and censorship was certainly a big factor in that crisis,' says Julie Payne, Program Manager of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. 'Perhaps it's time that we started to care more about censorship by countries like China, even if it is motivated by self-interest.' Payne worries that Canadians largely believe themselves to be unaffected by censorship, to the point that they may not even know about potential threats to their rights. 'How much access are CSIS and the RCMP getting to Canadians' e-mails and Internet usage patterns?' Payne asks. 'Do we even know how much our privacy is being compromised, as is happening in the U.S.?'" As shown in the article Canadian citizens will be affected by SOPA just as much as American citizens will be which means the U.S. is able to take away our freedom of speech and expression on the internet.

Not only does censoring the internet take away freedom of speech and expression but it also causes negative effects on both school and businesses. In some schools filters get put into effect with the best of intentions, they are not a cure-all to hiding inappropriate content. For instance, in schools with a filter designed to keep out inappropriate content may not be able to access content about the book "Moby Dick," Further, if a person is trying to find information on a more controversial topic -- such as sexuality or drug use -- to educate themselves, they may not be able to access the resources they need to be as self-educated as possible. Censoring the internet negatively affects students' grades as well, as most students use search engines such as Google to research topics for school projects. If the information they are looking for is not there, they are unable to put together their project and receive a bad grade.

Another factor that affects not only schools, but businesses as well is cost. Censoring the internet takes time and resources. In addition to the cost of the labor and equipment required to set up a filter, firewall or other form of censorship, the system needs to be maintained, occasionally upgraded and repaired as time goes on. Whether the cost of this comes from schools, corporate budgets or government budgets -- the money could be more effectively spent on more important issues, no matter what the scale. Not only does the cost of implementing this system is an issue but also money that businesses could potentially lose from internet censorship. Many businesses use the internet to advertise their business or services, sell their products, and keep customers updated on new services or products. Without the internet continuing to remain uncensored the businesses could suffer because they are not bringing in enough customers, not having the ability to sell things online or customers lose interest. This could cause businesses (especially ones who are strictly internet businesses) to completely be shut down. Also, if a business owner can't access certain parts of the Internet, they may not be able to compete fully on a global scale, or access the best resources for products and services required.

Recently, we asked 10 different people (5 males and 5 females) on their thoughts about internet censorship. 100% of these people said that internet censorship would be a negative thing, 60% said that it would have a negative effect on schools and 70% said that it would have a negative effect on businesses. When asked about the negative effects internet censorship would have on us, they answered with the following:

-          affect personal learning experiences negatively

-          disconnects people from one another

-          takes away freedom of speech

-          harder to do research for school

-          causes businesses to fail

-          reduces our knowledge

-          harder to access information about other countries

-          silences the right to protest

-          takes away a source of media

-          stifles creativity and innovation

-          puts a burden on website owners to police user-contributed material.

When asked about the positive effects internet censorship could have on us they answered the following:

-          corporations (that don't depend on the internet) will get more money

-          stems the flow of cyber-crime and pirating

-          producers/artists get the money they deserve

-          parents wouldn't have to constantly watch their kids on the internet

-          less hackers/ viruses/ fraud cases

-          potentially better government control over protests and other unlawful assemblies

-          there are none

When asked about how they felt about their right to freedom of speech being taken away, they responded with the following answers:

-          angry (3 people said this)

-          upset

-          frustrated

-          aggravated

-          repressed

-          that the government is trying to stop a social voice

-          that it will cause us to be sent back as a civilization

-          That the internet should be in line with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as the U.S. First Amendment Rights.

Therefore, the government should not be allowed to censor the internet because of the negative effects it will have such as taking away our freedom of speech and expression, reducing our knowledge, affecting our schools and students' abilities to succeed in school, affecting our businesses and causing businesses to lose money/ be shut down, stifling our creativity and innovation, and silencing our right to protest.