Internet Censorship
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The range and number of different people and organisations opposed to the act showed the Congress how strongly people felt on the issue of free speech on the Internet.
In writing this еssay I aim to givе an insight into onе of, if not thе most important issuе on thе Intеrnеt today, that of cеnsorship. I will first givе a briеf outlinе as to how thе Intеrnеt camе about and how it works, as this is nееdеd to undеrstand how thе Intеrnеt can or cannot bе cеnsorеd. I will also givе rеasons why govеrnmеnts and individuals want to cеnsor thе Intеrnеt, attеmpts that havе bееn madе, and why pеoplе arе opposеd to thеsе attеmpts at cеnsorship. Lastly I will outlinе if cеnsorship of thе Intеrnеt is practicablе or achiеvablе and givе my own viеwpoint.
According to (Kristula 1997) thе bеginnings of thе Intеrnеt can bе tracеd back to 1969. APRA (Thе Advancеd Rеsеarch Projеcts Agеncy) a division of thе Amеrican Dеpartmеnt of Dеfеncе crеatеd a nеtwork of four sеrvеrs callеd thе APRANЕT. Its purposе was to dеcеntralisе information on thе nеtwork so that in thе еvеnt of a nuclеar war information would still flow ovеr thе nеtwork. Information passеd around it until it rеachеd its dеstination, it was not nеcеssary to follow any particular routе. It is this kеy point thе fact that thеrе is no onе placе through which all information passеs that, as I will еxplain in morе dеtail latеr makеs cеnsorship difficult if not impossiblе. Thе nеtwork еxpandеd in sizе and spееd as tеchnological advancеs continuеd ovеr thе nеxt twеnty yеars.
Standards began to emerge for instance the TCP/IP protocol for transmission of data over the network. HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) the standard way in which to send and receive Internet documents had come about by 1990. Four years later the APRANET was disbanded, this evolved further with in excess of three million computers being connected together to form a public network now known as the Internet. The Internet continues to grow at a massive rate everyday, with figures of the number of people connected being obsolete before they even have a chance to be published. This rapid growth caught many people by surprise the main feature of the early Internet was the complete freedom from censorship, and its true democratic ideal. In the words of (Sterling 93) the Internet is “a rare example of a true, modern, functional anarchy...there are no official censors, no bosses, no board of directors, no stockholders...no central authority”.
However by the mid 1990’s governments and other groups began to show an interest becoming concerned with the unrestricted flow of data and potential of the Internet. As mentioned above groups concerned with censorship of the Internet fall broadly into two categories, governments and organised groups of individuals. There are a number of reasons governments want to censor the Internet:
1) To stop pornography, both access of obscene material by children and the distribution of paedophile material.
2) To limit discussion of political and/or religious matters, Zambia banned an on-line edition of an opposition newspaper, and imprisoned the editors for criticising the government.
3) To counteract ‘misinformation’, some governments actively pursue people involved in what they consider to be deliberate subversive misinformation campaigns designed to undermine the government.
4) To protect cultural boundaries. With the U.S. domination of the Internet and the subsequent prevalence of the English language, the French government has for instance passed a law declaring that all sites must be in French.
5) To stop hate speech and groups, in Germany Anti-Semitism is illegal the government has made numerous attempts to ban neo-nazi sites.
6) To limit the spread of subversive knowledge, this mainly covers sites promoting terrorism, which can include information on making bombs etc.
7) To enforce legal rulings, the Internet can and has been used to circumvent rulings concerning the British Official Secrets Act. (Global Censorship 99) As far as organised groups of individuals are concerned, by far the most important reason for censoring the Internet seems to be that of pornography.
There are a number of organizations dedicated to promoting Internet censorship mainly for this reason, they include ‘Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility’, ‘The Christian Coalition’, ‘CyberAngels’, and the ‘National Coalition for the protection of Children and Families’ (Duarte 97). Which leads on to the question ‘Should the Internet be Censored?’ The arguments for and against both have valid and worthy points to support their reasons. Good arguments can be put forward for some of the reasons for censorship outlined above, most people wouldn’t argue with trying to censor paedophile material, or neo-nazi material. On the anti censorship side the main argument seems to be the protection of free speech, with the majority of material on the Internet being American dominated, this has become a particularly contentious issue in the United States. Mainly because unlike in this country they have a constitution, which sets out basic rights for every American citizen and is considered by many Americans as sacrosanct.
The first amendment declares that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances” Their argument is that any attempt at censorship is a violation of the first amendment and therefore unconstitutional. A major milestone in the censorship issue occurred in 1996 when the U.S. Congress passed the Telecommunications bill, part of which consisted of an act that allowed the government to censor speech and eliminate all sexually explicit material on the Internet this was called the Communications Decency Act (CDA). The act met with widespread disapproval and inspired new organisations like the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition (CIEC) and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to form in order to fight for free speech as laid down in the constitution. Major companies including Microsoft, America Online and Apple supported them.
The range and number of different people and organisations opposed to the act showed the Congress how strongly people felt on the issue of free speech on the Internet. The CIEC supported by the organisations named above launched a civil suit in the federal court challenging the CDA on the basis that it was unenforceable and violated the first amendment. In response the defendants argued in favour of the CDA because “The Internet threatens to give every child a free pass into the equivalent of every adult bookstore and every adult video store in the country” (Mattos 97).
However the three judges that heard the CDA case unanimously opposed this assertion, declaring the CDA unconstitutional on the grounds that it contravened the first and fifth amendments. In the United Kingdom the issue of Internet censorship has not become as big an issue as it has in the U.S. with the government favouring a self-regulatory approach for Internet content regulation as opposed to the introduction of legal solutions. The approach by the UK government is largely inline with developments in this area at the European Union level. However there have been some regulatory attempts in the U.K. with the government keen to try to regulate the Internet in areas mainly concerning state secrets and personal attacks (Gates 96).
The potential for the Internet is almost unbounded it is already a major area of discussion all around the world and is still in its relative infancy. The Internet community must be allowed to govern itself, no government can or should be allowed to dictate what can and cannot be published on it. It should be left free so anyone no matter whatever their viewpoint can add new ideas and opinions so we can all benefit from this remarkable new medium.
Bibliography:
Akdeniz, Y. (1998) Who Watches the Watchmen: Part II Accountability & Effective Self-Regulation in the Information Age Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK) http://www.cyber-rights.org/watchmen-ii.htm
Duarte, D.R. Internet Censorship http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/3702/censor.htm Gates, B. (1996). The Road Ahead New York, Penguin Books.
Kristula, D. (1997) The History of the Internet http://www.davesite.com/webstation/net-history.html Mattos, J. (1997) The CDA Before the Court http://pathfinder.com/@sAbDXgQAlb0upRm2/time/daily/1997/970319/970319-1.html Global Censorship http://ils.unc.edu/global_censor Sterling, B. (1993). Short History of the Internet. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
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