Internet Censorship Essay

Introduction

In this paper, I will be discussing the internet and how we can effectively control and censor the content on the web, in particular, the problems arising due to censorship. Definitely, Internet Censorship is definitely a hot topic all around the world, with all the big changes happening right now it’s no wonder people will be talking about that, one example is the Net Neutrality Repeal in the US. As I said in this paper I’ll be discussing the obstacles that need to be overcome to build a perfect filter that censors only the unwanted and unnecessary content from the Internet that everyone can agree on.

The Problem’s

1. Implementing internet censorship brings various issues and problems that would make everyone's lives much harder. One of those problems is the unintentional censorship of useful/important information from various fields across the entirety of the internet. This hinders people’s lives and stops them from gaining knowledge.
2. Another problem would be that the entire concept of internet censorship is against the freedom of speech and it violates human rights. The internet is an important platform for people all around the world to come together and share their ideas, opinions, thoughts, and anything they think they want to talk about or share anonymously without worrying about society’s acceptance.
3. Also, information on the web can be manipulated, by making it almost impossible for any person to see. For example, a government official knows that he controls the information on the web and can thus engage in illegal activities without being worried about being found out. Many politicians have used it for destructive purposes and have victimized many individuals in the process.

Causes of the Problem

Something like this happening is expected since internet censors aren’t exactly precise in their work and operate on extremely wide areas covering the entire web. Web filters scan websites for references or keywords that, if found on the website at all, that site would have to be blocked. As stated here, this type of web filtering is called keyword blocking and it is by far the most unreliable of the filters, even if a single one of the restricted words has been mentioned anywhere on the website, it will be blocked, and nothing can be done about it unless someone contacts the internet provider and manually asks them to remove the filter from the website that was accidentally blocked.

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Just like with accidental censoring, sometimes people may speak about controversial topics, expressing their views and opinions on it, it could be due to the same reasons as mentioned in my explanation of the cause of my last problem, however, it could also be due to the government officials not liking their opinions and views on such topics and for these kinds of conversations to be stopped, they may intentionally block access to such websites.

Sometimes high-ranking officials may abuse their power and contribute to illegal activities, and since it is very easy for them to hide their acts over the internet, they easily block this information from the public.

As said in this source, a Canadian human rights group revealed that research showed that several Us-made Internet Surveillance technologies can be used for content censorship as well as tracking citizens. This group, Citizen Lab labeled their report 'Planet Blue Coat: Mapping Global Censorship and Surveillance Tools, ' which found that technology used for blocking content and tracking is currently used on government or public networks and identified “11 ProxySG and 50 PacketShaper devices on public or government networks in countries with a history of concerns over human rights, surveillance, and censorship. ”ProxySG and PacketShaper are network technologies manufactured by Blue Coat [corporate website] which could be used for censorship or surveillance. According to the author of the report, the findings indicate a need for:

National and international careful examination of Blue Coat implementations in the countries we have identified, and a closer look at the global rapid growth of “dual-use” information and communication technologies. Internet service providers responsible for these deployments should consider publicly clarifying their function and hope that Blue Coat will take this report as an opportunity to explain their due diligence process to ensure that their devices are not used in ways that violate human rights.

Consequences

1. When something like this happens, many health sites offering vital information for teens or anyone generally, tend to get blocked. This bars people from being able to learn or understand things about themselves or anyone, thus leaving them wondering all about themselves.
2. A consequence of this would be that a lot of people wouldn’t be able to properly express themselves in any way possible and not be blocked or restricted from doing so.
3. These high-ranking officials will be able to get away with doing crimes and offenses that are prohibited to the public, but not the ones in power. They could do whatever they please, corruption, selling information to other countries, basically whatever they want.

Current Scenario

At this moment, many events are happening throughout the world that just might change the Internet forever. In the US the Federal Communications Commission, directed by Ajit Pai, has passed the vote to end Net Neutrality in the US. Net Neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites. According to FCC Chairman and Director, Net Neutrality is the number-one reason why rural Americans lack broadband access.

Something worth noticing about Ajit Pai, before becoming the Chairman and Director of The FCC under President Trump, Ajit Pai was serving as the Associate General Counsel for Verizon Communications Inc., Another reason mentioned by the FCC is that Net Neutrality is discouraging investments by Internet Providers (such as Verizon) and because of this, America has lost out on billions of dollars.

The current FCC administration has suggested there was a decline of about 5% in capital expenditure by broadband providers after the Ordeal took effect. However, analysts say that this decline was planned ahead of time and that overall investment in this field is up. Executives of telecommunications companies have said on record that Net Neutrality won’t be affecting their investments at all. If it was affecting them, they probably would have spoken on such a topic due to this being helpful in the fight to change their classification. I believe that Ajit Pai is secretly working with telecom companies like Verizon, to help them financially and be able to do whatever they like on the internet without anyone being able to notice and stop them including Ajit Pai and other government officials.

(Ajit Pai’s full speech against Net Neutrality on the day of the vote can be found here.

Perspectives

I think internet censorship can be good and bad at the same time. In certain areas such as gambling, drug trafficking, and other illegal activities should be banned and their access should be restricted from the public, however, in the way of achieving these admirable goals, quite a few problems would be created such as overclocking, violation of human rights, abuse of internet censorship and many more and I want to find a way in which most of these problems could be solved.

Turkish teacher’s view on internet censorship according to this source and its table comparisons, is such that teachers tip slightly more in favor of censorship (59.4%) rather than against it (40.6%). Some of their reasons for needing internet censorship are Unethical content, Inappropriate content, Sexually explicit websites, Pop-ups concerning sexual content, Encouraging immoral actions, Causes mental issues, etc, Reasons for not needing censorship: Freedom mustn’t be restricted, Prohibition attracts people, Personal Rights must be protected, Families can set up their filters, The decision is made by those in power, etc.

A different view on this would be from the perspective of Iran. As stated in the source, Iran is a country with really strict Internet Censorship Laws, since 2010 Iran’s government has placed restrictions on internet bandwidth by lowering the speed at which photos and videos are uploaded to the web. As well as that, they have also blocked mass communication using text messaging to mainly avoid protests, just like their decision to ban social networking sites such as Facebook. The government has also implemented constant surveillance over Internet Communications, in turn even arresting dissidents.

Most of the world hates web censorship, mainly because it is really hard to implement and most of the time someone does, it spirals out of control or makes the censorship system in their favor and against the public.

Possible Solution

A possible way to solve these problems is to use Blockchain technology. Blockchain technology is a decentralized platform for digital currencies (such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) that acts as an intermediary and logs all financial transactions. Blockchain technology is an extremely secure way of transferring finances due to its decentralized nature since every time a transaction is being made every registry in the Blockchain is being updated.

The blockchain is an ideal version of the internet that was intended by its creators. Nothing is under the direct control of anything regardless of status or wealth but distributes control over to everyone granting everyone equal rights to it. This way if there was to be a dispute among the people over what’s on the internet, everyone together could decide if they wanted to remove it or not.

A positive advantage this could give internet censorship is since Blockchain is much, much simpler in securely storing data and accessing it, this information could be stored much more efficiently, and quickly and be amassed at a much larger scale, this would, in turn, make it a lot easier for them to correct mistakes if, for example, a wrong website was blocked, they could quickly find that website due to constant monitoring of the database and instantly unblock it.

Another way of possibly decreasing blockage of meaningful websites is instead of using “keyword” blocking which has a high rate of over-blocking, we can use “Site Blocking”. Instead of searching keywords across the site, this runs a web search across the internet for specific websites that were determined illegal by humans, this has a much lower rate of over-blocking, though this takes a lot more effort and time to complete since there are countless websites on the internet and people must do this by themselves.

Bibliography

1. https://www.ukessays.com/essays/media/the-advantages-of-internet-censorship-media-essay.php
2. https://alair.ala.org/bitstream/handle/11213/258/Plain%20Facts%20about%20Internet%20Filtering%20Software.pdf?sequence=76&isAllowed=y
3. https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/14/16777626/ajit-pai-net-neutrality-speech
4. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323187023_Teacher_Perspective_on_Internet_Censorship_in_Turkey
5. https://www.ifla.org/publications/trends-in-transition-from-classical-censorship-to-intenet-censorship-selected-country-o
6. https://fee.org/articles/the-blockchain-can-solve-internet-censorship-and-copyright-issues/
7. https://medium.com/nauticus-blockchain/five-smart-uses-for-blockchain-technology-b1bc8630707b
8. https://futureofworking.com/8-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-internet-censorship/
9. https://www.jurist.org/news/2013/01/governments-abusing-internet-surveillance-and-censorship-technologies-report/
10. https://citizenlab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Planet-Blue-Coat.pdf