Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Internet and Politics
What are the ways in which government sometimes tries to regulate or censor internet content? What are the problems with these efforts at regulation?
In recent times, cyberspace regulation has surfaced as a hot topic. The parameters and laws of cyberspace are principally defined by state-controlled Internet filtering. The governments and states exercise control over the Internet content at various levels. This power of governments over the Internet has dispelled the outlook of Internet as democratic architecture, out of the governmental influences. There is no single state in the world right now that permits its citizens an absolutely unhampered accessibility to information (Tariq).
The Internet censorship by the governments can be described as "the control or suppression of the publishing or accessing of information on the Internet" (Alsayegh, Lee & Thompson). The censorship of internet content by the governments has taken several forms and ranges. Firstly, some governments block any political content that opposes it or its policies. Content related to human rights, freedom of expression,...
Secondly, any social-centered content that the general population might see as unpleasant including pornography, gambling, prohibited drugs is also censored by a large number of governments. Thirdly, content associated with armed conflicts, border disputes, radical groups and nationalist movements is also scrutinized keenly and is censored by the state (Rininsland, 2012). However, the censorship of Internet content depends entirely on the country's ethics, principles, morality, beliefs and values. This is the reason why there exists a different degree of censorship in every country.
As the world has advanced in technology, the access to information by a common man has become simpler and easier. The Internet, in particular, has emerged as a tool that has brought added information to more people around the globe. Nevertheless, it seems reasonable that most of the governments have regulated the censorship of content it provides. The easy accessibility to the content related to pornography and bomb making has presented a…
References
Alsayegh, A., Lee, V., & Thompson, M. (n.d.). Government Censorship of the Internet. Retrieved July 25, 2012 from http://www.ethicapublishing.com/5CH3.htm
Rininsland, A. (2012, April 16). Internet Censorship Listed: How Does Each Country Compare? Retrieved July 25, 2012 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/datablog/2012/apr/16/internet-censorship-country-list
Tariq, O. (n.d.). Internet Censorship: The End of Digital Libertarianism? Retrieved July 25, 2012 from http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/informationSystems/iSChannel/iSChannel2006/Tariq_2006.pdf
During the founding the nation, before mass media, television, and the dominance of only a few major newspapers in each major city of the nation, America was filled with many small newspapers that were the voice of countless individual factions. America again has returned to its fractious beginnings online. No longer are their two, coherent singular voices in American politics. or, in the words of one South Korean political
' Purchasing agents can place orders, gather information, and communicate with different organizations from any place at any time" (Martin & Hafer, p. 41). Following the introduction of the Internet, many purchasing departments and purchasing representatives were better able to engage in direct communications, order taking and fulfillment as well as the provision of technical support with their business counterparts abroad (Martin & Hafer, 2002). These authors add that, "The
Internet Censorship The internet came to prominence as a tool and pursuit of the masses starting in the early 1990's. The capabilities, depth and breadth of what the internet has to offer have increased exponentially over the ensuing two decades. Such expansion has greatly eased the spread of information (Palfrey, 2010). The ease in which people communicate and disseminate information has created a cause for concern among many different parties that
They suggest that the laws necessary to protect informational privacy from unauthorized collection and use simply must catch up to the realities presented by modern digital technology exactly the way the laws now prohibiting unwarranted wiretapping of telephones once lagged behind the obvious implications of failing to incorporate the needs posed by modern technology into appropriate legislation (Levin, 2012). Competing Interests and Positions On balance, there are legitimate justifications for imposing
Politics and the Internet Online credibility is often a difficult matter to understand. The written word has unique powers that differ much from interpersonal exchange. Before understanding the meaning of words, context is needed to help give meaning and relationship to those words. The internet, for good or bad, diminishes the ability of the reader to usefully deduce what is being communicated due to this lack of context. Anyone can be
As a result, the Internet is a major threat to the Syrian government. This is directly challenging the legitimacy and authority of the regime. (Gold, 2011) ("Syrian Diplomats defects," 2012) ("Can Social Networking Overthrow a Government," 2011) During the Libyan Revolution, the Internet helped to play a central role in leading to the downfall of Muammar Gaddafi. This took place, through different opposition groups using Twitter to communicate with each