Legal responsibility, IT companies, and internet censorship mechanisms

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND CENSORSHIP 6 Information Technology (IT) and Censorship Annotated Bibliography Travis, H. (2003). Cyberspace Law: Censorship and Regulation of the Internet. Florence: Taylor and Francis. (1) 1-280 This book explains how laws governing cyberspace has led information technology companies to infringe on the right of people to express themselves on Internet platforms freely. The main argument presented in this book is that IT companies take legal responsibility for the information posted on their platforms by the users. Consequently, the companies have taken deliberate measures to monitor and regulate the content that people post on their Internet platforms. This source contributes to the overall topic of IT and censorship by giving the legal perspective and the role of cyberspace laws in promoting censorship. Hannibal Travis is a graduate of the Harvard school of laws. He has carried pout extensive resource on Cyberspace security laws as well as copyright laws. Therefore, he is a credible contributor to the topic under this research. Mackinnon, R. (2009). China’s Censorship 2.0: How companies censor bloggers. First Monday, 14(2). From http://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2378/2089 This article explores how Chinese Internet companies censor information publications from specific bloggers by either preventing their publication or entirely deleting their publication. It presents a study aimed at determining the factors that influence IT companies to censor information posted by bloggers on the Internet platform. Mackinnon (2009) reveals that political sensitivity informs the choice and the extent of censorship on information posted by bloggers. This article is relevant to the topic under discussion in several ways. First, it explains the concept of IT and censorship in China. Secondly, it highlights the factors that lead to censorship such as the need by the government to control its political climate. The author, Rebecca MacKinnon, is a renowned advocate for Internet freedom. She is a graduate of Harvard University in Journalism and has worked with CNN previously. She has carried out extensive research on Internet freedom hence has the knowledge authority to write on this topic. Hamade, S. N. (2008). Internet Filtering and Censorship. Fifth International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations (ITNG 2008). http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4492629/ This article discusses the software tools that have been extensively used to prevent people from accessing certain information on the Internet. The argument presented shows that while such software is important in preventing children from accessing content that may not be appropriate for them, such software tools have been erroneously used to censor the freedom of people to express themselves as well as the freedom to access information. This article is relevant to the topic of this research because it gives information on the various tools used to prevent access to information in the IT field as well as how such tools are used either intentionally or unintentionally in causing censorship. The author of this article Samir Hamade is a lecture at the Kuwait University in the IT department. Weaver, K. D. (2017). Censorship in the Digital Age the World Over. Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition, 4(1), 7292-7301. This article gives a detailed chronological history of censorship. The author holds that concept of censorship has undergone significant evolution to fit in the dynamics of every timeframe. The main message is that the information age has witnessed its share of censorship that has largely been executed through IT platforms. Therefore, the article contributes to the overall topic of this research by elaborating how censorship has been executed to fit in the current technological setting of the information age. The author, Kari Weaver, holds a Bachelor of English Degree from the University of Indiana and a Master’s degree in communication. Moreover, he has carried out extensive research in the field of communication. He holds vast information in communication and is hence a credible source of information on this topic. The article complements other sources provided by providing background information on the Topic of censorship. Freshwater, H. (2015). Towards A Redefinition of Censorship. Censorship in the Modern Age, 2(2), 217-237. This article gives background information about censorship and the evolution of the classical concept of censorship in the desire to fit into the technological age. The article shows how societal expectations and government legislation and policy have contributed to censorship in an era where technology largely characterizes information flow. Therefore, this article contributes to the overall topic of this research by giving providing information on how the modern day technological forms of communication, as well as the relevant laws and policies, have fostered censorship. Moreover, the article explains how emerging issues have led to censorship through information technology. Helen Freshwater holds a doctorate in communication from Edinburgh University. She has undertaken extensive studies in the area of communication with a particular bias to impediments of freedoms of expression. Therefore, she offers an in-depth and credible analysis of the topic. Dewantono, S., & Supriana, I. (2014). Development of a real-time nudity censorship system on images. 2014 second International Conference on Information and Communication Technology (ICoICT), 212-226. This article shows how experts in information technology have ensured that certain images and content do not reach the public. The article mainly focuses information technology software that helps experts to filter information that reaches various sections of the public to protect them from inappropriate content. Therefore, this source contributes to the topic of this research by explaining how genuine concerns about the ethical use of Internet have resulted in technological measures that ultimately have the side effect of censorship even in areas where such censorship is not necessary. This article builds a body of knowledge about the unintended censorship in IT resulting from intentional efforts to address legitimate concerns in capitalizing on its benefits. Dewantono and Supriana, (2014) have carried out extensive research in the IT and are well versed on this topic. Therefore, they provide a credible reference point on the topic. Burbules, N. C., & Callister, T. A. (2000). Watch It: The Risks and Promises of Information Technologies for Education. Westview Press. This book explores the vast possibilities of information access that information technologies can present. Moreover, it lists several challenges of information technologies such as infringement of copyrights, privacy, and censorship. The book elucidates that information technologies present exciting opportunities for information access as well as risks of censorship in equal measure. This book will greatly contribute to the topic of censorship in IT by highlighting the various ways through which information technologies propagate censorship. The book explains the concept of censorship about information technologies. Nicholas Burbules is a distinguished scholar and a professor in the field of educational policy. Thomas Callister is equally distinguished educationist with vast knowledge and research in education. The two authors are a credible source for this research because of their in-depth knowledge and extensive research on the topic. Steinfeld, J. (2015). New dog, old tricks: Chinese censorship has moved on, leaving citizens battling to evade loopholes before they close. Index on Censorship, 44(3), 8-13. The article outlines how the concept of censorship has evolved and become compatible with the setting of the contemporary Chinese. In the argument presented, the model of censorship has changed to be relevant to the contemporary sources of information such as the information technologies. Therefore, the traditional forms and methods of censorship are no longer evident compared to censorship that relates to information technologies. This article will contribute to the topic of this research paper by giving information about how censorship has been executed in several places through information technologies. Jemimah Steinfeld has carried out extensive research in the field of freedom of expression and censorship. Therefore, her publication will make a credible contribution in building a body of knowledge that relates to this topic.

Information Technology and Censorship Information Technology has widely been hailed for its efficiency in presenting information to people. In this information age, different types of information technologies have made it possible for people to access diverse forms of information that they seek. This can be seen from Google Company, which has created an Internet platform where people can access information about anything at the click of a button. Google and Yahoo among other IT companies enable people to sift through large volumes of information and access the specific information that they seek. Therefore, IT has opened up the world to vast information that was not possible before the advent of such technology. Most democratic societies largely emphasize on the freedom to access information. This fundamental freedom has largely fuelled the advancement in the information technologies witnessed in the contemporary societies. However, several undemocratic societies thrive on the people’s lack of information. Such societies often thrive to hide critical information from the people. For example, governments that are intimidated often prevent their citizens from accessing critical information that they deem politically inappropriate. The following study shows that Information technology is failing in promoting the freedom of expression through censorship yet it was expected to come with it as a benefit. The advent of information technologies and the associated benefits of access to information have led to the development of a different type of censorship. This type of censorship targets the people’s ability to access information through platforms of information technologies. Both IT companies and governments have engaged in censorship and hence suppressed the freedom of expression on online platforms in the name of regulating and policing contents of online communication in the interest of morality and security. Information technology has come with its share of threats. The ability to access all information online has become a threat to the intellectual property right as well as an infringement of copyright. For instance, Google allows people to access information published by other people and hence predisposes such works to the possibilities of plagiarism and stealing of ideas. The threats to copyrights and infringement on people’s intellectual properties have informed the legislation of laws governing copyright and intellectual property in online content in many legal jurisdictions (Travis, 2003). Such laws hold the companies that offer search engine services responsible for the infringement of property rights and violation of copyrights. In response to this legal framework, most search engines companies have equally restricted the type of information that a person can access. The companies use information technology tools that filter the information protected by copyright and hence prevent users accessing them. Although the laws are meant to protect the intellectual property rights of people, they have been employed to deny people access to information deliberately. Although this censorship is justified because of its protection of intellectual property rights, it denies the authors of such works an opportunity to express themselves to a large audience and denies the people an opportunity to access information that was ordinarily meant for public consumption (Travis, 2003). Although the protection of intellectual property is important, the concept information technology must be cognizant of the fact that authors publish information to communicating to the audience. Denying the audience the opportunity to access such information and the author the opportunity to freely express themselves on online platforms under the guise of property rights has become a form of censorship that is characteristic of the information age. While protection of intellectual property rights is important, it must be provided for in a way that promotes anyone’s right to express themselves to a given audience freely. Similarly, it must not restrict people’s ability to access available information. Secondly, censorship has been propagated in IT for political reasons. Many political leaders have focused on intercepting the communication of people whom they deem to be a threat to their political careers. In a heightened political environment, political leaders in most weak democracies often monitor content published online and may pull that down content that may be politically incorrect from their perspective. In such countries, bloggers are prevailed upon to pull down the content they publish on online platforms or have their blogs and websites closed down by the political authority of the time (Burbules & Callister, 2000). The political class prevents the exposure of information that could portray them in a bad light to the public. In such cases, the preservation of the political image transcends and one\\\'s right to free expression or to free access to information. Censorship of information for political reasons has been a major limitation of the information technology as a tool that fosters freedom of expression as well as access to information. In a democratic society, political leaders must be tolerant of each other and willing to accept and tolerate opposing views. However, the absence of such willingness leads them to fight the very fundamental freedom of expression over which such democracies are formed. Moreover, such political leadership censoring online platforms does so for its political gain and demonstrates selfishness on their part. While censorship existed even in the past, the information age and its characteristic use of information technologies have made it easy for people to express themselves and consequently get instant and a wide audience (Steinfeld, 2015). This further posed a threat to political leaders who feel intimidated and hence inform their decision to censor such platforms. Some countries have pulled down their information technology infrastructure in the wake of heightened political tension in their countries. Moral and ethical considerations have equally influenced censorship in information technology. As already noted, information technologies provide people with an opportunity to access a wide range of information. Some of this information may deem not to be morally or ethically appropriate for a specific group of people. For instance, pornographic images and information are deemed inappropriate for minors in most social and cultural settings. Therefore, information technology has come up with methods of restricting access to information that may be deemed inappropriate for the people. Various technological tools have been developed with the aim of limiting the content that people can access (Hamade, 2008). Such tools block access to certain websites due to their perceived presentation of content that could be either pornographic or too violent for the consumption of specific audience groups. Censorship has come out as the unintended effect of the effort to retrain access to the different websites. For instance, mainstream media has intentionally refused to publish contents of traumatizing events such as terror attacks. Consequently, people do not gain full access to the information about the effect of such terror attack. The information about the extent of the terror attack in Paris remains scanty due to the ethical restriction related to presenting the information on online platforms for public access. The ethical consideration limits people’s ability to express themselves freely in cases where such expression involves the presentation of information that is socially and culturally inappropriate for the audience in question. Secondly, in cases where such information has been provided, the technological tools that filter the content of Internet access may filter them (Dewantono & Supriana, 2014). Consequently, the author is not able to express him or herself to his or her targeted audience since such communication has been limited through limited audience contact. Similarly, the audience ability to access information is highly compromised. Companies that provide online platforms for communications have equally played a role in enhancing censorship in online platforms. Some industry players such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Facebook regulate the content published on their online infrastructure based on individual company policies and the applicable law in the different jurisdictions within which they operate. Consequently, they have deliberately pulled down posts or blogs that contain information and content that they deem to be inappropriate (Mackinnon, 2009). An information technology company can pull down a blog or a post on its Internet platform for various reasons. It includes noncompliance to the existing laws, noncompliance to company policies, ethical and moral consideration, as well as posts incite people to violence. Nonetheless, the ultimate decision to pull down a post or blog from a platform denies the person an opportunity to express himself or herself and constitutes censorship freely. The decisions by an IT company to pull down a post or a blog from its platform based on ethical or legal considerations has been subject to debate in the recent past (Mackinnon, 2009). The main point of controversy is the subjectivity of the entire question of morality and ethics. The opponents argue that the principles of ethics and the definition of morality vary from one group of people to another. Therefore, the basis of establishing a universal standard of ethics and morality does not exist. By determining what an ethical post or blog is and what is a moral blog or post, the companies have essentially imposed a standard of ethics and morality on the users of their platform. Therefore, the imposed standards of ethics and morality cannot be a basis to deny people their fundamental freedom of expression. Therefore, the action to pull down the post on technological platforms of various companies is an act of censorship that is ill-informed. The very concept of censorship has undergone a great transformation over time. The transformation involves changing methods of censorship that adapts to the current societal setting. The methods of expressions and information flow have undergone a great transformation from historical times forcing the propagators of censorship to adopt new strategies that are compatible with the prevailing mode of communication in information technologies. In errors where face-to-face communication was the main mode of communication, censorship was carried out by positioning physical spies who would then relay information about a targeted communication. The people would be arrested and intimidated to scare them against such expressions. However, the changing technological times, as well as evolving laws of democracy, has rendered such crude methods of censorship to be ineffective and irrelevant in the contemporary society. Therefore, propagators of censorship have adopted methods are relevant to technological forms of information flow (Freshwater, 2015). The flow of information and methods of expression in the contemporary society is largely characterized by the use of information technology. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have reshaped the way people express themselves (Weaver, 2017). It is now possible for people to express themselves to a large audience through a single post. Consequently, current trends in censorship have largely targeted the online platforms and information technologies in particular. The laws propagating censorship have been framed in a way that targets suppressing the freedom of expression in information technology platforms. People’s freedom to express themselves through technology has been threatened compared to other means because the potential of influencing their perception and way of thinking is high (Weaver, 2017). In summation, the freedom of expression is a fundamental freedom and human right in any democratic society. Information technology was expected to promote this right by providing people with a platform over which they could express themselves to a relatively larger audience. However, several factors have come into play and undermined this fundamental freedom. Legal and policy frameworks that restrict information access to IT platforms under the guise of protecting property rights have served to sensor this the fundamental freedom of expression on technological platforms. Mover, the imposed ethical and moral considerations in technological communications have equally played a part in the censorship of the freedom of expression over information technology. Further political reasons and security concerns have led to the censorship of this freedom of expression. There is needed to relook at whether the advent of information technology has served to advance the fundamental freedom of expression or if it has contributed to the further curtailment of this freedom through censorship.