Internet Censorship Pros and Cons
To be honest the more I think of this subject, the more I fill in the cons category and see little for the Pros. For instance you may have read recently a survey commissioned by Google about the value of the internet economy to different countries. To the UK economy the internet was estimated to be worth over 100 billion dollars – a staggering amount of money I’m sure you’ll agree.
It is potentially one of the biggest benefits to the economies of the world, the chance to open up world markets to people, companies and countries across the world. Some investment in infrastructure could give people the chance to set up online businesses and engage with economies across the planet.
For instance I know loads of people who now make their living entirely online, from web designers, marketers, programmers you name it. An amazing chance to perhaps equalise the life chances of people across the planet.
In reality of course this isn’t happening, the same backward, despotic governments that have created third world countries have spotted the internet and seen it as a threat rather than an opportunity. But of course they’re probably right it is certainly a threat to them, alas the opportunities for their people will be denied. I strongly believe there is no real argument, there is no internet censorship pros and cons discussion to be had.
You will see investment in internet technology, Saudi Arabia have spent a fortune in hardware to spy on their citizens, Syria force Cyber Cafe owners to monitor their customers – whilst they filter at a packet level every single web request from their country. Of course we know about China and Iran who live in fear of every web site that allows people to communicate and talk to each other.
There is no ‘pro’ to internet censorship only excuses…
Bypassing Internet Censorship
It sounds strange, I mean the need to bypass Internet censorship. I mean why should we all be treated so differently on the internet? Why are the people we trust to run our countries, governments and legal systems be allowed to control what we see, say or do on the internet.
Of course I’m not talking about the plainly illegal activities, we’d all be better off if all the countries could unite to catch and jail these people. No I’m talking about matters of opinion, freedom of speech and just plain social interaction with our fellow man. Isn’t that what the internet is about?
So is there a need to bypass internet censorship?
Well yes, I believe there is, take for example a country I spend lots of time in – Turkey. A wonderful country with warm and kind people, a place you can feel safe and where there is a tangible sense of democracy. A vast secular country, a republic created by an inspirational man called Kemal Ataturk. But Internet access is not following his secular ideals, or more to the point certain elements are using weaknesses in Turkeys Internet policies to censor content and websites.
For instance, you’ll find until recently that all of wordpress self hosted blogs have been banned and blocked in Turkey. It’s true a website which contains words and expressions from millions – all blocked because a few people disagreed with some content. Same goes for Youtube although I believe this might have changed since my last visit, Turkey had recently blocked access to the whole site.
Pretty bad, huh and turkey are rightly taking some flak from this ridiculous censorship from other democratic nations.
To be fair they are trying to change this – there is an interesting article here on some of the issues – Turkish Internet Censorship – the original article from Columbia University seems to have been removed.
The simple fact is that there are very real reasons why we should bypass internet censorship. No government has the right to block free speech and open political discussion at least if it wants to be though of as a democracy.
So if you won’t to learn how to bypass the censorship on the internet, please keep reading and I’ll explain some issues and methods where you can browse the internet freely.
The Internet Censorship Debate
As with most things are life, there are always positive and negatives. This is especially the case with the Internet and leads almost inevitably to the Internet Censorship Debate.
It is inarguable that the internet has changed the world. It has made the way we research easier; we have the wonders of the world at our finger tips; delight and desires realised at the touch of a button and it has revolutionised the way we shop and keep in touch with one another. This is especially helpful for those in remote places who long to keep connected to the rest of the world.
But there are negatives to the World Wide Web. It is now easier to access inappropriate material and the internet is a scouring ground for criminals to prey on the young and vulnerable.
As the internet has become more mainstream and embraced by society, the powers that be have censored the internet. All countries have some form of censorship imposed upon them; some may be rather lax whilst others take firm control over what can be viewed over the World Wide Web.
No one is disputing that the internet can be a dangerous place full of uncertainties. But the level of censorship that government applies can be questioned.
Within certain countries the internet is totally restricted, the government decides what can and can not be viewed. Impossible, I hear you cry! But it is true. In these countries the government control all computers that have internet connection capability. Now, this obviously is the extreme of internet censorship.
But the government will obviously always argue that censorship is for the good and the welfare of the public. Protecting the young and the vulnerable is the reason for censorship. Yet, when there are no clear definitions of what is offensive or harmful, and then the debate flares. 
Internet censored
The reason that there is such a debate over internet safety is down to the impact that this censorship has over the basic human right of Free Speech.
Some argue that censorship of the internet limits free speech and this goes against basic human rights. This is true, however there are laws relating to Free Speech that concern speech when it id classed as harmful, offensive or insights hate.
The problem arises, however, when considering what is classed as offensive. Everyone has a different view point built up by their own beliefs and experiences. If the internet was censored due to what every person found offensive, I doubt that there would be anything left.
This is where the internet debate begins to get stuck. Depending on the individual’s viewpoint depends on whether internet censorship is a positive or negative regime.