Symposia Studentium Sesiunea ştiinţific ă anual ă universitar ă din 15 aprilie 2010 Elaborated by BUDECI Tatiana, Faculty of Law, 1st year Scientific Adviser: Natalia URSUL/Diana BERCO, M.A.) FREEDOM OF THOUGHT

Motto : Without Freedom of Thought There Can be No Such Think as Wisdom and No Such Thing as Public Liberty Without Freedom of Speech. Benjamin Franklin 1722

From The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights

Freedom of thought (also called freedom of conscience and freedom of ideas) is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints. It is different from and not to be confused with the concept of freedom of expression. Freedom of Thought ≠ Freedom of Expression Article 18 Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. Article 19 Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Suppression of freedom of thought One obvious impediment to those who would suppress freedom of thought, is that no one human being can possibly even know what everyone else is really thinking — let alone successfully regulate it.

Freedom of expression can be limited in several ways:  censorship  arrests  book burning  propaganda  political correctness, and this tends to discourage freedom of thought.

Internet censorship and freedom of thought Internet censorship includes the control or suppression of the publishing or accessing of information on the Internet. This is used is such countries as:  IRAN  SAUDI ARABIA  U.K.  EGYPT  CHINA

Internet censorship in China A widely publicised example of internet censorship is the “Great Firewall of China”. The system blocks content by preventing IP addresses from being routed through and consists of standard firewall and proxy servers at the Internet gateways.

"Freedom of thought... is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom. With rare aberrations a pervasive recognition of this truth can be traced in our history, political and legal. Without the right to freedom of thought, other rights such as the right to freedom of speech hold little meaning. FREEDOM OF THOUGHT