Internet Censorship By: Austin Tyler And, Lisa

Introduction  Ever since there has been an Internet, there have been attempts to control it. However, as with all media, the purveyors of the Internet have fought these restrictions. Controlling the Internet, has become more difficult in recent years as the multinational dimensions of the Internet have become more apparent with each nation’s laws only applying to websites hosted in their own domain.

Beginning of Censorship on the Internet  Since approximately 1995, world governments have been trying to censor content of the Internet.  For example, political speech, racial hatred, and pornographic material have been some of the prime targets of Internet censorship.

First Countries to Censor the Internet  Australia is the first country to censor Internet content in  Countries such as the United States and New Zealand tried to follow up on Australia’s censorship ideas, but in both cases the bill was struck down.

Anti-Censorship stuff  The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission announced that it would not censor the Internet.  The UK issued a declaration that they will not censor the Internet and will allow parents to regulate their children’s access.

Censorship in the USA  In 1996, the USA created the CDA (Communications Decency Act) which restricted online content that was considered indecent or obscene and was able to be viewed by children.  However, the Act was struck down because it was ruled to be unconstitutional.

Censorship in China  Political views, differing religious views, British media, Taiwanese, and Tibetan independence as well as any form of democracy or freedom of speech.

Common Censored Websites  Pornographic sites  MySpace  Wikipedia  Political  Religious  Google

Censorship in China  In China, all Internet communications are run through the Golden Shield, which is a standard firewall.  Outside of China it is known as the Great Firewall of China.  All sites that contain certain words or topics are censored, even if only part of the site contains the words or topics.

Censorship in Minor Countries  Vietnam blocks human rights sites and opposing political sites.  Cuba has made the accessing the Internet illegal without a permit.  South Korea has blocked 31 North Korean websites for political reasons  Morocco censors several personal blog sites  Norway has a filter which blocks access to child pornography.

Conclusion In Conclusion!!!!!!!!!!  Most countries censor the Internet using filtering systems, firewalls, and ISP’s.  Countries with no internet censorship laws, including the U.S.A., let the people decide what they see by using personal firewalls and filtering systems.

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