Jae-Hyun Seong Comp. 450 May 2008

 What is Internet?  Why do people use the Internet?  Why do people want to censor the Internet?  Why do people oppose Internet censorship?  What do people think about Censorship?  Is Internet censorship possible?  Why is Internet Censorship hard?  Impact of Internet  Conclusion

 Also known as "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks.  It is a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer.

September 2000:380 million online users February 2008: 1,320 million online users

 Friends / Dating  News  Shopping  Directions  Research / Study  Games  Leisure  Escape from the reality (Freedom)

 Internet Piracy  Free distribution(Mp3, DivX, Games)  Company profit loss.  Identity theft.  Hacking into secret Information.  Duplication of information / Plagiarizing.  Viruses.  According to “State of the Net consumer report published in September 2006, damages from viruses totaled $5.2 billion.  Spyware caused nearly a million people to replace their PCs.  Religious / Political Issues (China, Germany).  Child Pornography.  Too much freedom.

 Violates freedom of speech rights of the 1 st Amendment of U.S. Constitution.  Internet is still in its early ages and deserves to be given a chance to prove itself.  Laws of one country can’t hold jurisdiction in another because it has no borders - This means that domestic laws cannot rule over foreign laws.  It is good how it is, restriction of the internet will only reduce freedom.

Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Computing surveyed people online

 Internet is immense - Tracking down criminals is an extremely hard task.  Internet is anonymous - Difficult to determine the identity & age of user.  Internet has no physical boundaries – Hard to tell when a law is broken.  Once any information is posted online, deleting this material becomes almost impossible.  Duplication of information.  Spam mail.  Anti-Spam and Popup blockers are inefficient.

 Government would have to monitor: ▪ ▪ News ▪ Forum/website ▪ IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channels ▪ Database linked to a server ▪ FTP (File Transfer Protocol) sites  Costly and time consuming.  Tracking every move of every individual in this world is almost impossible.

 Internet has attracted people in the Entertainment, Marketing & Business fields.  Piracy plays a huge role in the impact of the Internet (Hackers, Crackers, Phreakers).  Free distribution of games, applications, movies, and mp3 damaged software, film, and music industry.  Internet “Underground” sparked possible Internet censorship ideologies.  In October 1998, United States passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that made software cracking and distributing illegal.  In May 22, 2001, Europe passed the European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD).  Distribution of illegal software still remains, eliminating piracy would be as hard as tracking down every single computer in this world.

 Internet is too complex of a network for censorship to effectively occur.  It is a fairly new and unique environment and requires more investigation / experience.  Violates the 1 st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  Lack of physical boundaries causes confusion as to where violations occur.  Future law enforcements on Internet censorship will decrease freedom and there will always be opposition.  The Internet is anonymous, and if lied, can’t be proved wrong.  Information hiding is risky due to hackers and copies can be made with no effort.  Thus complete efficient Internet censorship will be impossible.  Every country should allow their users to have freedom online.

 According to “State of the Net” published in September 2006, damages from viruses totaled $5.2 billion for consumers  Spyware prompted nearly a million people to replace their PCs.

 ADVANTAGES:  More social interaction.  Students read more books.  Healthier (No Radioactivity / Back Pains). DISADVANTAGES:  Slow access to information.  Inconvenient.  Reduced entertainment.

 ADVANTAGES:  Quick and easy access of information.  Entertainment increase.  Online shopping.  Technology advancements. DISADVANTAGES:  Piracy (Hackers, Crackers, Phreakers, etc.).  Less social society.  Unhealthy.  Information and Identity theft.

 1971 –  1972 – Telnet (Remote Connection to Computers)  1973 – FTP (File Transfer Protocol)  1974 – Ethernet (Local Network Protocol)

 During the cold war of 1969, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. government designed ARPANET.  ARPANET was a top secret military medium of communication to send information in case of emergency such as nuclear attacks.  The first data exchange over this new network occurred between computers at UCLA and Stanford.  Only used by government personal and professionals, the need for censorship never crossed anyone’s mind. In contrast to today’s Internet, the network was considered extremely safe because it was a top secret project.

 The adoption of the internet has outpaced any other electronics ever designed.  The adoption of the following by 50 million people took:  Radio (38 years)  TV (13 years)  PC (16 years)  Internet (4 years)