Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet Censorship: Unveiling the Web

Introduction

In this paper, I will be discussing the internet, the advantages and disadvantages of internet censorship, and how we can effectively control and censor the content on the web, in particular, the problems arising due to censorship. Definitely, Internet Censorship is a hot topic all around the world, with so many big changes happening right now it’s no wonder people would be talking about it, an example is the Net Neutrality Repeal in the US. As I said in this paper I’ll be discussing the obstacles needed to be overcome in order to build a perfect filter that censors only the unwanted and unnecessary content from the Internet that most can agree on. This research is intended for companies, governments, schools, or any regulated region that needs to be under supervision.

The Issue’s

Implementing internet censorship brings various issues and problems that make everyone's lives much harder. One of those is the unintentional censorship of useful/important information from various fields across the entirety of the internet. This hinders people’s lives and stops them from gaining knowledge. Accidental censorship is to be expected since internet censors aren’t exactly precise in their work and operate on extremely wide areas covering the entire web. Web filters scan websites for references or keywords that, if found, would have to be blocked. As stated here, this type of web filtering is called keyword blocking and it is by far the most unreliable of the filters, if a single one of the restricted words has been mentioned anywhere on the website, it will be blocked. Much of the valuable information becomes unavailable due to this. 

The unintentional censorship of useful information from various fields across the entirety of the internet is one of the major disadvantages of internet censorship. For example, health sites offering vital information for teens or people looking for health-related information tend to get blocked. This bars people from being able to learn or understand things about themselves or anyone else, thus leaving them wondering all to themselves. When teens aren’t properly educated about their teenage years, about the changes occurring to them, they find sources in other places, like school or friends, and because of the way they discuss about this, they can often go down the wrong path and can even start doing things like smoking/drinking/drugs/sexual intercourse maybe even murder at a really young age, which can alter the way they perceive reality. Children at this age don’t yet understand the consequences they might suffer due to this when they grow up and think it would be fine so they continue this lifestyle and not always, but sometimes can turn into addicts/criminals or warped individuals, though these cases are extreme.

Just like with accidental censoring, sometimes people may speak about controversial topics, expressing their views and opinions, however, it could also be due to the government officials not liking their opinions and views on such topics, and in order for these kinds of conversations to be stopped, they may intentionally block access to such websites. People may also leak vital or classified information that is not meant for the public to see. This threatens National Peace and Security. As stated here, delayed the assassination of Osama bin Laden and cost the US millions in dollars, and innocent lives were lost in the process.

As said in this source, a Canadian human rights group revealed through research, that a large number of US Internet Surveillance technology could be used for censorship or tracking individuals. The following report showed that technology for blocking internet traffic and tracking is being used on both public and governmental networks identified “11 ProxySG and 50 PacketShaper” devices in public and government domains in countries with histories of concerns over human rights, surveillance, and censorship. (”ProxySG and PacketShaper “are network technologies manufactured by the Blue Coat corporate website which could be used for censorship or surveillance.) Whilst this can be interpreted as an invasion of privacy, thanks to this, concerns over rising public disorder and plotting of terrorist attacks can be mostly averted. Public order can be maintained and acts of terrorism can be prevented.

Another problem would be that the entire concept of internet censorship is against the freedom of speech and it violates human rights. The internet is an important platform for people all around the world to come together and share their ideas, opinions, and thoughts, anything they want to talk about or share anonymously without worrying about society’s acceptance. Laws probably already exist that prohibit individuals from sharing content that may be offensive so adding it may just overcomplicate. 

Another consequence of unintentional censorship would be that a lot of people wouldn’t be able to properly express themselves in any major ways. Freedom of Speech and Expression is so crucial, it was established as one of the fundamental human rights by the UN, it states that all must promote and encourage respect for human rights and freedom. It also states that everyone should have the right to hold one's opinion and their freedom of expression without any interference (Article 19). Also includes the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, through any media (including the Internet) regardless of frontiers (without limitation to jurisdiction or borders), according to the World Economic Forum, 27 % of Internet users are living in a country where people have been arrested for simply liking, sharing or publishing on Facebook.

Also, information on the web can be manipulated, making it almost impossible for an average person to see and used for personal gain. For example, a government official knows that he controls the information on the web and can thus engage in illegal activities without being worried about being found out. Politicians have used it for destructive purposes and have victimized many individuals in the process. 

These high-ranking officials will be able to get away with doing crimes and offenses which are prohibited to the public, but not the ones in power. They could do whatever they please, corruption, selling information to other countries, basically whatever they want. Also if censorship is implemented according to how they want, Tech Giant companies can turn it into their favor and ask people to have to pay to “unlock” certain website packages, taking advantage of the censorship system. This is what Verizon Inc. in the USA will make public once the Net Neutrality Repeal is finalized. This will not only affect many Americans but also a lot of different information that can be accessed from all over the web. Some people might not be able to actually pay the fees in order to visit these sites, thus completely barring them from viewing these sites. 

Current Scenario

At this moment, many events are happening throughout the world that just might change the Internet forever. In the US the Federal Communications Commission, directed by Ajit Pai, has passed the vote to end Net Neutrality in the US. Net Neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites. According to FCC Chairman and Director, Net Neutrality is the number-one reason why rural Americans lack broadband access.

Something worth noticing about Ajit Pai, before becoming the Chairman and Director of The FCC under President Trump, Ajit Pai was serving as the Associate General Counsel for Verizon Communications Inc., Another reason mentioned by the FCC is that Net Neutrality is discouraging investments by Internet Providers (such as Verizon) and because of this, America has lost out on billions of dollars.

The current FCC administration has suggested there was a decline of about 5% in capital expenditure by broadband providers after the Ordeal took effect. However, analysts say that this decline was planned ahead of time and that overall investment in this field is up. Executives of telecommunications companies have said on record that Net Neutrality won’t be affecting their investments at all. If it really was affecting them, they probably would have spoken on such a topic due to this being helpful in the fight to change their classification. I believe that Ajit Pai is secretly working with telecom companies like Verizon, in order to help them financially and be able to do whatever they like on the internet without anyone being able to notice and stop them including Ajit Pai and other government officials.

Perspectives

I think internet censorship can be good and bad at the same time. In certain areas such as gambling, drug trafficking, and other illegal activities should be banned and their access should be restricted from the public, however, in the way of achieving these admirable goals, quite a few problems would be created such as overclocking, violation of human rights, abuse of internet censorship and many more and I want to find a way in which most of these problems could be solved.

Turkish teacher’s view on internet censorship according to this source and its table comparisons, is such that teachers tip slightly more in favor of censorship (59.4%) rather than against it (40.6%). Some of their reasons for needing internet censorship are: Unethical content, Inappropriate content, Sexually explicit websites, Pop-ups concerning with sexual content, Encouraging immoral actions, Causes mental issues, etc., Reasons for not needing censorship: Freedom mustn’t be restricted, Prohibition attracts people, Personal Rights must be protected, Families can set up their own filters, The decision is made by those in power, etc.

A different view of this would be from the perspective of Iran. As stated in the source, Iran is a country with really strict Internet Censorship Laws, since 2010 Iran’s government has placed restrictions on internet bandwidth by lowering the speed at which photos and videos are uploaded to the web. As well as that, they have also blocked mass communication using text messaging to mainly avoid protests, just like their decision in banning social networking sites such as Facebook. The government has also implemented constant surveillance over Internet Communications, in turn even arresting dissidents. 

A vast majority of the world disapproves of web censorship, mainly because it is quite difficult to implement and most of the time someone does, it spirals out of control or makes the censorship system in their favor and against the public.

Possible Solutions

A possible way to solve these problems is to use Blockchain technology. Blockchain technology is a decentralized platform for digital currencies (such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) that acts as an intermediary and logs all financial transactions. Blockchain technology is an extremely secure way of transferring finances due to its decentralized nature since every time a transaction is being made every registry in the Blockchain is being updated.

The Blockchain is an ideal version of the internet that was intended by its creators. Nothing is under direct control regardless of status or wealth but distributes control over to everyone granting everyone equal rights to it. This way if there were to be a dispute over what’s on the internet, every person could decide if they wanted to remove it or not, there’s a balance in power.

At this moment in time, a Blockchain-based platform for widespread viewing of information is soon to be launched. Everipedia, a more modern version of Wikipedia, which is free from government control, allows it to be available in like China or France, where much information has been censored and action has been taken against the information available on Wikipedia using a technology called the InterPlanetary File System, or IPFS.

This solution could be one of the more successful and efficient as it eliminates most of the problems. Thanks to its decentralized nature, no individual person or corporation can control it according to their wants, instead, the power to control the information available on it is spread out across to each and every person with internet access over the world. This also solves the issues with information over-blocking and limiting free speech. Since there is no single way of excluding the information and blocking it, the right to that is divided equally amongst everyone and this would decrease accidental censorship to as much as possible, as well as people's rights to express a lot of their own opinions, whether controversial or not would be available to be seen.

Another way of possibly decreasing blockage of meaningful websites is instead of using “keyword” blocking which has a high rate of over-blocking; we can use “Site Blocking”. Instead of searching keywords across the site, this runs a web search across the internet for specific websites that were determined illegal by humans, this has a much lower rate of over-blocking, though this takes a lot more effort and time to complete since there are countless websites on the internet and people must do this by themselves, but it would result in a more effective and ‘right’ censorship.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the topic of internet censorship advantages and disadvantages essay has both. While it can help prevent public disorder and terrorism, unintentional censorship of important information and violation of human rights are significant downsides. Web filters may block valuable content, and people may not be able to express themselves freely. Moreover, the information on the web can be manipulated and used for personal gain. Thus, any regulation of internet censorship must take into account the balance between the benefits and harms that such regulations could cause. Overall, it is essential to carefully consider the potential consequences before implementing any form of censorship.

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