Censorship in 2007: The Internet

I was originally going to talk about China for part 3 of this series. However, this topic has a great deal to do with how China has been censoring its people. It's not simply a Chinese problem but a global one.

The internet, with all it's faults, is truly one of the seven wonders of the modern world. We live in the information age, of course you knew that or you wouldn't be reading this. I can discuss politics with someone in Europe, or play an online game with someone in Japan. Amazing to think that only 15 years ago, that was impossible for the majority of people. The internet was originally created as a free and open environment to share knowledge and information around the world. It does that job quite well. In recent years, this has become more true with the introduction of Web 2.0, so the buzzword goes. This blog, as all blogs are, is part of this concept. This also includes online forums, Wikis (such as Wikipedia), video sharing (such as Youtube) and social networking sites. The internet has become such an integral part of our daily lives worldwide. As such, the demon of censorship has begun to take notice. There are generally three types of censorship that occur on the internet. Government, corporate, and private. Lets take a look at them.

GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP

Government censorship of the internet in North America isn't very common, not that it doesn't happen but it's still very rare. Cases of such usually include "hate" sites. In other countries, it is far more common. China is perhaps the most notorious. There exists the Great Firewall of China, which monitors all incoming and outgoing internet traffic from the country. Chinese internet users are required to use their real names when posting to blogs and forums. Also, China has blocked certain information from being accessed. In China, if one does a search of the Tieneman Square incident, they will be told this information is prohibited. China's oligarchical government does this to insulate itself from criticism and possible rebellion if people were to find out what actually happened during these events. Though China is no longer a communist country in the traditional sense, the government still operates on the Soviet/Maoist model and is very secretive. China will punish citizens who post information that the government disagrees with. The Chinese government has also put online gaming under their radar and will forcefully "treat" people who seem to be spending too much time in these games. Shock treatment (aka electro-therapy) is sometimes used.

China isn't the only country that does this. Cuba is yet another example that we have plenty of information about. Cuba is a more traditional communist country. Cuba has a state owned "intranet". Cuba's censorship of the internet is harsher than China's in many ways since it doesn't allow most people to access the outside world. When it does, it monitors them heavily. Cuba's reasoning for doing this also somewhat differs from China's. Their idea is to keep Western influence out of the country.

Turkey is another country that has been in the news recently for banning Youtube due to a video that insulted the country's founder. The ban was repealed. Morocco is also suspected of banning Youtube though there is no solid evidence as of yet.

Other countries with substantial and pervasive censorship of the internet include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Tunisia, Syria, Myanmar, Maldives, North Korea, South Korea, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

At this point though, as I know there are some people who think this is censorship, I'd like to draw the line at child pornography on the internet. This is not free speech. It is a criminal activity and I find it acceptable for governments to block those sites.

CORPORATE CENSORSHIP

Corporate censorship of the internet is not as pervasive as government censorship but it does exist. Perhaps the best example is this blog's host, Google. The problem with Google is the fact that has given into certain demands from highly censored countries such as China. Google China prohibits searches for certain topics. Yahoo has done similar things for France and Germany concerning neo-nazi material.
There is also the case of corporate groups such as RIAA and the MPAA trying to censor file shares.

Corporations have also been known to censor employee email though filters to make sure they cannot receive personal emails at work. They have also been known to censor websites. The idea is to keep employees focused on work, but it is still censorship none the less.

PRIVATE CENSORSHIP

Private censorship of the internet is the most common type of censorship that most western internet users will encounter. Particularly with the way in which private, non-corporate websites deal with their members. Comments on this blog as well as it's (unused) companion forum are unmoderated. Private forums tend to be particularly bad. Most forums will censor certain words to avoid being flagged by search engines and attracting undesirable attention. For example, words such as "porn" will be censored to prevent it from being accidentally flagged as a porn site. Swearing may also be edited out of posts if the site has many young visitors. These are both understandable. Most of these communities are heavily moderated, and that is where the problem lies. Moderators on these forums are there to maintain the site and handle member disputes. However, some become overzealous and abuse their power to delete posts and remove people that they have disagreements with, no matter the severity. These sites are not compelled to comply with free speech laws. Censorship here is much more implicit but is a reoccurring problem.

Another topic of private censorship of the internet concerns the recent treatment of sites such as Myspace and Facebook. The latter in particular has become hugely popular here in Canada, especially in Greater Toronto with as many as 600,000 members in that region.
This stems from anti-bullying laws and the new concept of cyber-bullying. There are several recent examples of students being suspended from school for expressing their dislike for teachers and fellow students at school. This type of censorship is done under the guise of anti-bullying but has become more of a way of solving personal vendettas. Since this action happens outside of the classroom, this calls into question school authority concerning the issue. In my opinion, once the bell rings and the student is off school property, then school staff no longer has authority over them. This is what has made the recent Facebook suspensions concerning.


Internet censorship is indeed becoming a concerning trend in society, especially since it was never meant to be censored. Aside from government and corporate censorship, it has now opened the door for private individuals and organizations to censor other web users in order to fulfill their own agendas. It's high time to put the breaks on this trend and return the internet to what it was originally intended to be. The obvious solution is to lobby governments to extend freedom of expression laws in the constitution to apply to non-government organizations and private individuals as well.