CENSORSHIP

Censorship is the editing/changing, prohibition, or restriction of any type of human expression believed to threaten political, social, or moral order. Governments, private organizations, and other individuals may engage in censorship. Censorship ma range from a few words to a whole concept. Censorship will continue to cause controversy but it is sometimes necessary.

US CENSORSHIP

The First Amendment of the United States’ constitution protects freedom of speech and expression. However, there have been several laws that have been passed to protect the privacy of minors online as well as online copyright infringement.  The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 2000 and the Children’s Internet Protection Act of 2000, protects the privacy of minors online as well as in K-12 schools and libraries. These acts restricted minors from accessing inappropriate material. Many large corporations and military institutions practice self-censorship. Another example of internet censorship in the US is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 which strengthened the legal protection of copyright holders on the internet.

CHINA CENSORSHIP

China has media regulations which allows authorities to crack down on media sources that expose the country’s secrets or endanger the country. The country’s media controlling tactics include: monitoring systems, firewalls, jailing rebellious journalists, bloggers, and activists. The Chinese government requires all internet users in China to abide by their laws and regulations. According to CFR Backgrounders, In February 2016, Xi Jinping (China’s President) announced new media policy for party and state news outlines: “All the work by the party’s media must reflect the party’s will, safeguard the party’s authority, and safeguard the party’s unity,” emphasizing that state media must align themselves with the “thought, politics, and actions” of the party leadership. Certain websites in China such as Facebook or YouTube are temporarily blocked or blacked out for all internet users in China during periods of controversy. China has more than a dozen government bodies to censor information on the internet. Here is more information on China’s censorship policies: http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515

RUSSIA CENSORSHIP

Russia’s censorship is based on the Russian Internet Restriction Bill, which puts a blacklist on internet sites that contain child pornography, drug related material, and other illegal contents in Russia. Also, Russia has federal laws on protecting children from information harmful to their health and development. Russia produces a blacklist which blocks sites containing illegal material/content. In 2015, Russia proposed a number of Internet controls that targeted the population as well as the youth. Russia’s internet censorship is very similar to China’s laws and regulations on the internet.

PARENTAL AND SCHOOL CONTROLS ON THE YOUTH’S WEBSITE ACCESS

Parental controls allows parents to block certain television programs and websites from their children. Parental controls also allows the access of home security schools. K-12 schools produce blocks on certain websites that includes unsuitable material. Social media websites cannot be accessed through school controls. There are certain laws that allows schools to restrict inappropriate/unsuitable material that is found in certain websites or search engines.

My opinion

I personal think that internet censorship is sometimes necessary. There is certain materials that people should not be able to access or about. Censorship for children in schools are important because minors should not be able to access unsuitable/inappropriate materials. However, I also think censorship is a form of oppression as it can limit ones access to obtain a broader sense of knowledge.