Internet Freedom: The Information Superhighway

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One of the nicknames for the Internet when it was first released to the public was the “information superhighway”. The name came to be because the Internet provides the average person with fast access to a limitless amount of data. For many, this is the type of Internet that they have grown to love and rely on while for others, the information superhighway is slowed by major roadblocks in the form of Internet censorship. With the Internet being relatively new, the contradictory messages that both governments and corporations are sending to the public are being strictly scrutinized. Roughly 2.5 billion people currently use the Internet and another 2.5 billion individuals are expected to go online by the end of this decade (Negroponte). The Freedom House predicts that most of the people that are connecting to the Internet for the first time will be in countries where speech freedom is severely censored; entire families could be thrown in jail or worse (Schmidt). There is an insidious world war currently underway but it is very easy to lose sight of it even though the stakes are enormous. There is a silent reminder with every stroke of the keyboard, that there is a war over the control of the Internet. Despite the controversy surrounding Internet censorship, the fact that governments could potentially censor things they deem undesirable could take away from the fundamental freedom not only nationally but internationally as well.
It seems that recently, Americans are taking the Internet for granted. It was only in January when the U.S. federal court of appeals took down the FCC’s net neutrality rules and President Obama was in an awkward position of having to explain why the National Security Agency (NSA) was spying on both fellow Am...

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...r. 28 Apr. 2012: WD.3. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 12 May. 2014.
Crovitz, L. Gordon. "A Darkening Digital Future." Wall Street Journal. 06 May. 2013: A.13. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 12 May. 2014.
Nagesh, Gautham. "An Internet (Almost) Free from Government Control." Roll Call. 17 Apr. 2013: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 12 May. 2014.
Hughes, Kirsty. "Gathering Clouds Over Digital Freedom?." Opendemocracy.net. 12 Mar. 2013: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 08 May. 2014.
Negroponte, John. "Future Trade Agreements Must Mandate Open Internet." Global Viewpoint. 18 Aug. 2013: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 12 May. 2014.
Schmidt, Eric E, and Jared Cohen. "The Future of Internet Freedom." New York Times. 12 Mar. 2014: A.27. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 08 May. 2014.
Strickland, Jonathan. "How Internet Censorship Works" 05 February 2008. Web. 10 May. 2014.

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