The Rabbit Proof Firewall
News Item: Moses, A (2009,02,26). Web censorship plan heads towards a dead end. Brisbane Times, Retrieved 2009,03,02, from http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/technology/web-censorship-plan-heads-towards-a-dead-end/2009/02/26/1235237821636.html
A. Presentation of the Issue
In December 2007, the Australian government revealed plans to initiate an Australia wide filter for illegal and ‘questionable’ content on the Internet (ABC, 2007). Said plans were met with thunderous opposition and criticism (Moses, 2009), not only because of unfair censorship and possible government exploitation, but also because the filter could cripple Australia’s already comparatively slow Internet speeds (Pauli, 2008). The need for this measure to protect users originates from the rapid increase of content on the Internet.
In early 2008, only 18 years after the Internet went public, the Internet reached the point where it had 150 million websites (Agarwal, 2008). This amazing progression of technology does have disturbing drawbacks. While Internet users can find any content, this content may be illegal or disturbing such as child pornography and terrorism advocacy websites. In order to protect people, particularly impressionable children, a number of countries have implemented nationwide, mandatory Internet filtering schemes. (Leach, 2008)
This process also has its drawbacks. The government having control over what its people can and cannot see, may lead to the government exploiting this power to hide criticisms of it from its people. An example of this is the well-documented case involving the internet filter in the Peoples Republic of China, dubbed ‘The Great Firewall of China’.
B. IT Background of the Issu...
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... million sites. CNN Technology, Retrieved March 1, 2009, from http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/11/01/100millionwebsites/
News Item – Extract
The Government's plan to introduce mandatory internet censorship has effectively been scuttled, following an independent senator's decision to join the Greens and Opposition in blocking any legislation required to get the scheme started.
The Opposition's communications spokesman Nick Minchin has this week obtained independent legal advice saying that if the Government is to pursue a mandatory filtering regime "legislation of some sort will almost certainly be required".
Senator Nick Xenophon previously indicated he may support a filter that blocks online gambling websites but in a phone interview today he withdrew all support, saying "the more evidence that's come out, the more questions there are on this".
The internet is a place where people can freely express their political or other views for people to see. A recent study, Freedom of Net, by the activist group Freedom House shows both the immense censorship of information around the world and the declining freedom of information around the world, “Two-thirds of all internet users, 67 per cent, live in countries where criticism of the government, military, or ruling family are subject to censorship” (APF & Bell). The report by Freedom House digs into the censorship of government criticism, military criticism, and negative views on the ruling family in two thirds of countries studied in the report with governments around the world are silencing the voices of people and their publications. By censoring the people's voices, the governments are able to control the population and their views on not only their own government, but also countries around the world. Governments around the world are stepping up their censorship of public information posted on social media by taking actions to suppress the publications before they even begin. The report by Freedom House shares how police around the world are arresting and punishing those who have taken to social media to complain about a topic that makes the country look bad. The report states: “Social media users face unprecedented penalties, as authorities in 38 countries made
There are over 2,405,518,376 internet users on a global scale. More than 50% of the world has a form of Internet censorship, and of those countries China, North Korea, Iran, and Vietnam heavily restrict its citizens. This recent topic has reached new heights in the US with the growing number of internet access. More and more people are debating whether the internet should be censored. Internet censorship is the control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the internet.
Depending on whether or not you're a net geek like me, you probably know either everything or nothing about Senate bill 314, the Communications Decency Act. (I'm a huge net geek: I've already received at least three copies of an on-line petition against it.) Senate bill 314, proposed by Senator Exon and currently under consideration in the Senate, would ban obscenity on-line, making it a federal crime to transmit or make available over the internet anything determined to be "obscene...regardless of whether the maker of such communication placed the call or initiated the communication." This ban includes all forms of electronic communication, from telephone calls to file transfer protocol sites (computers on the internet that contain files available to the public for copying) to private e-mail messages. In the original version of the bill, penalties also applied to internet service providers (including universities) whose facilities were used for "obscene" communications; however, after heavy lobbying by CompuServe, America On-Line, and other large internet services, those portions of the bill were stricken. Even in its weakened form, though, Senate bill 314 poses a significant threat to the continued growth of the internet and to constitutional rights.
Tears begin to fall down a child’s face. Her body goes into shock out of fear. Her mother warned her about watching inappropriate content, and there it was, right on her computer screen. This could not have happened though. All she was doing was casually browsing the internet before a pop-up appeared. Although it may seem hard to believe, the major cause of events such as this is the lack of censorship on the internet. Internet censorship relates to the removal of offensive, inappropriate, or controversial content published online. The current problem with the internet is that there are few restrictions on what can be published or viewed. Several sites on the internet only offer a warning about inappropriate content that can easily be bypassed by agreeing to the terms. Other websites provide access to private or military information. More dreadfully, however, are websites that use their explicit content as a promotion. These factors bring the conclusion that anybody of any given age can view and publish inappropriate or dangerous content. The current problems with the internet serve for clarification as to why the United States should create a nonpartisan assembly to censor the internet in order to protect its citizens from the mental, emotional, and physical harms the internet creates.
Internet is a powerful tool that allows users to collaborate and interact with others all over the world conveniently and relatively safely. It has allowed education and trade to be accessed easily and quickly, but all these benefits do not come without very taxing costs. This is especially true when dealing with the likes of the Internet. Countries in the European Union and Asia have realized this and have taken action against the threat of net neutrality to protect their citizens, even at the cost of online privacy. Internet censorship is required to protect us from our opinions and vices. Every country should adopt Internet censorship and regulation since it improves society by reducing pornography, racism/prejudice, and online identity theft.
The 20 Enemies of the Internet. 1999. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Feb 20, 2001. <http://www.rferl.org/nca/special/enemies.html>.
The government has passed some laws which are intended to protect children on the internet. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) are to give protection for children who are accessing the internet. There are requirements and protective information for both COPPA and CIPA. Both acts are similar and different in ways to protect children but needed to be done with two acts. There are challenging elements with the COPPA and CIPA to implement in order to be compliant with the acts. There are reasons for the acts to define protection for different age groups such as COPPA defines a child under 13 and CIPA is under 17. When COPPA and CIPA was made into law, there were people who were for the acts but there were also people who opposed the acts.
The invention of the internet has been one of the major advances of the modern world. It has allowed people from all over the globe to communicate with each other and ideas to be shared. In addition to this it is a free platform. Unlike television and radio it doesn’t cost anything to put your idea on the internet, making it a base of personal expression. This freedom coupled with the global access attracts around a billion users worldwide. Unfortunately, just as easily as the information is produced it is abused. The internet, although mostly used appropriately does harbour all manner of illegal activities. These range from phishing scams, trying to steal someone’s personal details, viruses, malicious code that attacks a person’s computer and websites that are morally questionable or illegal under Australian law. To combat this, the Rudd government has started action to impose an internet service provider level internet filter. An internet service provider is any company that provides internet services to its customers. Most notable of these is Telstra which is one of the top internet service providers in Australia. This filter will prevent a list of websites, the blacklist, from being accessed in Australia. In theory this is an excellent plan, but in reality, once implemented it will have little effect on preventing the illegal activity which occurs on the internet. The major arguments against the proposed filter are, cost of the filter, the ineffectiveness of the filter to stop illegal activity and the possibility of the blacklist expanding to block anti-government websites.
Thornton, P., (ed.) (2010), ‘Censorship and Surveillance in Chinese Cyberspace: Beyond the Great Firewall’ In Gries, P. H., and Rosen, S., (eds) Chinese Politics (London and New York: Routledge).
"The internet was modernized and popularized during the early to mid-1990's with the creation of the 'world wide web.' Since then, our dependence on internet use for research, entertainment, and communication has skyrocketed. Because the internet is still in its youth, no one really knows what to do regarding government monitoring of internet content and, while the argument could be made that monitoring browser searches and sites visited would help keep our country secure, the reality is that government monitoring of public internet use is much too expensive and goes against basic fourth amendment rights.
Since the 1990’s, the Chinese government has had systems in place that block, monitor, and filter the Internet inside/outside of China (Guobin 52). The ‘Great Firewall’, very well is the largest internet filte...
Most of the Internet regulation is imposed by the Government in an effort to protect the best interest of the general public and is concerned with some form of censorship.
Free speech on the Internet is a very controversial subject and has been the key problem surrounding the Internet today. The attempt to regulate and govern the Internet is still pursued by government officials. This subject has been intensified due to terrorist attacks against the United States and around world within the past years. The government believes that by regulating the Internet, it will protect the general public from criminal actions and eliminate the exposure of children to pornography or vulgar language. Senator Jim Exon of ...
The Internet is an extremely educational and communicative tool. Everyone can access a tremendous amount of information and connect with people on the other end of the planet; it is capable of doing everything. Nowadays, the society is facing a variety of challenges and controversies which are mostly related to religion, morality, the economic crisis, etc., and the most talked-about issue in today’s world is “Internet censorship”. Although the Internet is very useful, many people are suggesting the idea of censoring the Internet; however, the government should not censor the Internet because a free and open Internet usage has many positive impacts on people’s lives.
Herumin, Wendy. Censorship on the Internet: From Filter to Freedom of Speech. New York. Print.