Censorship of the Internet

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Censorship of the Internet
Introduction
The internet has become a far more powerful tool for free speech compared to mass media. Since its development in 1960s as a military network with the capacity to survive nuclear war, this critical technology has attracted a number of users around the globe and continues to incredibly grow in faster rates (Gaita & Sather, 303). Ordinary users are now able to publish critical information and express their heartfelt opinions as well as be able to retrieve information and opinions of others. The Internet comprises of a global system of a network of computers using standard Internet protocol or standards known as the TCP/IP to serve billions of users across the world. Because of its global nature, information can be reached to mass populations within a short time compared to TV, radio or print. According to Pew Research Center, the Internet emerged to be a leading source for campaign news in 2008 and it has now become the main outlet for international and local news. For most of the young people, the Internet has now rivaled television as they can easily access most of the news online. While newspapers have been the primary source of news, the Internet topped as the main outlet of campaign news and other news. The Internet now faces the biggest threat in its history of being censored thus denying the people their essential right of freedom of speech in this modern information age of its explosion in terms of social networks and other forms of media easily accessed by its users.
The “Great Firewall of China”, a technology which closely monitors all activities of Internet users and blocks access to some information abuses the fundamental basic human right of privacy and freedom of speech. From the invention of the Internet to the making of an iPad, technology advancement has given users an immediate access to a stream of information with the push of a button. With technology getting increasingly advanced and the industry continuing to be even more profitable, multinational corporations have taken a quick stance of bending to the selfish interests of corrupt governments and even to the very perpetrators of human rights. As pointed by the Amnesty International, it is unfortunate that individuals living in China will not find sensible information after making a search for the Amnesty International’s website including other sites of organisations defending human rights. According to MacKinnon, China largely operates one of the most opaque and extensive Internet censorship system in the world partly strengthened by the Congress which is under pressure of taking action against intellectual property theft (Steiner, Alston & Goodman, 1329). In censoring the Internet through the “Great Firewall of China” people are denied of their basic human right of freely sharing their opinions through the nippily expanding media. It is important to recognise the vast and ever growing significance of the Internet as one of the most important modes of fostering the free flow of ideas, opinions and information that lie at the heart of the fundamental right of freedom of speech.
Apart from denying the people of China access to information, ...