As an American, I feel that I am bit spoiled. I have hot running water 24/7, delicious food to eat, and abundant opportunities to speak my mind. One way in which I exercise my right to free speech is through the Internet. I would say that the Web is the most powerful tool I have access to. It's hard to imagine life without it. However, there are parts of the world that do not have this luxury. The goal of the OpenNet Initiative is to "identify and document Internet filtering and surveillance, and to promote and inform wider public dialogs about such practices." Believe it or not, there are countries in the world that severely restrict their citizens from the intellectual super highway.
Before the recent war, Iraq was a country where speech was censored and Internet use was severely limited. Today, however, there are over 100 internet cafes located in the country thanks to the American occupation. There is no evidence of content filtering whatsoever. Iraq is not completely free from restriction though. The country's president may declare martial law at any time and seize information from computers or the net. In the years to come it will be interesting to see how the new government in Iraq deals with its citizens internet use.
I looked at two other countries on the OpenNet Initiative website- India and North Korea. These are two countries at almost complete opposite sides of the internet filtering spectrum. India participates in some selective filtering for security, but its internet use remains largely open. Of the websites blocked there are many inconsistencies. The blogging community in India is actually very involved in keeping its countries internet filter free. This would never be seen in a country like North Korea.
North Korea is referred to as a "virtual blackhole" in cyberspace on the ONI website. Only a small minority of social and political elites are allowed access to the internet. The government regulates almost all information and communication inside the country. It citizens have never known the awesome power of the unfiltered net.
I hope that one day, far into the future, all the citizens of Earth will be allowed access to the Internet. The communication between societies, I believe, would bring the human race closer together. We are so far away from this dream now, but if it is accomplished the possibilities are endless.
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2 comments:
I like your dream of connecting societies through the internet. I share this dream, as idealistic as it is, because I feel as though once we've reached that point we would be able to finally understand our social differences.
I too agree that the world as a whole would be much more at peace if there was a greater ability to spread ideas amongst different cultures. I feel though that it is perhaps too idealistic of a notion. The reason being is that the United States is even in heavy censorship. While we do not see it at the national level, we certainly see it at the state level. The issue of censorship has big ethical questions surrounding it. Does anything deserve to be filtered and if so, who gets to decide what is and what is not appropriate?
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