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Casey Aldrich
Ms. Gardner
English Honors 10
4 May 2015
Censorship
Throughout the world, we the human race have built large connective webs of
information. Many people out there strive to control this information, whether for personal gain
or for a larger meaning. This act of controlling information, or censorship, impacts the
information structure that now runs our world, and is slowly restricting the freedoms of the
everyday peoples.
What exactly is censorship? Censorship is the act of covering up or restricting access to a
well of data. This method of keeping information hidden has been used for hundreds of years,
dating back to almost the time of the Romans. The restriction of information is what allows
dictators and those who wish to gain power attain just that. But why is the syphoning of
information so important? When the general public is cut off from certain cites or resources, then
whole pieces of the puzzle that is a certain incident are missing. The true amount of information
is cut down allowing for the situation to be manipulated. This is why many dictators and
massively powerful companies and news broadcasters have power over the general public.
Censorship is no longer just about paper and ink books. Before our technological times,
censorship was mostly found in books and magazines; places where the most amount of
information is found. But because if the new advances in both public and personal technology,
people are now trying to censor news broadcasts, magazines, books, the newspaper, movies, TV,

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videogames, and certain websites on the Internet. This is where the debate for internet freedom
comes about; the argument about internet censorship.
As the current generation grows closer to the technological era, more people are
beginning to start shutting down sites because they believe their children don't need them in their
lives. This is taken by the media and even your common Joe and has now become one of the
biggest topics talked about on the internet. Even recently, around September 2014, the
government announced the NSA has often been watching people, shutting down sites they deem
harmful, trying to wrangle what they believed to be the biggest problem. This was taking in with
a wide number of opinions. The 2 most popular opinions about this happen to be the most
opposing: most wish that the net be a place where all information is free for all to have and use,
while others want the exact opposite. They wish for restrictions, saying that for the greater good
that information found on the internet be filtered. (Huges)
Though most of the time it is those who provide the common people with the means to
tap into the internet, sometimes even companies who provide services on the internet crack down
with censorship. According to arguments and protests made by authors Mariam Memarsadeghi
and Akbar Atri, companies like Facebook often receive complaints about their censorship policy.
Within their letter Facebook, Please Don't Let the Mullahs Troll Us, sent to Facebook,
Memarsadeghi and Atri address the banning of their site, saying we were unable to open
Tavaana's [Memarsadeghi and Atris Facebook page] Facebook page and then discovered that
our account had been logged out. When we tried to sign in, Facebook presented us with a photo
of a woman in a bikini, one that we had posted nearly a year ago, and told us that publishing such
content violates Facebook's terms of use. They continue to write about who this woman was:
The woman is Jackie Chamoun, a Lebanese Olympic skier posing on skis for a calendar

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shoot were released last year. The main complaint they had for Facebook was to really look at
posts before deciding if they were truly inappropriate enough to be taken down. Most companies,
like Facebook, try to do all they can to keep not only the public happy, but sometimes even
whole countries (or more likely, the countrys government) pleased.
But there are some companies who often try to keep a balance between freedom of the
internet and against such nonsense. According to research done by Kristy Hughes, an author
advocating for internet freedom, big name company Twitter is so often sent complaints not only
from average people but also countries saying to mediate their pages better. The company says
that if they find anything worth censoring, censoring will happen. If the page doesnt go down,
then they believe its okay for the internet to see.
Though many people believe it is impossible to find a way to work around these blocks
made by powerful people, there is a simple way: internet circumvention. Internet circumvention
is the way of getting through or around a country's censorship firewalls. This is something that
ranges from complex and dangerous to something as simple as working around a block in public
schools Wi-Fi. In places where the internet is freer, the act of circumvention is rarely used in
average life, bit in places like that if china, internet circumventions is a daily chore. China is one
of the worlds most censored places, a country where google isnt even available. Because of this,
many websites are left out and censored. But the common people have found alternate routes that
are sometimes as simple as changing their location.
Despite its obvious illegality, many companies, including companies like Twitter and
Tumblr, support internet circumvention. They advocate the work around the people make and
even make some of their content bend with the structure that the circumventers make. These
companies are also some of the places where big countries like China have banned.

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With the new types of communication popping up everywhere, those who wish to censor
are scrambling to stop them. Their mad scramble to stop something which is inevitable costs the
people they are trying to protect their freedoms on the Internet. Walk into any public school and
try to access Facebook, twitter, Wikipedia, Tumblr but you wont make it past the homepage.
This is a small version of what may happen to the internet. Though at a public school, it is seen
as reasonable to block these sites, if this happened to the entire internet, what would become of
this generation of technologically connected people?
Though censoring something can be bad, some moderated censorship can be beneficial.
As previously mentioned, censorship in schools is a common practice. this, with moderation, can
improve students focus in the class room and even allows the student to get work done without
the pull of the social media. And even in some homes there is room for censorship. Most families
would not want their 4-7 year olds finding and reading a long list of the murders that have
happened close to home, or to watch inappropriate videos on the family computer. In certain
cases, like those named, censorship is left up to the judgement of the guardians. This is a type of
censorship that is safer for the youth. But it too has its drawbacks. This early censorship trains a
child to expect the filtering of information their whole life, which as they grow older, is not
normally true.
Although censorship does have its place in the world where filtered information is ok and
necessary, the general public could have the right to vote or choose what they want taken down
or blocked from their sight.

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Bibliography:
"Apecsec.org." Apecsecorg. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
Black, Edward J. "U.S. Crackdown on Internet Censorship Comes at Critical Time." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
Goel, Vindu, and Andrew E Kramer. "State Efforts to Censor Web Seen As Intensifying."
International New York Times. 03 Jan. 2015: 9. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 09 Apr. 2015.
Goel, V.,and Andrew E.Kramer. (2015, Jan 03). State efforts to censor web seen as intensifying.
International New York Times Retrieved fromhttp://sks.sirs.com
"History and Debate of Internet Censorship." Internet Censorship Debate. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr.
2015.
Hughes, Kirsty. "Gathering Clouds Over Digital Freedom?." Opendemocracy.net. 12 Mar. 2013:
n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 09 Apr. 2015.
Hughes, K. (2013). Gathering clouds over digital freedom?
Memarsadeghi, Mariam, and Akbar Atri. "Facebook, Please Don't Let the Mullahs Troll Us."
Wall Street Journal. 25 Nov. 2014: A.13. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 09 Apr. 2015.
Memarsadeghi, M.,and Akbar Atri. (2014, Nov 25). Facebook, please don't let the mullahs troll
us. Wall Street Journal Retrieved fromhttp://sks.sirs.com

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