Censorship and the Internet
Introduction
The Internet doesn't belong to anyone so it is difficult to censor. What may be acceptable to access, publish or view to one group of people or culture may not be to another. What is illegal or criminal in one country may be allowed in another. What is universally accepted as unacceptable may be difficult to control. Just because a law is passed in one country, doesn't mean it can or will be enforced in another. This is one reason why EU legislation rather than British legislation may be more effective on some issues such as terrorism or pornography, at least in EU countries. Although things are difficult to censor on the Internet, it doesn't stop many Governments, businesses and other organisations or indeed individual people trying. People using the Internet, on the other hand, and armed with a little bit of knowledge, can hide their online activities fairly effectively.
IP blocking address blocking, proxy servers and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
Every website has an IP address. It is possible to block an IP address so that if someone requests a website from a computer e.g. someone in China requests to see an article about Tiananmen Square in Beijing where a massacre happened in 1989, an error message is returned. However, if you use what is called a 'proxy server', you could get round this. When you request a website that is banned, the request goes to the server (called a proxy) that does have access to the website. That proxy server then gets the website for you and passes it back to you. Of course, the proxy server itself might be blocked but new ones spring up all the time. Proxies can be paid for services but there are thousands of free ones, which you can find using Google. Proxy servers can be used to circumvent all kinds of networks, even banned sites on school networks!
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) can be used to circumnavigate banned sites as well. You sign up for a free or paid for VPN service and then all your requests go first to the VPN and then to the website, rather than directly to the website. This has two main benefits. The first is that your communication is encrypted so it is secure. This is important if you were surfing from a public hotspot. The second benefit is that your IP address is hidden in the request for a website, so no one will know where you are.
Filtering
Web sites can be blocked by blocking key words in an article or by blocking certain objects with certain characteristics, such as images with too much flesh tone in them. Articles can be blocked by stopping access at certain times of the day, or by the category of content the article is in or by using a range of other blocking parameters. Parental filters are quite commonly available when they sign up for an Internet Connection with an Internet Service Provider (ISP), and many organisations such as schools or businesses have filtering software in place to ensure youngsters or employees stay focussed on what they should be doing and don't use the network connection for unauthorised, illegal, unethical or immoral purposes. Many parents, however, still find them quite complicated to use and don't use them and many organisations' networks are easily circumvented.
Disconnection of equipment
It is possible to disconnect a country completely from the Internet by simply disconnecting key pieces of Internet equipment such as servers and routers at key places. Egypt is said to have done this when there was a lot of protesting going on in 2011. North Korea does not have a publicly available Internet, although it is available to a select few and it can be accessed via another country's facilities, if you happen to live near the South Korea, China or Russian borders.
Search engine censorship
Google and other search engines sometimes refuse to show all the results of a search by someone. This may be to adhere to a country's censorship rules or may be for other reasons, such as Google taking a stand on a particular issue, such as hate speech or abortion or perhaps for security reasons, for example a Government asking them not to show satellite images of nuclear weapons sites.
Denial of service attacks
Although this is temporary, some organisations can bombard a server with requests for a particular website. The result is that the website becomes no longer available. This doesn't usually last long, however, but it does disrupt access for a short while.
The great firewall of China
China is building a modern and thriving economy and the Internet is part of that. However, it is also an authoritarian regime that doesn't allow free speech. There are by all accounts vibrant and critical debates in China online but some topics are off-limits and the freedom of speech that exists in China and in some other countries is not as we might understand it in the West. China employs an army of workers, whose job is to track down dissenting voices in China so that they can be silenced and sometimes brought to trial. How successful they are in quietening voices that get too loud on certain topics is anyone's guess, especially given that it is fairly easy with a limited amount of knowledge to avoid leaving a trail to your computer.
Censorship in Pakistan
Pakistan is very sensitive to any information on the Internet, which harms its reputation, insults Islam or undermines its values. This has lead to gay web sites being blocked, Facebook posts, YouTube videos and tweets being removed and access blocked, and access to film sites disrupted. It has been criticised for double standards, however, for example, by putting little effort into blocking posts by more extreme members of some communities, who post hateful posts and videos and by failing to effectively block pornography. There is an interesting article on Pakistan and Internet censoring here.
Self-censorship
There are things on the Internet that shouldn't be looked at or searched for, either because it is illegal or because they can be very disturbing. The fact that something is available doesn't mean that you should go out and find it. Our moral compass, something we learn as we progress through school, from our parents and other relations, from our religious beliefs and heritgage should point us in the right direction. Unfortunately, youngsters especially, as they are still learning right from wrong, sometimes underestimate the impact viewing something horrible can have on them and make bad choices. Hopefully, as they get older, these become less and less.
Internet forums, social media sites and email all make expressing views very easy and unfortunately, views can be expressed which, with hindsight, posters regret. This is because they are either extreme or they involve taking a view on a topic, which people have strong views about. Those with the opposite view to a poster's may take exception and start 'flaming' or abusing the poster online. Topics such as abortion, fox hunting and immigration are examples where strong, polarised views are common. It is always a good idea to 'count to 10' before posting on some topics. In other words, don't post in the heat of the moment. Give considered thought to what you will say, how you will say it and what the likely reactions might be. Alternatively, some posters prefer not to post at all on some issues. These examples are forms of self-censorship and one that can help to keep a poster from abuse.