Effective Alternatives to Internet Censorship

Introduction

Nowadays, users are able to use many services which rely on constant Internet connectivity such as instant messaging, Google Maps, email, etc. However, there are various types of censorship when users try to access these services and resources over the Internet. The state reviews the content carried by the network and the website, monitors, filters, and deletes some content, or shuts down and filters the website. I believe that the free flow of information and the freedom to express ideas is an important human right, and governments should not impose censorship onto the Internet.

Useful Alternatives for Internet Censorship

There are more viable alternatives than Internet censorship. It is very difficult to have complete control over the Internet regardless of the government or private companies as the Internet is a distributed design. Thus, there is no central control, which means the data won't be stored in only one place. While the methods of implementing Internet censorship have increased with technological advancements, many simple and effective techniques, methods, and software for bypassing censorship have been invented by people who wish to circumvent it. Additionally, most companies prioritize protecting their users' information to ensure privacy.

Providing proper supervision and guidance is a responsibility that parents should take. Parents can more easily restrict their children's web-surfing by using parental control software; they are also in a better moral position to shield their children from unexpected websites or inappropriate material.

For example, the messenger app LINE provides End-to-End Encryption, which encrypts all messages that users send and receive. When you send a message, a unique lock and key are generated, and only the person you are communicating with can decrypt the message to read it. Even if someone intercepts the message in between, they won't be able to read it. Thus, it’s very difficult for the government to censor all the information on the Internet. However, there are many alternatives that can prevent the misuse of information on the Internet, involving parents as one of the effective measures. It's much easier and more effective for parents to guard their children than for the government to censor the Internet. Parents can use simple information technology to monitor the content their children view and help filter content through appropriate screening mechanisms when they observe abnormal behavior in their children.

In "Why Censoring Cyberspace is Dangerous & Futile," Rheingold believes: This technological shock (pornography on the Net) to Americans' moral codes means that in the future, Americans are going to have to teach their children well. The only protection that has a chance of working is to give (their) sons and daughters moral grounding and some common sense. This supports the idea that parental involvement is one of the effective ways to protect children from offensive material. Internet censorship will increase the loading time of websites and destroy the user experience. For example, The Great Firewall, an Internet censorship system developed by China, primarily monitors network communication to interfere with and block content considered inconsistent with Chinese official requirements.

Many websites and web services are blocked in China, like Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, etc. Thousands of users in China have to use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), which allow users to connect to blocked websites through overseas servers. Because of strict Internet information filtering and VPN software, this further slows down Internet use. In China, many people avoid videos or websites hosted on non-Chinese servers because those videos are downloaded or streamed too slowly. According to a state of internet report conducted by Akamai Technologies, a CDN provider, South Korea has more than three-quarters of Internet connections above the 10 Mbps mark, with an average network speed of 28.6 Mbps, while China's average network speed is only 7.6 Mbps. South Korea is almost three times faster than China. The filtering of the Internet affects efficiency, which can completely destroy the user’s web-surfing experience; additionally, the impact on business organization efficiency results in significant costs.

The Importance of Free Expression

The freedom to express ideas over different media, including the Internet, is an important human right. Nowadays, the Internet plays a big role and has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. It is not the same as before, where people only retrieved information from newspapers, televisions, and books. People now use the Internet as a new medium to receive information such as news, weather, traffic, and entertainment. Moreover, users also use the Internet to communicate with each other.

Therefore, it is important to keep information and communication fair and public, without tampering or censorship. Taiwan passed two United Nations human rights conventions called the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 2009, which introduced international human rights into Taiwan. By ratifying the conventions, it protects the free flow of information.

According to Article 19 of the ICCPR, enacted by the United Nations in 1976, everyone can freely communicate with others through any media of their choice to share ideas and collect information. Others should not interfere with this process. Additionally, the United Nations Human Rights Committee announced General Comment 34 in 2011, which requires states to protect all persons' opinions from interference, with no exceptions or limitations allowed. It protects not only physical objects such as books, images, and arts but also online information, which supports the free flow of information.

Concerns About Inappropriate Material

Inappropriate and offensive materials like pornography are often cited as reasons to censor the Internet. Some argue that the Internet is full of information and images unsuitable for children. For young children, accidentally encountering pornographic material can be confusing or distressing; at worst, it can be harmful. Around 25% of children worldwide have seen violent or pornographic pictures on the Internet, and 60% of parents worry about their children browsing pornographic content. According to a report from the Internet Watch Foundation in 2019, there were 105,047 child pornography websites broadcast worldwide in 2018 due to the technological advances of crime imaging.

The Digital Economy Act 2017 was adopted by the British Parliament on April 27, 2017, aiming to avoid exposing children and young people to extremism or restricted content online. The third chapter of the law regulates 'Online Pornography' and creates an age-authentication regulatory mechanism, requiring all sites to strictly enforce age verification mechanisms to ensure that minors are protected from pornography when using the Internet.

Copyright infringement is intensified, with Internet infringement invading creative achievements such as movies and music. Unauthorized distribution of movies or music on the Internet can severely affect sales, causing significant damage to cinemas and record companies. Numerous academic studies suggest that piracy brings substantial losses to the media business and harms media industry development. According to another analysis, there is a 19% box office loss when piracy occurs before a movie's release compared to after. Therefore, some countries believe that Internet censorship can help protect against copyright infringement. For example, Ireland implemented the EU's 2001 Copyright Directive Article 8 of 3 in February 2012, requiring member states to ensure that copyright owners can apply for injunctions to prevent media agencies from being used by third parties to infringe on copyrights, providing a legal basis for blocking infringing websites.

Conclusion

In conclusion, most countries currently have legislation specifically or indirectly targeting Internet information dissemination, but the management models and paths adopted by different countries vary significantly because the Internet is very different from the real world. There are many differences between laws against the Internet and those against the real world. However, within the Internet, people can freely and easily express their ideas and thoughts, making the Internet so important today. Offensive materials on the Internet, such as child pornography, should not be blocked by censorship but through better sex education, and the free flow of information should not be compromised for any reason.

References

• Akamai Technologies. (2023). State of the Internet Report.
• Internet Watch Foundation. (2019). Annual Report.
• Rheingold, H. (n.d.). Why Censoring Cyberspace is Dangerous & Futile.
• United Nations Human Rights Committee. (2011). General Comment 34.
• United Nations. (1976). International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
• Digital Economy Act 2017, UK Parliament.