What if gays and lesbians in Canada had said they would settle for civil unions instead of equal rights to marry?
Second best simply isn't good enough.
Coincidentally, our in-class discussion also related to the topic I am interested in studying for my final paper - the impact of internet censorship or filtering. So I eagerly made my way to the library to pick up Ronald Deibert's book, Access Denied. It provided my with my first "what the heck?!" moment. There on the back of the book, the summary informed me that inside I would find reports on internet regulation in forty different countries....FORTY COUNTRIES?! Have I been indignantly shaking my finger at China while ignoring the regulation of so many others?
Fair enough - China was among the reports, with Deibert noting that the country "continues to expand the largest and most sophisticated filtering system in the world". But he also noted that Uzbekistan is "the undisputed leader in applying Internet controls." The book also lists many southeast Asian and African countries, and suggests Venezuala as a country to watch, as their telecommunications are nationalized under Chavez. Hmmm...who else may surprise me? A quick Google and there was Australia.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24568137-2862,00.html
If I say restricted internet access is better that no access at all, am I not indirectly saying it is okay for my government to decide what I read, what I know?
How can I realistically expect to advance human rights, to sustain the human rights in place now, if my information is regulated by the few in power?Money Talks.
In the presentation last week, I was struck by the willingness of Google, Microsoft et al to limit/restrict/share information in order to appease governments and gain access to their countries. And Sherida made an intriguing comment - that these companies could very likely be the next "superpowers" of the world, as their income eventually outpaces many countries' GDP. I wonder how fast unrestricted access would be provided if people in the forty countries described in Access Denied responded with, "No thanks. I'll take full access or none at all". If everyone decided to get off the bus and walk?
Hi Tom,
ReplyDeleteOur class discussion on Internet censorship also got me thinking about censorship in China. For as long as the Communist government is in power, China is strong towards political dissent and is always seeking to exercise control to prohibit anti-government and subversive activities. With the rise of the Internet and the developments of ICTs, internet activism is also on the rise. It is no surprise that China would tighten surveillance to control and monitor the Internet use in China. However, it is ironic that the technologies to ban freedom of expression and information/human rights come from foreign firms, such as Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, etc. Furthermore, Chinese Internet providers, like Baidu and Sina, are conforming to the requirements of the Chinese government on censorship. Yes, I agree that money talks. For some people, when it comes to monetary terms, political issues may have to step aside.
As China’s internet users are growing at a rapid rate, I wonder how technologies are adopted to censor the vast volume of online activities in the most populous country. Here is an interesting site that I found on the web from a user in China explaining the Internet censorship system in China. There may be ways to bypass the blocks. Check it out:
http://chinayouren.com/eng/2009/01/chinese-internet-censorship-explained/
Janet