The Tightrope Walk of Internet Censorship

by Isaac Smith

It is vital that we avoid the temptation to combine law enforcement and media censorship under the banner "internet freedom," 

Just yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the "full liberation" of Iraqi territory from the Islamic State. For more than three years, the terrorist regime oppressed large parts of Syria and Iraq, carrying out public executions and often publishing videos of them on social media.
The Islamic State's use of the internet to spread extremist propaganda in various ways has raised important questions about how information on the internet is or ought to be regulated. 

The Internet: A Battleground of Human Rights and Freedoms

When the internet was invented, our perception of available knowledge was revolutionized. Not only could data be transferred faster and on a larger scale than ever before, more of it now remains in the public sphere than ever before. While this was beneficial in many ways, especially in an economic sense, it caused several problems. 

One such problem is that of restricting said knowledge. In the early years of the printing press, governments were faced with a pressing issue. When knowledge can be produced quickly and en masse, it can also be distributed on a large scale with little effort. As well, once books are sent out in the thousands, it's virtually impossible to get them all back. 

No longer could governments mediate philosophies and political ideologies in the same manner. Similarly, the internet is notoriously hard to regulate. Data can be stored in the most obscure of (virtual) places, but still be accessible to anyone in the world, and suddenly people can easily steal copyrighted products or learn things that the government would rather not have them know.

But even if people begin to view the internet in a negative light, there are several obstacles in the way of trying to restrict it. One of these is unique to the internet and reflects the changes that have happened in the wake of Globalism in the 20th century. 

Internationalism has allowed for global markets and better political cooperation, but the internet is a special beast to deal with, for it transcends even designated political boundaries. In a way, to truly restrict the internet the world would need to become even more globalist; to control an international entity, countries must first agree on how to deal with it. 

It is questions like these that accompany the wonderful benefits we get from the internet, and sometimes the internet itself seems to me just a slippery fish in wet hands. It might just take a whole world of unified countries to truly begin moderating the power it is. 

Hot Spots in Computer Programming

• Artificial Intelligence

In a number of areas, artificial intelligence is considered to have surpassed humans in proficiency (including but not limited to mathematics, language translation, or even chess). As AI's become smarter than humans in more areas, are programmers sure that they will still be able to fully comprehend and control the things the AI does? What if a dangerous and powerful machine understands a general command we give, but not the intention we have in giving it? (See "Benefits & Risks of Artificial Intelligence")

• Cybersecurity

Anything networked can be hacked, and while networking things such as traffic lights, fridges, or cars can make systems far more effective in many ways, we also open the door to hackers in very real and dangerous ways. In 2015, some hackers wirelessly took over the electronic systems in a Chrysler Jeep, gaining control of the dashboard functions, the steering, the transmission, and even the brakes. How can we keep so many objects in so many homes completely safe from attacks? (See "Manufacturers Remain Slow to Recognize Cybersecurity Risks")

• Internet Censorship

Censorship has been a hot topic for hundreds of years in many fields, but few (if any) innovations have enabled the free exchange of knowledge like the internet. It can be incredibly helpful to have worlds of information at our fingertips, but the internet also bypasses several economic, political, and social boundaries as a medium of communication and knowledge. And while governments have too much influence and too little understanding to truly fix any of these problems, programmers are left to try to manage a flood of data larger than the world has ever seen and hope it doesn't drown us. (See "Everything You Need to Know About Europe's New Copyright Directive")

Of these issues, censorship is arguably the most difficult problem to solve. Different countries have different standards and rules, but the internet has no rules and no international boundaries. How can we control something that lives in a world of its own? How can we apply time-tested solutions to problems that don't follow the rules--where anything can be duplicated and shared over any distance? We can already see the effect the internet's freedom has had on American politics, but what effect will it have in the future on international relations? 


Image Credits: Image via www.vpnsrus.com

The Internet and the Printed Word

When the printing press was invented in the mid-1400's, it had a major impact on the accessibility of information through the written word. Prior to this, the process of making books was quite tedious and difficult, making them rare and only obtainable by the economic elite. With the printing process now easier than ever, more copies of books were put in circulation and the information they held could now be discovered by the peasants and commoners.

In the modern era, books are more prevalent than ever. From factual to fantastical, there is no end to the amount of stories and findings being put to print. However, books may possibly be under threat with the rising popularity of the internet. With information and entertainment just one click away, many are turning away from books in favor of online articles and social media.