The Importance Of Internet Censorship In China

In fact, China has the world’s most complex censorship system, which is implemented due to political, moral and commercial reasons. Essentially, the most prevalent form of censorship in China is imposed in regard to political motivations. China controls the access to the Internet on domestic and international levels. It censors the Internet through the ‘Golden Shield’, which is a complex and highly developed project operated by the Ministry of Public Security. It limits and blocks the access to foreign websites such as YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Google.

However, “We are now in an age of information and know how important information is for our daily life. However, less known is the importance of information for nation-state building” (Yongnian, 2012). Although Internet censorship prevents and hinders freedom of expression, it is an absolute necessity in China. “China’s Internet censorship has obvious protectionist effects” (Liu, 2011). It is a tool that the Chinese government employs to regulate information flow within the country as she opens her doors to the World.

In repressive societies there is an extensive use of state control throughout daily life, for example in the prohibiting and banning of free speech and political opposition, and following severe human rights breaches and abuses. Many people consider the repressive capability of an authoritarian regime as the most serious factor as to why these regimes remains durable. They are able to some what manipulate and establish their rule as almost a norm in society. It is obvious that repression is very much present in china in a number of different ways for example in relation to internet censorship. Internet censorship being the great firewall of china a surveillance project controlled and operated by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) division of the Chinese government.

1984 Becomes Reality George Orwell writes about many important issues in his book, 1984. He writes about a future government where many different problems are portrayed dramatically and obviously. The book is about a totalitarian government that has complete control over its citizens, and intrudes on people’s privacy, to the point where even thoughts aren’t safe. Not only do they invade their thoughts, but they also control them. The government brainwashes their citizens to get them to be unquestioningly loyal to the party.

He wrote about ongoing topics in China metaphorically in his works. Since the government has control over everything, the residents receive the negative effects. Weiwei uses his works to show the government “won’t have tomorrow” (Weiwei 3). He claims that although the government may control its people now, they will gain control back in the future. He rebels his culture by going against the beliefs of the government.

This is done to protect children or sensitive people, or to promote or restrict political or religous groups. Throughout history, censorship has been used since ancient times, of course, in different shapes and forms as modern day censorships. Example s of old censorship could be for example an emperor or dictaror banning certain type of knowledge or ideas from another place in a book form for example. Now a days, censorship is a very impirtant part of society, especially with the introduction of the internet. Usually, we relate the word censorship with pornography or nudity.

The Gambler by Paolo Bacigalupi, encompasses a broad range of important themes and issues portrayed in media today. Particularly it reminded me heavily of the constant censorship battle still ongoing in China. As I personally have many friends that travel to and from China I’m able to hear their personal accounts of how different the media is presented to them there. Social media websites such as Facebook and Youtube are entirely blocked while others rumour that Google search results are entirely changed to fit communist propaganda. It is worrying to see how the world is mirroring “The Gambler”.

The government controls almost every aspect of peoples’ lives and going against the government results in elimination or torture. Surprisingly, 1984 relates significantly to several of today’s societies and governments, including the United States, Russia, Cuba, and North Korea in ways of mass mind control, electronic intrusion, and endless war. The USA PATRIOT Act allows the government to get a hold of an individual’s private records without a warrant. This completely takes away a person’s right to privacy. The government has access search anyone’s internet or library records.

Moreover, the administration claimed that “It also goes against the rules that require ads not to contain content that blasphemes national practices and cultures”. This situation shows how strongly society can affect the course of events. Although foreigners do not catch and understand why this advertisement caused such a heated controversy among Chinese citizens, after reading the unflattering comments, they realised how Nike’s commercial offended Chinese cultural values which lead to impairment of people's perception towards the brand

2. Monopolising Mass Media Media occupies an integral part of life in Panem which is the fictional state where The Huger Games trilogy takes place. Televising in this particular dystopian novel is used to maintain the order within the population. Initially, the Capitol, the ruling government of Panem, has monopoly on every media source and it utilises media to control and manipulate the twelve districts and the citizens of the Capitol as well in order to maintain its supremacy and prevent any rebellion that might bring about its downfall. Televising is one crucial tool a totalitarian dictatorship such as the Capitol uses to control and brainwash the mind of those who voluntarily or compulsorily watch the broadcasts of the government.

But still a problem lies in the stories that the network decides to cover. If a story might cause damage to an ideological interest of a network they might not cover it. This problem remains in both the left-wing and right-wing media. The only solution lies in the democratization of the news medium by the internet. If everyone has the power to report lies and injustice, then the world can become a more transparent

For example, there are some rules or laws that prohibit United States law enforcement or even our FBI to arrest organized crime group who internationalized their schemes in other countries. Moreover, I think technological advances, also, make infiltration harder. It is because organized crime group can gain any information they want with the use of the modern technologies such as internet. Internet in this era is a very powerful tool to search about people from their age, sex, address, family members, and even occupations, and this why I think Donnie Brasco with fail because if the organized group is not sure about him they can just use the internet or the power of technology to find out who he really

The biggest benefit of the Fourth Amendment is that it deters searches. A search under the Fourth Amendment is “when a governmental employee or an agent of the government violates an individual 's reasonable expectation of privacy” (Legal Information). If the government were to invade a citizen’s property no law enforcement shall search the human, but upon probable cause. The court will be the one to tell if the search falls under the Fourth Amendment, if it were to fall under the Fourth Amendment the citizen would not be searched. In addition, when the law enforcement believes searching a citizen is reasonable, no excessive force shall be used.

When he had enough information he fled to China for the beginning stages of the fallout. On June 5, documents Snowden obtained were release in the United Kingdom’s Guardian newspaper. On June 14 Snowden was charged with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information, and willful communication of classified intelligence with an unauthorized person. Snowden’s response was "I 'm willing to sacrifice [my former life] because I can 't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they 're secretly building.” (Edward Snowden Biography). Here is a clear cut example of why the government should limit their use of surveillance.

There are people who think net neutrality is ethical; there are several reasons for it. Net neutrality gives non-discriminatory access to the internet which means every website and the content on the internet is treated in the same way. Each person is treated in the same way. For instance, a housewife describing a recipe and a millionaire talking about the company’s new product are treated equally. It provides a platform for creativity and innovation.