Year IV students’ blog for Internet Education

Internet Censorship

Internet censorship is control or suppression of the publishing or accessing of information on the Internet. The legal issues are similar to offline censorship. Censorship is the moral or legislative process by which society agrees to limit what an individual can do, say, think, or see. Recent attempts to regulate,censor, what is viewed on the Internet have polarized the general population. Unfortunately, beyond the anecdotal, the characteristics of those who support Internet censorship are unknown.

Laws of the Philippines about Internet censorship

The Internet censorship in the Philippines is growing and people watch this more and more and even children watch it too. And if many people watch censored films, they woul d produce more and more of this and in many different kinds of censored films. The government is planning to block unnecessary sites in the Internet and even the bad sites about the government. The bill they are going to put up on this is very big and they can just use this project for other things. The Internet censorship can also be prevented at home. And we can be knowledge by our parents to this. And we can also install software that can be blocked by this internet sites.

Internet censorship in the Philippines

While researching censorship within the Philippines I came across two letters written to regulating bodies within the Asian Nations. I am sure there are countless other correspondences sent on this issue. The first is a letter written a few years ago by several members of various committees against censorship within the Philippines. The second letter was very similar, written to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) a year later by the Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists (CCPJ), the Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information (ISAI) and other freedom of speech organizations.
The letter reminds member nations that content-based restrictions of online communications violates internationally guaranteed rights of free expression. Likewise, the letter addresses the idea of conserving cultural values by stating that censorship does not ensure the respect of cultural norms or values.

Comparison of the Philippines in:

China- The internet in China is very protected and the sites are all very useful and they block all the pornography sites. Chinese government also block the websites that tell about there culture. As well as numerous others, has no information that might be deemed offensive to the Chinese government. Compared to the Philippines censored sites are not blocked and even children can see this things.

The Philippine govenrment should really work on the internet blocking for censored films on the internet.

Singapore- The Government of Singapore argues that censorship of violence and sexual themes is necessary as the Singaporean populace is deeply conservative, and censorship of political, racial and religious content is necessary to avoid upsetting the balance of Singapore’s delicate multi-racial society. In the Philippines the censorship is not conrolled and has been allowed ever since so now they are having a hard time to stop it. But the our government is trying to make it stop.

Myanmar- the military government restricts Internet access through software-based censorship, including software provided by U.S. company Fortinet. This software limits the material citizens can access on-line, especially email service providers and pornographic websites. The government also charges high prices to connect to the internet, and then charges on a per-hour basis once connected. Many native Burmans do not have the money to pay for this.

Internet Censorship

Internet censorship is control or suppression of the publishing or accessing of information on the Internet. The legal issues are similar to offline censorship.

One difference is that national borders are more permeable online: residents of a country that bans certain information can find it on websites hosted outside the country. Conversely, attempts by one government to prevent its citizens from seeing certain material can have the effect of restricting foreigners, because the government may take action against Internet sites anywhere in the world, if they host objectionable material.

Senate Bill 1375: Anti-Computer Pornography Act
“Computer Pornography Act,” seeks to protect minors from indecent and immoral materials transmitted through electronic mail and other means of computer technology by penalizing violators of such acts.

In Reality
In reality, there is no Internet Censorship, anybody from any part of the Philippines can view pornographic material. All they need is a computer and an internet connection and there all set. Even if there are laws abiding pornographic material, they are not strictly implemented therefore making it useless.

China

In September 1996, China reportedly banned access to an estimated 100 Web sites by using a filtering system to prevent delivery of offending information. The banned sites included Western news outlets, Taiwanese commentary sites, anti-China dissident sites and sexually explicit sites.

Since 1996, the Chinese government has enacted a number of highly restrictive laws prohibiting publishing political commentary the government considers undesirable and so on, and there have been continuing reports of various foreign media and human rights Web sites being blocked.

On 18 January 2002, Associated Press reported that:
“China has issued its most intrusive Internet controls to date, ordering service providers to screen private e-mail for political content and holding them responsible for subversive postings on their Web sites. …
Under the new rules, general portal sites must install security programs to screen and copy all e-mail messages sent or received by users. Those containing ’sensitive materials’ must be turned over to authorities. Providers are also responsible for erasing all prohibited content posted on their Web sites, including online chatrooms and bulletin boards.The new rules include a long list of banned content prohibiting writings that reveal state secrets, hurt China’s reputation or advocate the overthrow of communism, ethnic separatism or ‘evil cults.’
Singapore

Internet services provided by the three major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are subject to regulation by the Media Development Authority (MDA) to block websites containing material that may be a threat to public security, national defence, racial and religious harmony and public morality, and Police are given broad powers to intercept messages online. ISP-level blocks are, however, used sparingly with only some high-profile token sites like Playboy blocked. The Ministry of Education, Singapore blocks access to pornographic and similar objectionable Internet sites on its proxy servers. In 2005, MDA banned a gay website and fined another website following complaints that the sites contained offensive content. The banned website is said to have promoted promiscuous sexual behaviour and recruited underage boys for sex and nude photography.
Myanmar
Censorship in Myanmar (formerly Burma) refers to government policies in controlling and regulating certain information, particularly on religious, ethnic, political, and moral grounds. Freedom of speech and the press are not guaranteed by law, and every publication (including newspaper articles, cartoons, advertisements, and illustrations) are censored by the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division of the Ministry of Information. In 2006, Myanmar ranked 164th of 168 nations in the 2006 Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index. Many colonial-era laws regulating the press and information continue to be used.

Most of the “Imagine The Internet Future” assignments submitted gave some preliminary ideas about internet application possibilities to the occupation/profession you chose.

Despite (or precisely due to) the fact that what you’ve given in managed merely at best to scratch the surface, the exercise has become even more interesting than I expected!

Thus, you have been asked to come up with a mini-research paper (or extended essay) to flesh out the preliminary ideas of your initial assignment. The guidelines for the requirement are:

1. Expound on the ideas you already have. Be as specific and concrete as possible.
2. Cite internet reference links to support/explain key points or potential new applications.
3. Publish your work-in-progress on this blog at whatever stage it may be, so I can make online comments and suggestions as you go along.
4. Deadline for the mini-research paper (to be submitted by posting it online on this blog) is the end of the 2nd trimester.