Controlling and restraining the access to information on the internet is what Internet Censorship is all about. The government controls the internet by regions.
One problem is a country’s government may try to prevent information to be seen by its citizens, but in doing so, harming the foreigners because the government may take action against Internet sites anywhere in the world.
People are saying that censorship is subjective, that it depends on the viewer. According to them, people have a right to decide for themselves whether a webpage is appropriate and censoring these materials would be unfair to those who enjoy it. The government will overpower the internet users and block whatever websites or materials they want.
Laws in the Philippines
According to the World Factbook, there are 8,070,000 internet users in the
Philippines and it is growing over time. Because of the rate we’re at, the government is now imposing laws to censor materials on the internet.
For example, Senator Loren Legarda recently banned a pornographic site, BoyBastos because of, obviously, its explicit content. “This is by far the filthiest Internet site we’ve come across that offers open and unlimited access to some of the most obscene videos and photographs of Filipino women and girls,” Legarda said.
Of course, I support Legarda and the government on this. Legarda is author of Senate Bill 1375, the proposed Anti-Computer Pornography Act, which seeks to reinforce the war on electronic smut.
Internet Censorship in the Philippines
Right now, there is minimal censorship and anyone can view any pornographic or explicit material. Because of this, and the rate of internet users, the senate is now looking for a way to pass the bill on how to control the internet.
Comparison
a) China continues to be one of the world’s most advanced in Internet Filtering. They started with filtering chat forums and websites but now, they are on to filtering blogs and video exchange sites.
China closes down any sites that express themselves too freely online
b) The Internet in Singapore is has no political discussion and these only occur on websites and discussion forums run from outside the country. They even have the ISP’s under control. Employers are legally allowed to monitor the e-mail of their workers, who have no means of appeal if they are sacked as a result of an intercepted message.
c) In Myanmar internet usage is closely monitored by the military. The term “closely” here is underrated. There are only 25,000 internet users although poverty is partly to blame for. E-mail is strictly filtered by the posts and telecommunications authority MPT and military intelligence, reportedly with a Dans Guardian content filter.
Compared to these countries, Internet Censorship in the Philippines is nothing. I think that the censorship in the said countries are violations of their freedom of expressions. We should be happy that this is not how controlling our government is, at least for now. To prevent this from happening, we should respect the internet and its benefits by not using it for illegal purposes such as pornography and child trafficking.