In this world, censorship is a prominent handicap for knowledge of what is going on in the world. One of the newest products of censorship is Internet censorship, and as of right now we have little to no censorship on computers in America, and likewise in other small pockets of the world. However, this could change by bills that could be passed to massively hinder online distributers. Major bills that have tried, and thankfully failed so far, are SOPA, CISPA, and PIPA. SOPA, or Stop Online Piracy Act, is a bill that would enable all copyrighted products on the Internet to be illegal to upload by a user. This means music, videos and possibly news articles. PIPA and CISPA would also stop users from taking copyrighted works, such as songs or TV shows, and uploading it up on the Internet.
Many states and countries have their own twist on censorship. In China there is little to no freedom of speech both on and off the web. Online, there is a pervasive censorship law, meaning nothing will or can slip through the cracks. In 2001 several Chinese activists were sentenced to ten years in prison for simply using a Yahoo account to send anonymous writing to an Internet mailing list. In Pakistan, major online channels that would broadcast anything with an anti Islamic view have been blocked permanently. Russia currently has a “blacklist” of sites that hold some material the government find offensive, such as drug-related pages, extremist material, and terrorist activities. Australia has mandatory age required site for online traffic.
Most people would look at censorship as some sort of hindrance of freedom and capability of knowing of what else the world is doing. This is controlling us with fear. Censorship can alter our way of thinking and make us all drones for our nation. However, it is argued that censorship is needed to protect children from mature content, overly influencing ideals, and the dangers of cyber bullying. What can we do? Should we have age specific sites? Should we ban sites too radical for youth?