Essay: Censorship of the Internet

A) Internet is the global communication network that allows almost all computers worldwide to connect and exchange information. It all began with the development of electronic computers in the 1950’s. The origins of the internet date back to the 1960’s when research was commissioned by the US government. ARPANET was funded by the US military. Today, the Internet has an amazing impact on almost everyone in the world. With the help of the internet we are able access to new ideas and retrieve more information, unlimited possibilities, and a whole new world of communities. The internet has grown and evolved to influence how we interact with others and how we conduct business and how we learn. The internet has changed itself a lot as well. The internet is still rapidly changing and evolving and we are constantly finding new ways to utilise and improve. We have seen how Internet changed the world for good and how it will keep changing. The internet saves time, money and connects people and businesses from across the world. Statistics are showing that 35% of the world uses the Internet. China has the highest Internet user base of just above 450 million followed by the United States, Japan and India. In terms of fixed broadband, China too tops the list with 126 million users followed by the United States, Japan and Germany. English (56.6%) is the most used language on the Internet followed by German (6.5%), Russian (4.8%) and Japanese (4.7%). Internet usage has exploded since 1995, when researchers first started tracking this statistic. The Internet today is a widespread information infrastructure. Its history is complex and involves many aspects. For example, technological, organizational, and community. The internet also influences to the technical fields of computer communications. Robert E. “Bob” Kahn is an American Internet and the pioneer engineer & computer scientist which is the heart of the Internet. In late 1966 Roberts E “Bob” went to DARPA to develop the computer network concept and quickly put together his plan for ARPANET publishing it in 1967. ARPANET was the network that became the basis for the Internet. Based on a concept first published in 1967, ARPANET was developed under the direction of the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).
B) To “censor” is to review something and to choose to remove or hide parts of it that are considered unacceptable. Censorship is the name for the process or idea of keeping things like obscene word or graphic images from an audience. Internet is the global communication network that allows almost all computers worldwide to connect and exchange information. Internet censorship is the control or suppression of accessing or publishing certain information on the Internet. Internet censorship aims to block users from accessing information that is typically viewed as harmful or that infringes on a copyright. The Government of any country is able to prevent its citizens from viewing websites whether it is a local website or foreign website. The citizens of the country have no control over the web domains or the websites. This technique, known as filtering, is a fundamental form of internet censorship. Filtering can be based on a blacklist which is aa list instituted by the Government that will label all websites or information that should be banned. There are several types Internet censorship. Firstly, IP blocking is form of Internet censorship that blocks an IP address from being accessed. With IP blocking this affects IP-based protocols such as FTP, HTTP and POP. Secondly, DNS filtering is a type of internet censorship where internet censorship does not resolve domain names or return incorrect IP addresses. Thirdly, uniform resource locator is a form of internet censorship where internet censorship will scan the requested URL string for target keywords regardless of the desired domain name specified in the URL. Fourthly, packet filtering is another internet censorship where Internet censorship terminates TCP packet transmissions when a certain number of controversial words or keywords are detected. Lastly, connection resets are an aggressive form of Internet censorship that will block future connection attempts from accessing sites. You can be blocked from a website for 30 minutes.
D) First case study where Internet censorship is strictly implemented is in China. Internet censorship in China is extreme due to a wide variety of laws and administrative regulations. There are more than sixty Internet censorship regulations which have been created by the government of China. The Internet arrived in China in 1994. Since 1994 the Internet has become a common communication platform and an important tool for sharing information not just for China but for the rest of the world. The central government of China started its Internet censorship with three regulations. The first regulation was called the Temporary Regulation. The first regulation states requires that Internet service providers be licensed and that Internet traffic go through China Net, GBNet, CERNET or CSTNET. The second regulation was the Ordinance for Security Protection of Computer Information Systems. This regulation defines “harmful information” and “harmful activities” regarding internet usage. No one is able to use the Internet to create, replicate, retrieve, or transmit information. According to a Harvard study, at least 18,000 websites are blocked in China which includes 12 out of the top 100 websites.
Second case study where Internet censorship is implemented is in Iran. Iranian authorities maintain one of the toughest Internet censorship regimes in the world, blocking millions of websites, including news and social networking sites. Iran is suspected of using technique to create fake websites and search engines. In 2012, 27% internet sites were blocked and continued until 50% of the top 500 websites were blocked. Websites which were blocked include Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. These websites have a wide range of health, science, sports and news.