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Internet Censorship

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Internet Censorship
1.0 INTRODUCTION

Internet censorship is control of the accessing or publishing of information available on the internet. The problems caused by the misuse of internet brought about are censorship.
Since approximately 1995, numerous governments around the world have been addressing the problems of material on the Internet that is illegal under their offline laws, and also that considered harmful or otherwise unsuitable for general public. The nature of material of concerned has varied substantially. For example, Political speeches, promotion of or incitement to racial hatred, pornographic materials, etc. Few governments have attempted to ban or otherwise legislatively restrict access to "matter unsuitable for their citizens as distinct from material illegal to distribute to adults.
A 1993 Time Magazine article quotes computer scientist John Gillmore, one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as saying "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it
In November 2007, "Father of the Internet" Vint Cerf stated that he sees government control of the Internet failing because the Web is almost entirely privately owned
A report of research conducted in 2007 and published in 2009 by the Berkman Centre for Internet & Society at Harvard University stated that: "We are confident that the [censorship circumvention] tool developers will for the most part keep ahead of the governments ' blocking efforts", but also that "...we believe that less than two percent of all filtered Internet users use circumvention tools". (Circumvention is the processes used by technologically savvy Internet users to bypass the technical aspects of Internet filtering and gain access to otherwise censored material)
In contrast, a 2011 report by researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute published by UNESCO concludes "... the control of information on the Internet and Web is certainly feasible, and technological advances do not therefore guarantee greater



References: * Gromov G., (2009), Internet History, Retrieved 1 November 2010 from http://www.netvalley.com/cgi-bin/intval/net_history.pl?chapter=1 * Howe W., (2010), A Brief History of the Internet, Retrieved 1 November 2010 from http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/history.html * Kristula D., (2009), The History of the Internet, Retrieved 1 November 2010 from http://www.davesite.com/webstation/net-history1.shtml * Webopedia, (2010), The Difference between the Internet and World Wide Web, Retrieved 1 November 2010 from http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2002/Web_vs_Internet.asp * Hornby, A. S., Wehmeier S., McIntosh C., Turnbull J., Ashby M, (2006), Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English (7th ed.) (781), Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. * Oak M., (2010), Positive Effects of Internet, Retrieved 1 November 2010 from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/positive-effects-of-internet.html * Rajan C.V., (2010), Pros and Cons of the Internet in Today’s Society, Retrieved 1 November 2010 from http://www.helium.com/items/1251805-pros-and-cons-of-the-internet-in-todays-society * Darlington, R., (2010), Problems on the Net, Retrieved 1 November 2010 from http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/problems.html * Cooney, E., (2009), Some People Need Help to Kick Their Internet and Computer Gaming Obsessions, Retrieved 1 November 2010 from * Nikos D., Moore R., (2004), Role of Internet, Retrieved 1 November 2010 from http://turing.une.edu.au/~comp292/Lectures/HEADER_KM_2004_LEC_NOTES/node93.html * Miniwatts, (2010), Internet World Usage Statistics, Retrieved 1 November 2010 from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm * Miniwatts, (2010), Malaysia Internet Usage and Telecommunications Report, Retrieved 1 November 2010 from http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia/my.htm * (Internet Censorship law and Policy around the World. Retrieved November 3, 2010 from http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Censor/cens3.html *

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