Media Issue Paper and Info. Literacy Worksheet
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Governments should be allowed to monitor and/or censor the Internet use of citizens
Introduction
Internet censorship is the restriction of the content that can be accessed, published, or viewed through the internet. In any country, the government has a vital role and responsibility in the enhancement of information and technology. It is the right of everyone to have freedom of opinion and expression. Every person has freedom to hold their own opinions without hindrance and to seek, get and pass information and opinions via any media channels. However, in many countries this important human right is usually curtailed through various ways which include censorship, laws that restrict the press, molestation of journalists and other people who articulate their views and opinions. It is also important any government to monitor and control the information which can be accessed by its citizens without infringing the fundamental right to information and opinions. Failure to censor the internet can cause extreme harm to the citizens or even the government (Constance, Theo & Ina, n.d.).
Firstly, if the content that can be accessed or published in the internet is not filtered malicious people can spread information that can jeopardize the security of a country. Many countries argue that lack of internet censorship could lead to spread of secret information that is necessary for protecting the country. Internet censorship will help in protecting a country’s security and military secrets from people or other countries that could use such information against it. Terrorists and criminals can also use the internet to pass information from one operations base to another. Terrorists can also upload information and instruction concerning usage or even assemblage of devices of destruction such as bombs and fire arms. This can there lead to emergence of illegal fire arms. For instance, in many countries in North Africa, there is the presence of media jihad the rebels pass information about their harmful plans through the internet. Through the use of social media such as face book and tweeter, they are able to spread inciting information to the rest of the world. This always poses a great danger to the affected countries (Jack, 2012).
Secondly, a country that censors and monitors the internet protects it citizens and children mostly from content that could negatively affect the beliefs and morals of the people. The government should censor content involving child pornography, extreme racism, and other violating materials that are already prohibited in other media such as film. This will also protect the children from pornography and other offensive and morally degrading content over the internet. This could also preserve the harmony in the community as content that is seen as vulgar and immoral by certain categories of people (Vitagliano, (2007). For instance, by censoring pictures or scenes of people consuming alcohol or sexually offending scenes, will help children from coping such habits. This therefore helps in safeguarding the morals of children. Cyber bullying is a new phenomenon used by persons with ill motives who spread false and offensive information about other people with the intention of causing harm (Eric, Richard, Jill & Rory 2012). This could also be uploading of obscene video in the internet. Therefore internet censorship could help in solving this problem. In Australia, the government has censored the internet such that one cannot access any pornographic sites. This has greatly boosted the morals of the country (Zuchora-walske, 2010).
Thirdly, there are a lot of phishing schemes that are usually conducted over the internet. These schemes entice people to share their personal information over the internet. Most of these schemes always appear as genuine sites financial institutions requesting the users to affirm their bank account numbers and even passwords. These schemes also ask the user to provide their credit cards numbers through the internet. These cyber criminals also try to build trust to the users through playing of mental triggers so as to create a state of sympathy. These always leads to invasion of users’ personal space (Uchenna, Goh, Tan, & Gerald, 2008).
In addition, there is emergence of identity theft over the internet. Identity theft is the stealing of another person’s identity so as to use the person’s name to gain access to some benefits or certain resources. This occurs when the identity theft uses information that identifies the victim of identity such identifying number, or even credit card number without permission with motive of committing fraud or other crimes. The person who steals the identity can also persuade companies and other people known to the person whose identity has been stolen to get information or services which he is not supposed to enjoy. The victim of identity is always held responsible for any wrong doings by the identity thief. Thieves often use the internet chat rooms, social media and also spread Trojan horses that help in transmitting credits card number, passwords and usernames that are used on the target computer to the thieves. Today many online businesses save their clients personal information on the websites. Through this way thieves can get shoppers’ and customers’ personal information without their knowledge (Blake, 2013).
Internet censorship helps in promoting copy right protection. In the present world, many people download copy righted materials such songs and movies from the internet. There is also copyright infringement and online merchandizing of fake goods. This deprives the owners the money which they could get from selling their materials. This is because people download their materials for free. Through internet censorship the government will be able to help in protecting intellectual property and also help in generating revenue to the concerned parties. The governments can also help in protecting local producers by censoring access to business websites from other countries which sell similar goods and services. The local producer will have a ready market for the goods and services. This will in turn boost the welfare of the local producers because there will be no competition from other international producers (Blake, 2013).

Conclusion
The internet can be of great harm to the citizens of any given country. In order to control the harmful information and materials that can be accessed and published in the internet there is need for governments to control this information. If governments will be able to censor the internet, then they will able to avoid leakage of security information to their enemies, thus safeguarding their countries from any form of attack. Despite the fact that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right the government has the role of filtering the internet to prevent its citizens from inappropriate information and also morally unfit content. The government will also be able to control hate crimes transmitted via the internet and also prevent cyber-bullying. The terrorists and criminals will not be able to recruit new members and also pass information through the internet.

References
Blake, E. (2013, November 26). 5 ways identity thieves are targeting you - Nov. 26, 2013. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/26/pf/identity-theft/
Constance, B., Theo, B., & Ina, F. (n.d.). Trends in transition from classical censorship to Internet censorship: Selected country overviews | IFLA. Retrieved from http://www.ifla.org/publications/trends-in-transition-from-classical-censorship-to-intenet-censorship-selected-country-o
Eric, O. W., Richard, B. J., Jill, M. C., & Rory, R. C. (2012). The impact of Internet pornography on adolescents: A review of the research. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention, 19, 99-122.
Jack, C. (2012, January 18). Should the U.S government censor the Internet? Cafferty file - CNN.com Blogs. Retrieved from http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/18/should-congress-censor-the-internet/
Vitagliano, E. (2007, January). 0107 AFA journal online pornography. Retrieved from http://www.afajournal.org/2007/january/0107caught.asp
Zuchora-walske, C. (2010). Internet censorship: Protecting citizens or trampling freedom? Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-first Century Books.
Uchenna, E. C., Goh, Y. C., Tan, L. N., & Gerald, G. G. (2008). Phishing: A growing challenge for Internet banking providers in Malaysia. Communications of the Ibima, 5, 133-140.