Message-ID: <9605060006.AA26134@col2.caribsurf.com> Date: Sun, 5 May 1996 20:06:19 -0400 From: James Corbin <mailto:James@CARIBSURF.COM> Subject: Censorship on the Internet To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
It is my fundamental belief, that as the Internet spreads throughout developing countries. There will be vigorous attempts made to censor it use for various reasons. The following essay are my thoughts on this topic which will provide a significant challenge for the developing countries ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------- CENSORSHIP ON THE INTERNET By James Corbin Divisional Manager Information Services, The Barbados Telephone Company ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------- >From Washington in the United States, to Bonn in Germany., From China to
Singapore. Governments around the world have started initiatives to censor the slush of pornographic, political and racial material published on the Internet.In February using an electronic pen in a ceremony carried live via the Internet, President Clinton signed the USA Telecommunications Act of 1996 into law. This bill allows local telephone companies, long distance telephone companies and cable television companies to compete in each other's markets.
Part of the bill was the Communications Decency Act which bans the distribution of indecent material over the Internet and requires computer manufacturers to include V-chips in their sets which will allow parents to censor undesirable programming. Persons convicted under this Act are subject to a fine of US$200,000 and a five year jail term.
The proverbial ink had hardly dried on the paper before an army of adversaries who took offense to banning the distribution of indecent material over the Internet swung into action. Some thirty seven plaintiffs comprising such diverse organisations as Microsoft Corp, Society of Professional Journalists, American Society of Newspaper editors, Compuserve and the American Library Association, filed a civil suit in federal court in Philadelphia, arguing that publishers on the Internet should be accorded the same freedom as print publishers. The Government is arguing that speech on the Internet should be subject to the same regulations as radio and TV broadcasts.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, in Los Angeles, famous for hunting down Nazi war criminals, concerned by the amount of anti semitic material on the Internet requested all internet access providers in the USA to ban groups promoting "racism, anti-semitism, mayhem and violence." The Center cited 75 sites on the world wide web where groups published material which 'denigrate Jews, blacks and other minorities." Their requests fell on deaf ears. The service providers simply said that they cannot decide what kinds of materials their customers create or receive. They argue that the service they provide is similar to that of a telephone company. The phone company provides a customer with a telephone line, but has no control over how the customer uses that line or what information is passed over the line.
The Chinese have banned "transmission of state secrets, information harmful to state security and pornography over international computer links." Internet access providers are required to register with the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. Internet users are required to register with the police and to sign an agreement promising not to harm the country or to do anything illegal.
Several WWW sites have been created to protest conditions in China. These include:-
The Swedish branch of save the children who have created a web page to encourage protests against conditions in chinese orphanages.
The Human rights Web which organised e-mail to free dissident Harry Wu from Chinese detention and to protest the imprisonment of democratic activist Wei Jingsheng
The Free Tibet Home Page provides support for Tibet's struggle for independence.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are to set up a regulatory body to come up with "appropriate responses" to the Internet.
The European Community is considering restricting publishing on the Internet after a book banned in France detailing former French President Mitterand's battle with cancer was published on the Internet.
The most interesting cases of censorship involve the German government. In december 1995, the German government ordered Compuserve to shut down access to 200 Internet newsgroups deemed indecent and offensive. The banned newsgroup include most of the alt.sex hierarchy, whose text and pictures ranged from the infadig to the exceedingly raw.
In complying with the German government order, and removing access to the offending newsgroups, those newsgroups became inaccessible not only to the Germans, but also four million Americans and compuserve subscribers in one hundred and forty six countries. Compuserve was severely criticised for its actions. Compuserve did argue that the German government should pursue the providers of the offensive material rather than Compuserve which merely provided the access to the material.
This case is important because it is the first time, a government has censored a commercial online service which has a global reach. It also illustrates the difficulty in censoring any material on the Internet due to its global nature and ease of access. However governments do have the right to seek to protect their citizens from the violent and indecent nature of some of the material posted on the Internet.
Even more interesting was when the German government blocked access to a Canadian site, where Ernst Zeundel, a german neo-Nazi living in Toronto, was publishing neo-Nazi material. German law makes it illegal to publish or distribute material denying the holocaust occurred.
Free speech advocates in the USA began "mirroring" the material from the canadian site by making exact duplicates of the offending material. Some of these mirror sites included Carnegie-Mellon University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The underlying idea being that the Germans would restore access to the canadian site rather than cut Germany off from so many important sites.
This strategy worked beautifully. The German government backed down, lifted the ban and termed the mirroring an "interference in German internal affairs." However the German Technology Minister did warn that any publishers of neo-Nazi material inside Germany would be prosecuted, although the government was powerless to do anything about material posted outside of German borders.
This incident has alarming repercussions for small Caribbean states. Suppose some irresponsible group or person posted material on the Internet which severely damaged the international reputation of a Caribbean island? What recourse would the government have? We have defence forces which ensures our physical safety, are we going to deploy an Information Force to protect our information health?
When you think about it, Child pornography, soliciting children for sex and instigating racial hatred is illegal in virtually every country in the world,. Therefore attempts by governments to censor such material in cyberspace should be considered normal and welcomed by reasonable citizens. On the other hand, books denying the holocaust can be legally published.
Newspapers sometimes refuse to carry offensive advertisements and therefore Internet access providers could refuse service to individuals or groups who may publish material they consider offensive. But are the internet providers breaking the law? Would this be considered discrimination,? You don't like my politics so you do not give me access. Furthermore due to the diverse nature of the Internet, a cyberspace publisher, no matter how offensive the material will probably find an Access Provider willing to provide access to the material. Finally the telephone company must provide service to anyone who requests it, provided they have a good credit rating. Does this rule apply to Internet Access Providers?
The Internet is projected to grow to 500,000,000 million by the year 2000. Bill Gates in his book "the Road ahead" predicts that all the world's products and services will be available via the internet. The Internet is here to stay and will dominate our lives in the 21st century.
But Censorship on the Internet is not going to go away. Those in favour of regulating the Internet argue that definite measures are needed to protect children from obscenity and nations from subversion. Opponents argue that to limit the free wheeling global character of the Internet will cripple its potential as a force for democracy.
Time will tell!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- James Corbin Barbados Telephone Company Barbados (809-431-1456) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------