Free speech and the internet

I'm glad I'm not in China either. But at the same time, there is so much in China for Chinese people to look at anyway. China is a huge country and most people don't look for things outside of their country. For example, I'm American and I usually don't look for things outside of America. I rarely do. I agree that I wouldn't object to it publicly either. If your country did censor to that degree, and you objected to it online, would you consider that objecting to it publicly? Or would you have a private conversation in your home or a friend's home?

I wouldn't talk to anyone about it at all, online or offline. Better safe than staring at a firing squad. ^^

It's definitely a hard topic. If there was someone that was in charge of the internet of the world and they decided what to put passwords on and block, I wonder how they would do that. Different cultures are more open to different things. As far as restricting what is placed on the internet, that's hard because they would have to monitor each individual. People can post whatever they want to post. It's hard for me to say where I think the line is. It's pretty vague.

I agree that the government should block some content. An example was used in one of the texts that I had to read for class of a website posting names, addresses, liscense plates and even spouses and children of doctors performing abortions. The website also placed a line through the names of those that were killed. I don't think this is right for the population. There are also other things out there that should be blocked like instructions for how to make bombs or organizing crime online.

The comment about schools blocking information makes me remember how a friend and I found a website that got around our school's filters and were able to chat during our computer class. This was when I was in middle school. The computer teacher wanted to know what the website was. We thought he wanted to block it but he said he was just interested in it and thought it was neat. Again, its a hard line to draw because government is set up for the protection of the people. If they feel that their citizens will be more safe by not knowing what happened in another part of the world then it could be okay for them to block a site. The people running the government could have their own interests at hand or could be looking out for the country. It's a tough line to be able to draw. I'm glad I don't have to do it.