...Censorship a Contravention to Freedom of Speech During the 21st century, one of the most important concepts known to people around the world is the freedom of speech. People coming from different countries, having diverse religions and living in dissimilar backgrounds talk about it every day. In some countries people do solicit for it as their right. But the question is, “Is there something called freedom of speech in the first place? Or is it just a fantasy that can never be accomplished? Or are we even talked into thinking that we do possess it?” In the midst of all this bewilderment, the notion of censorship pops up to clarify the image. The word censorship is familiar to people, for everybody has heard about the governmental censorship...
Words: 2189 - Pages: 9
...commentators for. There are two sides to this national scandal. First you are either all for Manning because you believe he is a hero and being punished to strictly or you think he is a terrible person and deserves everything he has gotten plus more. Manning is accused of sending more than 700,000 diplomatic and military secrets to the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks. So far this has been the largest lead in the United States of classified material. Many legal experts think this case could affect freedom of speech especially the internet and journalism. Freedom of speech is stated in the first amendment of the constitution of the United States. The first amendment remains very broad and sometimes some very debatable decisions have been made based on the freedom of speech. Included in the freedom of speech is the use of internet. It is given the same freedoms books, magazines, films, and journalism. The Bradley Manning case could possibly have a dramatic effect on freedom of speech as we know it. Bradley Manning was a very young and naïve soldier who access to very powerful information. He never meant any harm to the United States national security or his fellow soldiers. However, after seeing such horrible crimes that were being held from public knowledge he felt it was his duty to inform the public about what was occurring. Manning thought it was his not only his moral duty but moral obligation to let the public in on this valuable information. It should be proven...
Words: 934 - Pages: 4
...The freedom of speech in China August 11, 2013 There is no Facebook or Twitter in China. China may have the world’s most strict censorship and monitoring system, and it has been pushed to its limits to control sensitive political topic such as Tiananmen Square, 2010 Nobel Prize winners Liu Xiaobo and so on. If you use Chinese search engine named Baidu, those kind of topics will be told that according to relevant laws, regulations and policies, some search results did not show. People are becoming aware of things that their nation tried to keep them blind from previously. Basically, government uses as advanced technology as just to make sure block some information they don’t want to people know. According to the latest research that from Reporters Without Borders which is basically France-based international a non-profit, non-organization and that help and defend the right of freedom of speech. They make a research that finds the index ranking of countries about their freedoms concerning speech, placed China at 174 out of the 179 listed countries. (2013) It is hard to imagine that being a long history of civilianization and the second economic group country is bottom seventh. How did china form its constitution and become the way people just have few freedom of speech? As known to us, China has a long history that is almost five thousand years. Generally speaking, one dynasty ends and other dynasty begins. The last dynasty is Qing dynasty which end in 1911...
Words: 1368 - Pages: 6
...is Kevin Rios and I am going to talk about internet censorship. Anyone what is your favorite song of this year?. Its okay raise your hands! This massage means that you are not allowed to view all the results you wsih to see because. What was once known as a the free domain is now filtered for our protection. If you believe this issue doesnt affect you think again. According to the 2010 US consensus, there are 274.5 million americans us the internet. That means 87% of the nation uses the it daily. Now that we are all on the same page together we will look at the fact that freedom of speech would restriced by cencorship, parents responisibilty over thier childern, and previous laws have failed. The internet alows us to inform others According to google, censorship is defined as the suppression of speech or other public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient as determined by a government. The first words of this definaition alone go against the words of out founding fathers. ACLU professor David Goldberger states that, “Free speech, is communication that flows into the marketplace of ideas that allows us to decide what we think is right and wrong, and truth is and how to best govern the country” So why would we let the governement decide what we can and cant see? It should anger every American that our government would so publicly try to abridge our freedom. The freedom of speech has been a symbol of American society since...
Words: 894 - Pages: 4
...of, if not the most, well known Amendment. The freedom of speech, petition, religion, press, and assembly is important to all Americans. However, the government feels that they hold power to monitor content on the internet, on a federal, state, and local level. This has become a recent controversy with Net Neutrality being in danger of being removed, the growing social media industry, and internet filters that are being put in place by school districts. There are implied powers involved in the Constitution, but with the creation of Net Neutrality, there should be no need for the use of any implied powers. A line that has been drawn, and no level of government should cross that line unless there is someone who is truly suspect as to being a threat to the safety of the citizens of the United States....
Words: 802 - Pages: 4
...politics, the right to freedom of speech was given to all of them. Without this right the participants would not have been able to express their opinion on the political state of affairs in Athens. This would make Athens less of a democracy and more of an autocracy, ruled by either one or several of the same ideologies. (Smith, D., & Torres, L. (2006)) An important figure in the...
Words: 3812 - Pages: 16
...------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION 7_4_2014 The idea is that there must be a tension between the different branches of the State power. This differs from the European style system because when you think about the normal situation where you have a prime minister, the reality is that in most countries, the PM becomes PM because he holds the majority in the legislative branch. So almost necessarily, the party who has the majority in the executive power also has it in the legislative power. In fact, Americans typically LIKE divided governments. If you want an example of that, just look at the last presidents of the US. Bill Clinton e.g. was a member of the Democratic Party while the congress was held by the Democratic Party as well. However, interestingly enough, that situation lasted only 2 years, after which the Americans decided to elect a republican president: Bush. The same happened more or less to Bush, and after that to Barack Obama. This is called the Fundamental Split between political parties. As part of that, what happened is that American people were able to express their ideas. They often like to have one party at power in the Congress and another party at power in the Government. What if a third party develops himself? One of the two parties will try to move towards the same ideas. They do have third party candidates in Congress, but their power is very small. It’s an idea that is embraced by the American...
Words: 7876 - Pages: 32
...owns the `mainstream’ media? “It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.” (Clemens, 1897) Foreword According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights written up by the United Nations, its states that, “Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people” (UN, 1948). Articles 19 to 21 specifically target the freedom of thought, conscience and belief of human rights that a Democratic government must abide by and Egypt is no exception. Arab Spring Turmoil has been brewing in Egypt, causing great pain to its inhabitants, destroying homes and families and creating complete mayhem in the process. The first marked incident according to The Guardian is on the 1st of January 2011; a suicide bombing attempt took place outside a Coptic Church in Alexandria. By the 25th of January Egypt finally joined the Arab Spring alongside Tunisia, Yemen and Algeria. The ‘Arab Spring’ was an activist movement by several Middle-Eastern countries in an attempt at freedom from political and religious oppression and authoritarian governments. A major role in political and social affairs, which had...
Words: 6419 - Pages: 26
...Chinese Censorship is a Contradicting Problem In the contemporary society, with internet expansion the world is extending to be an Information Age. Due to the expansion, a large amount of sensitive information that governments disagree with is widely and rapidly spread. In order to control the dramatic increase of this sensitive information censorship occurs. According to a report, censorship is defined as “…one of the tools used by governments to filter out unwanted information and to prevent the spread through the World Wide Web”. (Antonio Lupetti) In many countries around the world, government censors restrict access to certain kinds of material for their citizens such as movies with sexual content, news with political ideas, and violent video games. Based on the latest data, censorship is a phenomenon of staggering proportions that affects over 25% of the global population. China, with a population of over 1.3 billion people and 360 million active users of the Internet is by far the nation in which the censors’ activity affects the highest number of citizens (China). It is well known among the Chinese that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are all blocked in China because there is too much sensitive information on them. It is clear that since censorship has begun in China, it has hindered China from developing, updating information and limited the freedom of speech. Censorship has been used in China for centuries. According to the Baidu Encyclopedia which is a very popular...
Words: 1711 - Pages: 7
...Amendment, all people have the right for free exercise of religion and speech. So, free speech is unlimited. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out for equality throughout the races, which is an example of free speech. Yet many people, and politically, were not in favor, they eventually ruled the favor for the freedom of African America. The case of Schenck v. the United States in 1919 was ruled by an unanimous court, deciding the concerning enforcement of the Espionage Act of 1917 during World War I. Basically, the act did not violate the freedom of speech of those convicted under its provisions. The constitutionality of the law, the will of free speech, and the meaning of its language have stayed intact in court ever since....
Words: 433 - Pages: 2
...The United Sates government does not have the right to completely monitor internet content. However, they do have some rights regarding monitoring internet content. These rights include, but are not limited to: freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press. Lincoln.edu claims "'Congress shall make no law....abridging (limiting) the freedom of speech, or of the press...' Freedom of speech is the liberty to speak openly without fear of government restraint. It is closely linked to freedom of the press because this freedom includes both the right to speak and the right to be heard. In the United States, both the freedom of speech and freedom of press are commonly called freedom of expression" (lincoln.edu) The government has the right to...
Words: 536 - Pages: 3
...Case: Google withdraws from China John Herkins For years, China’s government has been oppressing the freedom of speech to all of its citizens and reporters. Since the introduction of the internet and the service that it holds, China’s government created its own internet which many analysts say has been intended to control what their citizens can read. Many reporters who have investigated on China’s government and police corruption, propaganda, and censorship are barred out of the country and not let in. Those who have successfully entered the country and get caught investigating sometimes end up in the Black Jail, where they are detained without trial, and forced to leave the country. Google is a huge face of freedom of speech and the providing free information without censorship. A few years ago, congress tried putting through the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) which created an out lash towards the American Government and an American’s citizen’s right for a free web. Many websites such as Google took part in an internet blackout that informed those of what was going on and how SOPA violates freedom of speech. Google’s China’s domain Google.cn is now redirected to its new website Google.hk. Google is no longer censoring information from the Chinese citizens because of their belief in a free web. The fact that they are standing for what they believe in and taking action in doing so shows their commitment to the cause. China is a large market in which the Google Company...
Words: 378 - Pages: 2
...The desperate voices of many American citizens were now being heard. The First Amendment was being written to grant citizens the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, the freeodm of press, and the right to assembly peacefully. Because of American inception, citizens wanted a guarantee of the basic freedoms. When the United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, it didn’t contain the necissary freedoms now found in the Bill of Rights. So, On December 15, 1791 the voices of many American citizens were being heard. The First Amendment along with 9 others were being ratified (First Amendment Center). As far as American Amendments are salient, the first Amendment is the most important because of the freedom of speech, the freedom...
Words: 1062 - Pages: 5
...Freedom of Speech: UAE People have been fighting for their rights to be respected by governments and societies worldwide. The right to equality between races, gender and nationalities has been a long struggle. In today’s world, while some citizens still fight for such rights, the more common issue worldwide is the right to freedom of speech. A fundamental right for people to be able to communicate their opinion in the public sphere, free speech is legally defined as “the right to express beliefs and opinions without unwarranted government restriction” (Franklyn, 1993). There are many examples on how this could be practiced, ranging from as simple as someone speaking in a public space about his or her political views and opinion of the current ruler to a non-intrusive protest by a large group of people about a certain issue (homosexuals’ rights, political leadership, economic situations and many more examples). Some countries might have freedom of speech as a right in its legislative system, but the implementation of this would often be responses with an intolerant reaction from the government. There...
Words: 934 - Pages: 4
...Some people believe that freedom of speech is something that should be limited when it come to sensitive information. I feel that if its limited it not freedom. This was a big problem. Note it was a problem. Its not the information that is so called sensitive it’s the public’s reaction to it that causes the problem I think the world only has a problem with freedom of press when it’s either about them or if its bad press. I have never seen anyone complaining about press that is in his or her favor or anything that is not in his or her favor Freedom of the press is defined by dictionary.com as the right to circulate opinion in print without censorship from the government. America’s Founding Fathers believed so strongly in the right to free speech that they codified it in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states in part, “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” This right was considered so important it was the first of the ten freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights. So why should anyone think or feel that they can limit people on their right as humans. I see freedom of press as the same thing as freedom of speech. Most individual are fine with freedom of press until it hits home. So why take the right away when your in the spotlight. It just isn’t fair. I really don’t think that sensitive information sways people in the work plae one way or the other. For everything that said in the press there is...
Words: 904 - Pages: 4