Google: Internet freedom is declining

When thinking about the Internet as a whole, does the world have the right to view every possible piece of information ever known? According to Google, world governments say no. The Internet is the one place where professionals, students, and average people should have the right to search and learn about anything they need or want to. Google has released a new tool to unveil when governments are trying to block information from users, also better known as government’s enforcing censorship. Censorship, although thought of in places like North Korea, Russia, and China, is occurring in many countries over the Internet and now through a tool called Google Transparency, Internet users can see how many requests each individual country has made to block Google related website information.

The Internet was created so users could have the opportunity to search freely for information. Books are now available to be read on the Internet, movies can be watched, and you can even shop for clothes. So why then do governments want to impose censorship? For what reason is it necessary for governments to make laws prohibiting information on the Internet? "The threat to internet freedom has actually been growing over the past few years,” says Dorothy Chou, a Google policy analyst, and I believe it is because governments do not approve of the individual creativity that is being created by users of the Internet. While there is information on the Internet that is offensive and demeaning to some, the Internet is not like a textbook. People do not have to read it and they do not have to search for it unless they want to. Even instances of videos violating government laws should not be a controversy, because the individual who uploaded that video should not have violated the law in the first place. Censorship is now becoming a problem because no one wants to be limited and told what he or she can and cannot do on a utility that is paid for and owned by private owners.

Google Transparency becomes one of the first steps to the public being able to fight back. Although with this tool we will not be able to see what content is trying to be blocked by our government, we will be able to see the percentage that Google agrees to block information over the requests that the government asks to block information. So how can we fight against censorship using Google transparency? We now have the ability to see when the Internet is working, “up”, and when the Internet is not working, “down”. We can tell when information is not being streamed to Google sites and when the information has been tainted with.

As a citizen of the United States, I agree with what Google is doing. Freedom is one of the main components to success. If you don’t have anything positive to say, then don’t say anything. The Internet is not the place to oppress because our present and future ideas are being created on it. Why should we be putting limitations on what our future will depend on? The interactive map, how Google transparency presents itself, allows me to see which countries want to implement limitations. As a user of the Internet I can start to pin point and hold accountable who is limiting me with Google transparency and start to get my Internet freedom back.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/09/21/google.transparency/index.html?npt=NP1