Critical thinking. Read the article and express your opinion on the problem.
Censorship on the Web
The Internet offers instant access to information across national and cultural borders, but along with helpful information the Internet hosts a disturbing amount of unsavory material. Militias and hate groups use Web sites to recruit new members and spread their views. International terrorists use Web sites as recruiting tools and for boasting about suicide bombings. Criminals, anarchists and dissenters post guidebooks and tips on how to do all kinds of illegal activities, from making suitcase bombs to spreading viruses.
Some advocate cyber censorship to irresponsible Web sites, blogs and discussion groups. Cyber censorship typically means blocking access to Web sites, but it can also mean closing sites and removing them from host servers. Censorship advocates are opposed by free speech supporters. The controversy over censorship is not new. In most cases words are acceptable, whereas actions can be punishable. But in some cases, words are punishable, too.
A second censorship guideline hinges on local standards of morality. Local communities can apply their own standards to determine whether material is obscene.
However, local standards are difficult to sort out on the Internet where a Web surfer in Tennessee can easily access Web sites, bulletin boards and chart groups that originate from anywhere in the world.
The U. S. Supreme Court supports the concepts of cyber zones that limit net access to certain materials. It is possible to construct barriers in cyberspace and use them to screen for identity, making cyberspace more like the physical world and more amenable to zoning laws. As an example, AOL is trying to develop a family - friendly Internet portal by enforcing policies against offensive speech.
But in some countries cyber citizens have no choice but to use a government-controlled ISP. In many countries, free speech is not a basic right conferred to all citizens. Many dictatorial regimes want their citizens to receive news from the outside world only after government censor has screened it. Officials in more than 20 countries use sophisticated tools to block Web sites, filter e-mail, and censor discussion groups.
China has some of the most rigorous Internet censorship in the world. The “Great Firewall of China” as it is sometimes called, blocks Internet content by preventing IP addresses of objectionable sites from being routed through its gateways into China. In Iran, government censors monitor political and news Web sites. In Saudi Arabia if you tried to open “Rolling Stone” magazine’s Web site, you would find that access has been denied. The Saudi government claims it censors the Internet to preserve culture and heritage.
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That argument in many ways reflects the concept of cyber zones that conform to local standards of morality. Even free-speech activists seem to agree. They say: “We do think that information should be free, but we do need to find a balance for respect for sovereign states to preserve their own culture.”
Despite such cultural sensitivity, technology giants, such as Microsoft, Yahoo! and Cisco Systems have been criticized for providing foreign government with tools for blocking culturally objectionable sites.
What do you think?
1. Should government be allowed to block access to Web sites based on local religions, politics and customs?
2. Do you believe that a privately held ISP like AOL has the right to censor the data posted on Web sites it hosts?
3. Should companies like Microsoft, Yahoo! and Cisco Systems provide blocking technology to foreign government?
GRAMMAR REVISION
Exercise 1. Put the verbs in brackets into one of the present tense form.
1. Look! She __________________( wear) the same shoes as me.
2. Vegetarians are people who ___________________(not eat) meat.
3. Someone ___________________(take) my bicycle.
4. I often ____________(see) him but I never ________________(speak) to him.
5. I ______________(buy) a new carpet. Come and look at it.
6. It ____________________(not rain) here since March.
7. My friends ______________(like) meat but ___________________(not like) fish.
8. Where is Tom? - He _________________(lie) under the car.
9. She’s a school teacher. She _________________(teach) maths.
10. How long you ____________________(live) here?
11. How often you ___________________(fall) in love?
12. The postman usually ________________(come) at 9 in the morning.
13. Hey! Somebody _____________________(drink) my coffee! My cup was full.
14. I _____________________(sit) here in the park for an hour, and I ___________(meet) three
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friends of mine.
15. I already __________________(break) two plates. Shall I go on washing up?
16. I have a car but I ___________________(not use) it very often.
17. They __________________________(talk) so loudly that we can’t really hear your words.
18. Phil is happy. He___________________ (find) a new job.
19. Alice never ________________(go) to work by bus.
20. I ________________(lose) my key. I must look for it in my bag.
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