_______________________________________________________________ | | Reporters sans frontières - The Internet under surveillance | http://propaganda.lege.net/misperceptions/examples/rsf/ | | | Reporters sans frontières - The Internet under surveillance | Source: http://rsf.fr/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=378 | PDF Version: http://rsf.fr/IMG/pdf/doc-2236.pdf -- 2.5 MB | | | The Internet under Surveillance | October 20, 2003 | | Obstacles to the free flow of information online | ( PDF, 2.5 MB http://rsf.fr/IMG/pdf/doc-2236.pdf ) | | | By Vinton G. Cerf | | Truth is a powerful solvent. Stone walls melt before its | relentless might. The Internet is one of the most powerful | agents of freedom. It exposes truth to those who wish to see | and hear it. It is no wonder that some governments and | organizations fear the Internet and its ability to make the | truth known. The phrase "freedom of speech" is often used to | characterize a key element of democratic societies : open | communication and especially open government. But freedom of | speech is less than half of the equation. It is also vital | that citizens have the freedom to hear and see. It is the | latter area in which many governments have intervened in an | attempt to prevent citizens from gaining access to | information that their governments wish to withhold from | them. | | The equation is even more complex than simply speaking and | hearing or writing and reading. The Internet is much like a | piece of paper. The paper is unaware of what is written upon | it. The Internet is equally oblivious. It delivers | information and misinformation with equal facility. Thus it | can become a tool for the delivery of bad data. Worse, this | effect may be propagated less by design than by ignorance. | It surprises me how often I will find a strident warning in | my email inbox forwarded to me by some who should know | better, proclaiming that the post office is going to start | charging for email or that Microsoft will pay for the | forwarding of each copy of the enclosed message. These are | all hoaxes but readers are too lazy or perhaps too stupid to | take the time to check before they forward. | | The antidote for bad information is not censorship but more | and better information. Of course, this places a burden on | the consumer of information to pay attention and to think | critically about what is seen and heard. Surely this is what | a responsible citizen should be doing. And surely this is | what we should be teaching our children at home and at | school. | | Despite its great promise, the Internet is not, in and of | itself, a guarantor of the free flow of information. George | Soros, the well-known financier, takes pains to remind us | that the freedom offered by the Internet can be taken away. | Indeed, what you will read in the pages that follow | illustrates exactly this point. Many governments do want to | limit the information its citizens can reach. In some cases | the motivations are understandable and even laudable. I can | see no redeeming value in child pornography for example and | I support efforts to expunge it from the Internet. But those | of us living in free societies have been warned repeatedly | that censorship is a slippery slope and must be treated with | the greatest care. | | Even in the worst cases of content abuse, the slope beckons. | For example, attempts by governments to extend their | jurisdiction beyond their national borders poses a | significant threat. More than once, ISPs have been ordered | by courts in country A to eliminate content on servers in | country B. This extra-territorial gambit leads into a thorny | legal thicket into which we should not want to go. | | To borrow a phrase from the venture capital world, free | citizens must exercise due diligence to assure that their | governments are not hiding political censorship behind a | putative moral facade. One is reminded of one government's | attempt to shut down thousands of Internet cafes on the | grounds that one of them had fire law violations and | therefore all the others might also be hazardous. This | struck me as disingenuous at best and insulting to the | intelligence of the citizenry at worst. | | I see many responsibilities on the table for effective use | of the Internet. Citizens must do their best to guard | against government censorship for political purposes. At the | same time, they are responsible for trying to distinguish | useful and truthful information from bad quality information | and must therefore exercise critical thinking about what | they see and hear. And that responsibility extends to all | media, not only the Internet. Moreover, where disinformation | or misinformation exists, thoughtful citizens have a | responsibility to draw attention to the problem, possibly | even to provide information to counteract the bad data. | | Furthermore, citizens must bear in mind that not all | relevant information is online and that thoroughness | dictates examination of material from other sources than the | Internet before concluding that due diligence has been | taken. One can imagine a briar patch of legal problems for | medical caregivers should they rely solely on Internet-based | information in diagnosis and treatment of disease and | injury. Nor should patients imagine that they have limned | the standard of care with a casual web search or that they | have uncovered a miracle cure in a web site that trumpets | its obscure and unsubstantiated treatment. | | There are no electronic filters that separate truth from | fiction. No cognitive "V-chip" to sort the gold from the | lead. We have but one tool to apply : critical thinking. | This truth applies as well to all other communication media, | not only the Internet. Perhaps the World Wide Web merely | forces us to see this more clearly than other media. The | stark juxtaposition of valuable and valueless content sets | one to thinking. Here is an opportunity to educate us all. | We truly must think about what we see and hear. We must | evaluate and select. We must choose our guides. | | In this 21st century information age, Internauts have | significant responsibilities. They must guard against | abusive censorship and counteract misinformation. They must | take responsibility for thoughtful use of the Internet and | the World Wide Web and all of the information services and | appliances yet to come. Free flow of information has a price | and responsible Internauts will shoulder the burden of | paying it. | | Vint Cerf McLean, VA | | Download the report : The Internet under Surveillance - 2.5 | MB | Obstacles to the free flow of information online(PDF, 2.5 | MB) | | | | Choose a country: | | Philippines: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7246 | | Singapore: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7247 | | South Korea: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7248 | | Vietnam: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7252 | | Thailand: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7251 | | Afghanistan: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7232 | | Algeria: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7265 | | Australia: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7233 | | Azerbaijan: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7122 | | Bangladesh: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7235 | | Belarus: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7123 | | Belgium: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7124 | | Burma: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7236 | | Burundi: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7182 | | Canada: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7209 | | China: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7237 | | Cuba: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7202 | | Denmark: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7133 | | Egypt: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7266 | | European institutions: | http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7125 | | France: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7137 | | Germany: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7138 | | India: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7238 | | Iran: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7268 | | Italy: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7139 | | Japan: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7239 | | Kazakhstan: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7140 | | Kenya: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7205 | | Laos: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7240 | | Liberia: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7208 | | Malaysia: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7241 | | Maldives: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7242 | | Mauritania: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7269 | | Morocco: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7270 | | Mozambique: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7211 | | New Zealand: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7243 | | North Korea: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7244 | | Pakistan: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7245 | | Russia: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7141 | | Somalia: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7212 | | South Africa: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7215 | | Spain: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7143 | | Sri Lanka: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7250 | | Switzerland: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7144 | | Tunisia: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7271 | | Turkey: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7146 | | Turkmenistan: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7147 | | Ukraine: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7148 | | United Kingdom: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7149 | | United States: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7219 | | Uzbekistan: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7150 | | Zimbabwe: http://rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=7217 | | | Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and | press freedom throughout the world, as well as the right to | inform the public and to be informed, in accordance with | Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. | Reporters Without Borders has nine national sections (in | Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, | Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), representatives in | Abidjan, Bangkok, Istanbul, Montreal, Moscow, New York, | Tokyo and Washington and more than a hundred correspondents | worldwide. | | rsf@rsf.org | | Nicked off the Source site 24 October 2003 (In accordance | with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is | distributed without profit to those who have expressed a | prior interest in receiving the included information for | research and educational purposes.) | | | Additional reading: | http://propaganda.lege.net/resources/ Resources |______________________________________________________________