The internet is the ultimate place to express your opinion. You can like the page of your favorite political party on Facebook, join in on a discussion about world economics on Twitter and +1 the pages of the forum you like most on Google. With the development of the internet, the concept of free-speech has grown a lot as well. This might seem like a great accomplishment, but as it turns out it also brought a lot of difficult issues. What if one uses the internet to spread dangerous ideas? This is were the government comes in and it seems like the western countries are welcoming a new way to use the internet.
These days a new discussion is going on: can the government shut down the internet or place filters? It is getting more common for western countries. Recently, politicians in Norway have discussed new methods to limit online anonymity and prevent web extremism. This is due to the recent massacre in Norway. Breivik used the internet to spread his ideas. Australia is considering a new 18+ control on Facebook to protect children. Last week the riots in London caused some huge commotion. Different suburbs were surrounded by violence. These riots were lead through social networks like Twitter and programs like BlackBerry Messenger. British Prime Minister David Cameron already mentioned that it might be a good idea to restrict the use of services like these.
It is not a new phenomenon that a government has a hold on the internet. In 2009, China blocked the internet in the Xinjiang region after riots. It stayed like that for ten months The European Union even has a policy when it comes to internet and the safety of its citizens.
But is this fair? Some say that the actions of one group affects everybody, other say that if the public is in danger, the government must act. It seems like the success of the internet brought us to a new puzzler: Can a government control the internet?
What we do know is that nations all around the world are facing a new era and how what the standard will be if it comes to internet censorship is for us to find out soon. But, for those who do not like the government on their computer: the University of Michigan and the University of Waterloo in Canada have developed a new system that would make it impossible for a government to block individual sites. The program is called Telex and was successfully tested in Beijing. A client was able to stream videos through YouTube, even though it is blocked in Beijing. The system is presented on the 12th of August. It is not clear if it is going to be available for customers.