Web Censorship: The 5 Worst Countries To Blog From

In Western culture it is incredibly lucky that we have such a great amount of liberty on the Internet, although many may take this for granted. We have the ability to search and publish almost anything. Sharing ideas and knowledge over the Internet comes easy to us. But, not all countries in the world have this privilege. In some countries people do not have access to basic websites like Hotmail or Google. In others, they do not have the freedom to post blogs or create websites. Even worse, some countries to not allow internet access on home computers. This is censorship.

SO WHAT IS INTERNET CENSORSHIP?

• control of access to information

• suppression of the publishing one can contribute

The 5 countries ( in order of extremism) that do the most web censorship are:

1. China

2. Iran

3. Saudi Arabia

4. United Arab Emirates

5. Cuba

The Reporters Without Borders organization considers Cuba "one of the worlds most repressive countries" when it comes to censoring the internet. As a place where many of us have travelled I am going to expand on the details of the censorship these people experience.

• filtering software is used to block sensitive information

• websites and emails are controlled before the public has access to them

• the sale of personal computers in Cuba were illegal until very recently

It is extremely different than the society that we, as Canadians, are used to.

This class blog allows us to share and represent ourselves in a way that many in the populations of the countries above could never even imagine.

BUT WHAT ARE THEY HIDING?

Cuba is a country experiencing many social and economic problems. As a communist country their main goal in censoring the Internet is to prevent political content that is against its socialist ideology.

Do you think these people are being protected or suppressed?

Have you ever experienced censorship in North American culture?