Google vs. China. It seems to be in the news a lot lately. They just can’t seem to agree on, once again, content. China wants Google to comply with censorship laws. Google, as a private company, believes they don’t have to comply if they don’t want to. It’s a classic tale of countries not agreeing on what should and shouldn’t be controlled and by whom if it is on the internet. In the US, private companies can basically control what they want. In China, well, not so much.
When we all have different ideas of what is culturally acceptable and what free speech is and how it should be used, we run into these issues. The Internet is still so young that all these content laws are still being decided and because content transcends borders, it’s a matter of what can be international law.
Take, for instance, leaks of information that could be potentially threatening to a country’s security. Again, then who is to say what is threatening to national security? What are the guidelines?
My professor told us about this site called “wikileaks” I believe. Countries are already searching to find its founder because of all the leaked information on it. There are hardly any boundaries to the Internet, but where should they be? I think the next 20 years will be crucial in spelling that out.
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