Censor dot gov: the Internet and press freedom 2000 |
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| Institution: | 1. Defence Science and Technology Group, 506 Lorimer Street, Fishermans Bend, Victoria 3207, Australia;2. Swinburne University of Technology, John Street, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia |
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| Abstract: | The rapidly growing volume of news and information on the Internet poses immediate problems for governments intent on influencing or controlling the ideas accessible in cyberspace. Old methods of censoring news and information are being remodeled to cope with the new communication technologies. This article examines some of the new methods of controlling information flows. These legislative and juridical actions in democratic as well as less-than-democratic states belie early assumptions that the content of Internet flows would be uncontrollable by governments. To place press freedom in context worldwide, the paper includes the latest (January 2000) Freedom House assessments in 186 countries. The study found that press controls are becoming subtler and less detectable in Europe, Latin America and where “Asian values” are projected to control internal and external news and information flows. For 400 years, governments learned to censor each new medium — newspapers, radio and television — as it appeared. The paper acknowledges that the Internet provides the greatest challenge to censors, but they are striving to master electronic forms of communication. The independence of the Internet, the study concludes, becomes the newest test of a government's will to encourage and sustain a free press. |
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