An issues identification paper written by David Cozacof the Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists (CCPJ) with the assistance of David Tortell
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Although the Internet was created in the 1960s as a communications tool of the U.S. military that would withstand even the most severe nuclear war and still be operable, it was not until after the government opened it up to public use in the late 1980s that the Internet became a unique communications phenomenon. Nobody could predict the speed by which people all over the world latched on to this new form of technological communication. In 1995, there were an estimated 56 million Internet users worldwide; by 1999, this figure is expected to rise to 200 million. A wealth of information is readily available to those who possess the technological means to access and to contribute to it. However, this availability has some individuals and governments worried. Enter the ominous presence of the Internet censor. Today, in many countries, restrictions on the Internet have been imposed by governments in an attempt to limit the presence within their borders of information that they deem offensive or threatening. Whether in the form of edicts, regulation or outright bans, the methods of state action are a serious cause for concern. However, the obstacles to free speech on the Internet do not end there; corporate control of the development of the Internet industry must be considered, as should the existence of regional inequalities vis-à- vis the new technology, since only a small, primarily North American and European minority has access to the Internet. Taken together, these obstacles serve as a giant barrier to the free flow of information and the ability of individuals to profit from the enormous potential of the Internet as a medium of interactive and democratic communication. |
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Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
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