Internet censorship. Should you be worried?
+ The Government.
+ Individual organisations
+ Self suppression and more...
Why Internet Censorship?
There are various reasons for internet censorship in the censor's opinion and they include: Moral, Religious, Business, Political, Value based reasons etc. All these are very valid reasons, provided we are dealing with a child who can and is still being called a minor.
From the dawn of time, two things became immediately apparent. The will to take life and the absolute right to live. So it is that there comes a time when a person is referred to as a child and absolutely devoid of the right to make suggestions or take singular decisions. With time, there are changes, the individual has matured and reached a defining age and is therefore now responsible for his own decisions. He begins to then see life in Technicolor. At this stage what cannot be denied this individual is his/her freedom. When this happens, it is a violation of the basic human right. The internet in recent times have been seen as a new world that is supposedly privately owned. It is a world where there is absolute freedom for the user, and as before, two things are in operation here as well:
+The right to total internet freedom
+The curbing of this freedom
Internet censorship needless to say violates partially or often times totally this right.It denies a full grown individual the absolute right to be able to interact with all the tools the internet can give.
A why to when internet censorship can be genuinely carried out is when one or more of the following conditions are present:
+Copyright Infringement+Defamation
+Harassment
+Obscene Material and so on
How then are you affected by Internet censorship?
The act of internet censorship is in levels there is the basic level of individual restrictions which is what happens in organisations that restrict their staffs from visiting certain websites during work hours to the more stringent level practiced when a government decides to restrict its citizens from accessing the internet. An example of course is China where the government places an absolute focus on the tools and websites it's citizens can interact with on the Internet. Another example is Iran which filters out the contents that it's citizens can go through, while craftily removing any government critisimg article. Internet censorship affects us in many ways and in many formats. Internet censorship means you can't enjoy what other people are enjoying elsewhere, no opportunities, no education and most importantly no freedom. It might not seem much to some people based on the fact that their country is moderately censored but for the human cause we can feel for those who can't access what we can and who don't know what is going on thanks to severe internet censorship present in their location.
DID YOU KNOW?
- In 2018, a study of 65 countries revealed just how much ground internet censorship has gained when out of the 65, only 15 countries were relatively censorship free while others had varying degree of censorship, 20 countries were experiencing extreme censorship!!!
- People in China have restricted access to social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. You couldn't be caught discussing about democracy and other features topics in online forums, there are strict and severe consequences attached to such.
- Iran blocks contents and websites that have inkling to government criticism.
- YouTube is banned in some countries.
- Saudi Arabia filters based on religious and moral values.
- There have been known total shutdown of the internet in countries like Egypt in the government's bid to establish dominion over its citizens.
All this and more are just many of the examples internet censoring cutting across the world and generally violating the rights of humans all over.
What more...
Internet censorship means the use of the internet to track the individual's every activity on the internet which needless to recant is a basic violation of human right...
Internet censorship is used by the government when they don't want their citizens to see things that might upset them or make them think differently, regardless of whether that's the truth or not... reminds one of a story about king Frank who lived in his palace for 10 years admiring its beauty and believing the entire kingdom was just the same. Needless to say people were suffering in every other direction...
Internet censorship is also done to prevent people from organising protests, speaking out against the government or taking out active steps in rebellion against authority. A classic case of Harry Potter and Umbridge here but oops that book is banned in some countries...
A poll was conducted of 29,000 adults from 26 countries with 14,000 being active users. It must be noted though that this was an old poll and with the coming of Covid and all the figure of internet users have probably trebled the past records now.In this poll, we have that:
+4 of 5 people agreed that Internet has brought in more freedom, enlightenment and interactions.+ An overwhelming percentage saw no need for internet regulation.
So what then is the way forward?
While even a large scale campaign against censorship cannot fully bring in the desired results, there are a few other methods that can help in the active combat against censorship. A few of them are
*Proxy
*Specialised browsers
*VPNs
Today in this article I will be talking extensively on VPNs
What are VPNs?
VPN is an acronym denoting a Virtual Private Network. The major function of the VPN and incidentally its most useful is that it encrypts your internet traffic and disguises your online identity thereby giving you access to the entirety of what the internet has to offer without restriction. The VPN is encrypted using the IKEv2 256 bit AES algorithm which signifies military grade encryption and protection. This works by turning your data into gibberish form so that they can't be read by any other protocol on the internet. You say what if they have the key? No they can't have the key, only you have the key and there is no back door, a brute force decoding will take thousand of years before your network can be accessed. Now absolutely no one has a thousand years, even the world's oldest didn't.The VPN works to protect your device in all forms of connection, it works when your data is switched on, it also works when your WiFi is switched on regardless of whether you are connected to a home router or public WiFi, the VPN produces maximum protection.
Why VPN?
The VPN is not the only means possible to permanently circumvent censoring, I have listed some above but believe me when I say it is the absolute best method of doing so.There are a variety of reasons to go along with these opinion and I will be setting some of them down in due course. Note that censorship act also recognises what the VPN does and therefore there is a ban on it in some countries, do well to be careful and know just how to use it.Nevertheless here are some qualities of a good VPN network:
Versatility
This means that a single VPN account can be accessed with multiple devices. It can also be accessed with all the devices namely: Android, iOS, MAC or Windows desktop.
Annonymity
The VPN network ensures perfect masking for the individual, you can access the internet without fear of being tracked or monitored thereby giving you a fuller will to express yourself and secure more opportunities as they come.
Mobility
What this means in this context is that as an internet user you are able to change the location of your Device easily which accurately allows your device to sail past technical geofences that have been put in place in some regions to bar intruders. You can maneuver your way into contents that were otherwise out of your reach previously and make use of them.
Protection and Security
As an individual, barring the censorship, the VPN is a good way to protect yourself from hackers especially when you are using your device for business, be it banking, legal or even email the VPN has got your back. It protects the device from every sort of external intrusion that might result in loss of documents or money or vital information. So cultivate the habit and start using a VPN today.
Affordability
The last but not the least and especially the most important is that VPNs are affordable. Based on the required functions, the prices of VPNs differ. There are paid VPNs and even free VPNs depending on what you need therefore less buoyant people can also get to enjoy the benefits of VPN.
A major difference between a reliable VPN and another is that during a VPN crash there might not be the presence of the VPN killswitch. The function of the VPN killswitch is that it shut down all the device activities that can enable your device to be tracked during the short period between reconnection. This is very important especially in the aforementioned zones that we've discussed, where the CENSORSHIP laws are at their peak. So you wanna know what to go for based on your needs. So then how do you know what to go for? Also where can you get your answers? Is there a place where you can get all the VPNs together in one place, weigh your pros and cons and decide on your best option? The simple answer is Yes. After years of research and collection I have been able to collate all the best VPNs in one place.
GimmeHost.org contains the list of the best in the best VPNs that will work for you in all conditions without blowbacks or regret in your part. It is a site that you is a must-visit for you as you've seen this article. It is that which will end all your fears and insecurities with one stroke. The site is free to access so hurry up and check all the excitements it offers.