Americans are sharply divided on the issue of Internet censorship. This book examines the history of censorship in the United States as well as current federal, state, and local laws. It provides the opinions and perspectives of government and business leaders, activists, and ordinary Americans on both sides of the issue.

The internet is the fastest growing and largest tool for mass communication and information distribution in the world. This book debates arguments for and against internet censorship in a fair and objective manner.

A groundbreaking and surprising look at contemporary censorship in China As authoritarian governments around the world develop sophisticated technologies for controlling information, many observers have predicted that these controls would be easily evaded by savvy internet users. In Censored, Margaret Roberts demonstrates that even censorship that is easy to circumvent can still be enormously effective. Taking advantage of digital data harvested from the Chinese internet and leaks from China's Propaganda Department, Roberts sheds light on how censorship influences the Chinese public. Drawing parallels between censorship in China and the way information is manipulated in the United States and other democracies, she reveals how internet users are susceptible to control even in the most open societies. Censored gives an unprecedented view of how governments encroach on the media consumption of citizens.

This book explores what the American Civil Liberties Union calls the "third era" in cyberspace, in which filters "fundamentally alter the architectural structure of the Internet, with significant implications for free speech." Although courts and nongovernmental organizations increasingly insist upon constitutional and other legal guarantees of a freewheeling Internet, multi-national corporations compete to produce tools and strategies for making it more predictable. When Google attempted to improve our access to information containing in books and the World Wide Web, copyright litigation began to tie up the process of making content searchable, and resulted in the wrongful removal of access to thousands if not millions of works. Just as the courts were insisting that using trademarks online to criticize their owners is First Amendment-protected, corporations and trade associations accelerated their development of ways to make Internet companies liable for their users’ infringing words and actions, potentially circumventing free speech rights. And as social networking and content-sharing sites have proliferated, so have the terms of service and content-detecting tools for detecting, flagging, and deleting content that makes one or another corporation or trade association fear for its image or profits. The book provides a legal history of Internet regulation since the mid-1990s, with a particular focus on efforts by patent, trademark, and copyright owners to compel Internet firms to monitor their online offerings and remove or pay for any violations of the rights of others. This book will be of interest to students of law, communications, political science, government and policy, business, and economics, as well as anyone interested in free speech and commerce on the internet.

An examination of how the media is under fire and how to safeguard journalists and the information they seek to share with the public. Journalists are being imprisoned and killed in record numbers. Online surveillance is annihilating privacy, and the Internet can be brought under government control at any time. Joel Simon, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, warns that we can no longer assume that our global information ecosystem is stable, protected, and robust. Journalists are increasingly vulnerable to attack by authoritarian governments, militants, criminals, and terrorists, who all seek to use technology, political pressure, and violence to set the global information agenda. Reporting from Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, and Mexico, among other hotspots, Simon finds journalists under threat from all sides. The result is a growing crisis in information—a shortage of the news we need to make sense of our globalized world and fight human rights abuses, manage conflict, and promote accountability. Drawing on his experience defending journalists on the front lines, he calls on “global citizens,” U.S. policy makers, international law advocates, and human rights groups to create a global freedom-of-expression agenda tied to trade, climate, and other major negotiations. He proposes ten key priorities, including combating the murder of journalists, ending censorship, and developing a global free-expression charter to challenge the criminal and corrupt forces that seek to manipulate the world's news. “Wise and insightful. [Simon] offers hope to all who care about maintaining the free flow of information in a world full of would-be censors.”—Ann Cooper, Columbia Journalism School

In Censorship on the Internet: From Filters to Freedom of Speech, author Wendy Herumin defines complex terms and concepts as she explores this controversial subject. With such diverse topics as the Bill of Rights, filters in schools and libraries, the legal status of students, and the worldwide debate over the World Wide Web, Censorship on the Internet covers issues of great relevance to young readers. Book jacket.

Covering topics ranging from web filters to laws aimed at preventing the flow of information, this book explores freedom—and censorship—of the Internet and considers the advantages and disadvantages of policies at each end of the spectrum. Combining reference entries with perspective essays, this timely book undertakes an impartial exploration of Internet censorship, examining the two sides of the debate in depth. On the one side are those who believe censorship, to a greater or lesser degree, is acceptable; on the other are those who play the critical role of information freedom fighters. In Internet Censorship: A Reference Handbook, experts help readers understand these diverse views on Internet access and content viewing, revealing how both groups do what they do and why. The handbook shares key events associated with the Internet's evolution, starting with its beginnings and culminating in the present. It probes the motivation of newsmakers like Julian Assange, the Anonymous, and WikiLeaks hacker groups, and of risk-takers like Private Bradley Manning. It also looks at ways in which Internet censorship is used as an instrument of governmental control and at the legal and moral grounds cited to defend these policies, addressing, for example, why the governments of China and Iran believe it is their duty to protect citizens by filtering online content believed to be harmful.