Censorship is more about preventing effective organization than for banishing harmful ideas
- When we mistake our models with reality itself, we stifle our capacity to learn new ideas
- Fundamentalism
- Idolatry
Freedom depends on the free circulation of ideas and censorship enabled by surveillence stifles them both. For example, China protects it’s citizens from the “dangers” of heretical ideas on the internet by something called the Golden Shield, or more commonly known as the Great FIrewall of China. Its a massive project that took eight years and costed $700 million to build, and it’s job is to censor the internet. The goal is less to banish harmful ideas or squelch speech, and more to prevent effective orginazation. The firewall works pretty well; those with technical savvy can evade it, but it blocks the majority of Chinas population from finding all sorts of things, from information about the Dalai Lama to any western search engines.
Most censorship is enforced by surveillence, which leads to self-censorship. If people know that the government is listening to everything they say, they are less likely to read or speak about forbidden topics because surveillence leads people to refrain from speaking and acting freely. This is the point of the 2014 Russian Law requiring bloggers to register to the government. This is why The Great FIrewall of China works so well as a censorship tool; Its not merely the technical capabilites of the firewall, but the threat that people who evade it will be discovered and reported by their fellow citizens. Those doing the reporting might dont even necessarily agree with their government; they might face penalties of their own if they do not report. Internet companies in China often consor their users beyond what is officialy required. And the more severe the consequences of getting caught, the more excessively people self-censor.
References
- Schneier, Bruce. (2015). Data and Goliath The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World CHapter 7. Political Liberty and Justice (Location 1515). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
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