You might certainly have come across several instances where you find that some Web sites have been restricted to be accessed from certain geographical locations. The phenomenon is known as Internet censorship while the content that is being blocked is technically termed as geo-blocked content.
There are several reasons why governments, regulators, individuals, and organizations involved in Internet censorship. These reasons range from business reasons to moral and religious causes. Different nations around the world have different degrees of Internet censorship that they impose on the public. While some countries have moderate levels others go as far as filtering news and forums over the Internet.
Anyways, here are some important reasons why content is blocked from viewing, editing or reviewing in different locations:
Moral, Religious, Business Reasons
There are a variety of reasons for which certain Websites are panned out from public viewing. For example, if a certain blog in an Islamic state starts writing content containing objectionable blasphemy against the Islamic culture then it is blacklisted from public viewing in the region.
Also, content that depicts or represents immoral behavior or ideas then is highly likely to cause unrest in a particular region is also deprived of public viewing.
To Conform to Societal Norms
Certain societies have strict norms that need to be met in order to make the content visible and accessible to the public. Therefore, at such regions content that fails to fully comply with societal norms might have a high risk of being removed from general viewing by the public.
Fear of Legal or Other Consequences
When some form of content poses legal or other chargeable consequences then they are panned by the local authorities to prevent law from carrying out strict legal actions against the offenders. If they try to still show the objectionable content then they must face the law.
Limit Obscene Material over the Web
As Internet users compose of people from all age groups, any obscene material present on the Web isn’t appropriate for younger audiences. Hence, it becomes essential to regulate such material present over the Internet.
Is Internet Censorship Necessary?
Internet censorship is a hot topic among technology scholars and Internet enthusiasts. Whilst some agree that there should be some form of active Internet censorship others stress that it might strip the public from the very fundamental thing of humans, which is the freedom of expression.
Hence, there is no certain verdict that whether Internet censorship should be there or not but because of so many reasons it needs to be regularized whatsoever.
