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Necessity of censorship in the age of internet- Comment


Necessity of censorship in the age of internet- Comment

With the emergence of internet in today's scenario, the whole mankind as well as its surroundings have revamped completely. With such a revolution, no corner of the world has remained unaffected. Internet has completely changed the social, political, psychological and economical fabric of our society. With just a click, one can have an access to any kind of information on the internet.

The frequency of this development has led the mankind to reach what not. But, it would be an understatement, if, one isn't introduced with its harmful side as well. With such an easy access to all kinds of information, the logical science is being suppressed. The logical science stands such that there has to be an age boundary, with respect to which, an individual should access any information. Anything before its actual need can be harmful for the mankind.

Internet censorship is the control of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet enacted by regulators, or on their own initiative. This leads us to weigh two different cases: children v/s adults.

The first case stands for children who are under 18 years of age. A human brain takes years for its complete development. But during this process, a human brain is extremely vulnerable and immature and so it is not adequate for it to access information on certain sensitive topics and issues. The reason being, the thinking of an individual is very much based on what one sees, reads and listens. At such a vulnerable and immature state of mind, at times one tends to overlook logics and explanations for various circumstances. Subjects such as extreme violence, porn, crime-related issues etc. can affect the developing brain and thereby, at times, causing it to commit anything out of provocation.

The other case is that of an adult. An adult, who is rational enough to choose who to vote, who to marry, what profession to choose etc. can decide what he/she has to access. An adult brain is mature enough to decide what is right and what is wrong. Moreover, there are certain sensitive issues that are not discussed openly in our society but, get internet as a platform to be discussed. Without discussing issues anywhere, how will one learn to judge them and on what basis?

Onone hand, censorship is required in order to keep children out of reach of information that can be harmful for them. On the other hand, censorship can be an injustice to the adults. So, a mid-way solution is the need of the hour. A proper solution would be certifying information instead of censoring. Certification categorizes information according to the age and type of its accessing individuals. Suitable disclaimers and warnings such as "parental guidance required" should be introduced before accessing information so that children are warned and parents are alerted. The government should make the use of parental control soft wares compulsory everywhere so that the children are kept away from certain information that can be harmful for them however, enabling the adults to access any kind of information they want to. This way, both the purposes will be achieved. .

- Bhavya srivastava

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