Week 3 (11/12/07-11/16/07) - Question of the Week

(This week's question should be at least 200 words since we have two class meetings.)

Here's the question: Do you think countries should censor which web sites their citizens visit and invade their privacy by reading their email if citizens disagree with govenment policies?

Background: Different countries censor what web sites their citizens may visit. Arabia routes all Internet requests through something called a proxy server. A proxy server can limit what Internet addresses may be accessed across the world. In China, the country is too big for proxy servers. In Internet Cafes in China, they have video cameras. If you are seen going to a forbidden web site, like BBC or MSNBC news, you can be arrested. Also, there is no guarantee of privacy in China. See the article on Yahoo captioned: "Internet giant Yahoo has been accused of supplying information to China which led to the jailing of a journalist for "divulging state secrets". The whole article is here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4221538.stm