Thursday, March 18, 2010

Government internet control?

The President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez wants to control the internet. He wanted regulation of the Internet and said a website "falsely reported the murder of one of his ministers." Chavez said "The Internet cannot be something open where anything is said and done. Every country has to apply its own rules and norms." The President Hugo Chavez is angry with the gossip website Noticierodigital that falsely wrote that Diosdado Cabello was assassinated. Diosdado Cabello is a senior minister and close helper of the president. The president says that the website falsely kept information online for two days. There are websites like Facebook and Twitter where many people use for social networking. These websites are suppose to be very popular for people against Venezuela's current government and they use it to organize protests and other events. The article says that Chavez has complained that people use these sites to "spread unfounded rumors." People who are aginst Chavez are afraid he will have the government oversight the internet like other countries. Some countries that do this are Cuba, China, and Iran.

I think this is just flat out invasion of privacy. I personally believe that it is outrageous that governments would want to control what people do on the internet. Hopefully Chavez will not try to start monitoring the web and people could be free to say what they want online. Do you think the government should be allowed to monitor what you do online because a website made a mistake on their news?

3 comments:

Katherine Wayne said...

I am opposed to regulation of the interest because, like the orginal text said, it is an invasion of privacy. I believe governments regulate the internet so they can have more control over its citizens. Even though I can understand Chavez's frustations, I think completely regulating the internet because of some false reporting is a jurastic action.

Sam Kennedy said...

Well, I think censoring the internet with regards to social networking sites, or anti-government sites is probably a bad idea, but I reserve judgement on censoring other parts of the internet.

The internet, for example, is the place most pedophiles go to access child pornography. Should these people have the right to publish this anywhere? To be given a free, unpunished reign? I am unsure. We must weigh our right to privacy against children's rights not to be violated sexually.

Goldie said...

I agree with all you guys. This post reminds me of China. China has banned facebook in its nation because the goverment believes if facebook isn't blocked to the people in China, then people in China will start socializing with foreigners and receive outside knowledge that the Chinese government wants to prohibit.