Category: Censorship

In well-known dystopian novels such as George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, the strict rules imposed by their respective totalitarian states bespeak repression. Although both novels deal with issues that predominated the 20th century, many aspects of life imposed by totalitarian governments unfortunately still exist today in some countries, most notably North Korea, whose regime continues to use censorship as a means of control. to ensure the successful repression of basic human rights and freedoms.

Inside the borders of one of the most repressive regimes in the world today – North Korea – the censorship, propaganda, and the spread of information could not be more similar to those found in famous books’ dystopias. The spread of information is regulated by the regime, and thus the information broadcasted is limited. North Korean journalists all write in favor of the ruling party to consolidate this system of brainwashing. Propaganda plays a major role in brainwashing the people of the state to believe that South Korea and the United States are both enemies and wish to be in conflict with their nations. Posters are widespread within the borders of North Korea, promoting the destruction of foreign nations by launching missiles and the victorious defeat against invading troops. Due to the limited information made available to North Koreans, these types of propaganda are successful in creating a sense of patriotism and increasing trust in their leader and the ruling party. Hence, people are made to believe that their suffering is for the betterment of their nation. Internet access is widely restricted and only made available for a select few. In accordance, the censorship of foreign media works with the restriction of the Internet to limit any kind of foreign news from entering the borders and, as a result, cuts off communication from the outside world.

Thus, it should be recognized that censorship as a means of control to ensure the complete suppression of basic human rights and freedoms is not only a figment of the imagination of some authors of dystopian novels but also the reality of some modern countries, first of all, such as North Korea. This aspect of a totalitarian regime operates and is preserved through the corruption of power permitted by state authorities and the creation of fear and paranoia are used as mechanisms of control. Psychological manipulation is also invoked by such means of control to subconsciously inhibit the desire for better living conditions and blind citizens from the repressive regimes under which they are living. State tyranny, unfortunately, continues to exist in many repressive states where the peoples’ respective freedoms and basic civil liberties are at risk and quickly being abolished – if not, already abolished.

Works Cited

1. Illmer, Andreas. ‘North Korean Propaganda Changes Its Tune’. BBC News. 23 June 2018. Web. 06 Aug. 2019.
2. ‘North Korea Exposed: Censorship in the World’s Most Secretive State’. CJFE. Web. 06 Aug. 2019.
3. ‘North Korea Sentences South Korean Reporters to Death over Review of Book about Country’ Reuters. 31 Aug. 2017. Web. 06 Aug. 2019.
4. ‘North Korea’s Human Rights: What’s Not Being Talked About’. BBC News. 18 Feb. 2019. Web. 06 Aug. 2019.

Two things from the bedrock of any open society- freedom of expression and rule of law. If you don’t have those things, you don’t have a free country. -Salman Rushdie

As wonderfully said by Sir Salam Rushdie, freedom of expression is the substratum of any free country. Freedom to speech and expression is regarded as the basic of liberty. This right is the essence in the society and must be safeguarded in every possible way. Freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right assured to all citizens of India by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India[footnoteRef:1]. Even the Universal declaration of Human Rights, adopted in India in 1948, recognizes freedom of expression as a human right. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: [1: Ind. Const. art. XIX, § 1]

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” This right enables an individual to openly share his thoughts, ideas, views and beliefs. It is an indispensable right in a democratic country like India.

However, like with every right come a responsibility, this right also need to be employed with cautiousness. On the one hand Constitution has given the power to every citizen to speak and express themselves freely and on the other hand by incorporating Article 19(2), enacted reasonable restriction on implementation of this fundamental right. As per Article 19(2), this right can be constrained in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India. Every citizen is bound to protect its country and he should make sure that while exercising his right he is not compromising the security of the State. If any statement or expression has an adverse effect on friendly relations of the country with foreign States or public order then such a statement can be reserved. Criticism is a part of our fundament right to express our views but such reproach is not permissible when it defames someone or cause contempt of court. There is a very thin line between criticism and defamation; one should always be very watchful while giving critics. Decency, morality and incitement to an offence are yet some other grounds on the basis of which the right conferred under Article 19(1)(a) can be curtailed.

‘Freedom of speech and expression’ and ‘Censorship’ are counterpose. Censorship is the suppression of speech and expression of ideas on the basis of decency, morality, obscenity etc. The classic example of censorship in India is the Central Board of Film Certification (hereinafter referred as “Board”). Nowadays, it has been witnessed that censorship has been used as a medium to restrict the views of the authors, writers, producers and directors on some or the other nebulous basis just to protect the interest or wrongdoings of particular section of the society. As perceived, right to freedom of speech and expression is not an unbridled right and can be circumscribed in exceptional situations. This paper analysis whether the restrictions placed on the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression by way of censorship is valid or not.

Cinematograph as a medium of expression

One can adopt any medium to express himself, words, text, gestures, audio, video, visual arts, images, etc. all are the means of expressing. Films are a means of creative expression. Cinematograph is a tool for showing motion- picture films. Films combine visuals, movement, sound, theatre, music all in one. Therefore, it is the most effective medium of communication because of its creativity which cannot be created by any other media. Since the times of its initiation, film has been one of the significant tools of expression of thoughts and ideas. In India, films are not just the mode of entertainment but it is a mode of mass communication which has extreme influence on the public. Being a mass production and distribution tool, it transforms private viewpoints into expansive public viewpoints and brings mass public into reality. The motion picture is able to stir up emotions more intensely than any other creation of art. Its effect particularly on children and teenagers is very enormous because of their infantile behavior which makes them suspend their disbelief more easily than mature men and women.

Statutory provisions for regulating exhibition by means of cinematographs

On the one hand every citizen of India has a fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression and on the other hand, we have Cinematograph Act, 1952 (hereinafter referred as “Act), Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983 and the guidelines issued thereunder. The Act came into force on 28th July with a preamble to certify and regulate the exhibition of cinematograph films. Section 4 of the Act empowers the Board to examine every film intended to be publish in India. As per statutory provision, the Board will examine the film and as per its discretion decides whether the film is apposite for public exhibition or not. The Board may decide as follows:

• It may approve the film for public exhibition without putting any constraint. In this case, “U” certificate or “UA” certificate is granted.
• If the Board is of the opinion that the film is not suitable for children below the age of eighteen years, it may certify the film only for adult view with “A” certificate. The films are restricted under this category mainly on the ground of obscenity, nudity and indecency.
• The Board may sanction the film for public exhibition with “S” certificate delimited to members of any profession or any class of specified persons.
• Producer may be required to carry out modification as proposed by the Board otherwise the film will not be certified for exhibition.
• The powers given under the statute are so extensive that the Board may even refuse to sanction the film for public exhibition.

Now, while certifying or refusing to certify the film for display, the Board has to follow certain guiding principles. These guidelines and principles are prescribed in Section 5B of the Act. Section 5B(1) of the Act is merely a general restatement of Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India. It says, a film shall not be certified for public exhibition if in the judgment of the Board, the film or any part of the film is against the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, it can adversely affect the security of the State. The film can be denied certification if fetters the friendly relations of the country with foreign countries. Public order, decency and morality are some other basis for denying certification. Further, any film that has defamatory content or involves contempt of court, or is likely to incite the commission of any offence, are also prone to be banned. Section 5B(2) of the Act added that Central Government may issue directions delineating more fully the principles of guidance in certifying films. Pursuant to Section 5B(2) of the Act, the Central Government has issued certain principles to be followed by the Board of Film Certification for sanctioning films for public exhibition. As per the guidelines, the board must ensure that the medium of film remains responsible and sensitive to the values and standards of society. Some other general principals includes no picture shall be certified for public exhibition which will lower the moral standards of those who see it, standards of life, having regard to the standards of the country and the people to which the story relates, shall not be so portrayed as to deprave the morality of the audience and the prevailing laws shall not be so ridicule as to create sympathy for violation of such laws.

In 1969, an Enquiry Committee on Film Censorship headed by Justice G.D. Khosla submitted its report suggesting reforms in censorship law in India. The Committee proposed constitution of an autonomous and independent Board for film censorship. In 2016, several parameters were recommended by Committee of Experts chaired by Shyam Benegal. One of the objectives in the report was to ensure that artistic expression and creative freedom are not duly curbed in the process of classification of films. The Committee treated the press and the films on the same level and suggested that:

“Cinema should have some freedom to deal with political, religious and other sensitive matters that are with regular press.” It is apparent from the above-mentioned guideline that right to express freely on these issues has been curtailed to a large extent, which is the main concern of the paper. Based on such equivocal guidelines, the Board restrains the film from exhibition. The significant question that arises for contemplation is whether such guidelines can be issued and administered in infringement of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Constitution validity of Cinematograph Act, 1952

It is important to examine the constitutional validly of the Act in order to address the issues raised by this paper. Since the Act restricts the fundament right of the citizen it is palpable that the issue must have been raised and decided by the Indian Judiciary System. This issue was first raised in early 1970 by a producer of a documentary film called “A tale of four cities”. The producer challenged constitutional validity of the Act and the rules made thereunder before the Supreme Court of India[footnoteRef:2] on the ground that it is violative of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. Upholding the constitutional validity of the Act, the Hon’ble Supreme Court was of the view that Censorship of films including prior restraint is justified under the Constitution and the treatment of motion, pictures must be different from that of other forms of art and expression. However, it has been stated in that although the word `reasonable’ is not to be found in Section 5B, but it cannot mean that the restrictions can be unreasonable. The system of censorship is a procedural safeguard that need to be in accordance with our fundamental law. [2: K. A. Abbas V. The Union Of India & Anr, AIR 1971 SC 481 (Supreme Court of India)]

Although, the Act was held constitutional, the vital aspect is the application of the law. Freedom of speech should not be eroded and attacked by distorting or turning the law.

Judicial interpretation of the Act

The Supreme Court and the High Courts through various judgments have contributed immensely to draw a balance between the right to freedom of speech and expression and the restriction imposed through censorship. In this section, some of the significant judgments related to the subject are critically examined.

S. Rangarajan, producer of the film called “Ore Oru Gramathile” approached Supreme Court for getting its film published without any restriction or modification. The film showed the story of a girl who arranges a fabricated cast certificate to get a reserved position and the consequences thereof. The Hon’ble Supreme Court[footnoteRef:3] in this case comprehensively dealt with the issue concerning the paper. As per the Court if the film cannot be restricted constitutionally under Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India, then the freedom of expression cannot be curbed on the reason of threat of demonstration or threat of violence. The Court made it very clear that the Constitution of India is supreme and the statutory law cannot surpass it. It was one of the paramount judgments of the judiciary to shield the fundamental right of the citizens of India. [3: S. Rangarajan and Ors. V. P. Jagjevan Ram and Ors., SCC 1989 SC (2) 574 (Supreme Court of India)]

Every citizen of India has a right to express his thoughts, producers are not any exception. Whether the view is right or wrong is not the concern of the Board. The question that needs consideration is whether such view can be expressed through films. The producer has a right to express his viewpoint on the present reservation system and the need to modify them. The most relevant extract of the judgment reads as follows:

“Freedom of expression which is legitimate and constitutionally protected, cannot be held to ransom, by an intolerant group of people. The fundamental freedom under Article 19(1)(a) can be reasonably restricted only for the purposes mentioned in Articles 19(2) and the restriction must be justified on the anvil of necessity and not the quicks and of convenience or expediency. Open criticism of Government policies and operations is not a ground for restricting expression. We must practice tolerance to the views of others. Intolerance is as much dangerous to democracy as to the person himself.”

Fight of the producers to get their film published is a long road ahead. Oftentimes, the political forces use illegal channels for accomplishing their objective. Wielding police force for own cause is a conventional approach of those in power. Action of the police must be subject to the rule of law. They cannot misappropriate to themselves the authority to obstruct the right of speech and expression. Recently in 2019, the producer challenged the action of the Government and the police in instigating unlawful obstruction in the exhibition of his film before the Hon’ble Supreme Court[footnoteRef:4]. In this case although the Board certified the film as UA for exhibition yet the Government acted as the ‘super-censor’ and resorted to extra constitutions means to abrogate the right of the producer. [4: Indibily Creative Pvt. Ltd. and Ors. V. Govt. of West Bengal and Ors., AIR2019SC1918 (Supreme Court of India)]

Abuse of Law

It has been seen on various junctures that the powers granted to the Board under the Act has been extensively distorted and they have gone beyond their statutory powers while certifying a film. It is imperative to note that the power of the Board under the Act extends only to regulation of the film through certification. In many cases, the stance taken by the Board has been highly questionable and disputed. Encroachment of the fundamental right of the producer to express his thoughts and ideas is obnoxious in a democratic country like India.

The Indian cinema has on various instances been subjected to one or other forms of restrictions by the Board. These restrictions are in the form of alteration in the scenes of the movie or modification in the dialogues of the characters or movie getting banned when producers and directors are waiting for certification. The reasons for such restrictions have been more or less too flimsy. There has been a view that such restrictions are there to cater or appease the political masters. But for the sake of legality various justifications, largely under the guise of “Reasonable Restriction” as carved out in Constitution of India has been invoked. It is a paradox that a country which not just manifest but champion the cause of “Freedom of Speech and Expression” as an innate principle of a Democracy, has adapted completely different approach when it comes to its implementation.

The law needs to be objectively interpreted but the Board has taken a subjective approach leading to consequences that are unpalatable. Dissent to a view or expression of a different point of view has become an issue to the extent that bona fide speech sometimes becomes a security threat. Film named ‘Deshdrohi’ faced censorship for its controversial story. It was suspended from exhibition for 2 months on the grounds of breach of public order. Even after getting exhibitions orders from the High Court of Bombay, the film failed to hit the Maharashtra theaters because of political interferences[footnoteRef:5]. [5: Vasundhara Sanger, Deshdrohi is not anti-Marathi: Kamal Khan, The Times of India (Nov 14, 2008), https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Deshdrohi-is-not-anti-Marathi-Kamal-Khan/articleshow/3714524.cms (Last visited on………)]

Yet another instance of abuse of censorship is movie ‘Unfreedom: Blemished Light’, a 2014 Indian drama by Raj Amit Kumar. The story revolves on homosexuality. Although, the film was released in North America but it was denied certification by the Board solely on the reason that it is demonstrating the reality which is not acceptable in the country like India. It got banned as the Board was of the opinion that Hindu and Muslims will start fighting and will ignite unnatural passion[footnoteRef:6]. Whether the film was rationally restricted by Article 19(2) or was just another instance of impingement of the right of producer to express his thoughts and views? [6: Ankur Pathak, Board bans film on gays, claims it’ll ignite ‘unnatural passion’, Mumbai Mirror (Mar 28, 2018), https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/film-review-barkhaa/articleshow/46720288.cms (Last visited on….)]

The movie ‘Firaaq’ was not released by many theatres in Gujarat due to political pressures as it depicted the Gujarat riots, 2002.

Conclusion

The Act is in juxtaposition to Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. Although, the Act holds its constitutionality but the guiding principle for testing the films should run analogous to the Constitution. While invoking Section 4 of the Act, the Board must strike the balance between the fundamental right of the citizen and Section 5B of the Act. The powers can be exercised reasonably as per Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India. It should not be used to protect the personal interest of any office-bearer. Right to expression includes right to criticize or express one’s opinion on any subject and unless it defame or cause incitement to an offence, it cannot be withhold under the umbrella of restriction imposed under Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India. Cinema being an important tool of mass communication it cannot be restricted unreasonably as per whims and fancies of the Board. The screening process should be made more transparent without any interference of the powerholders.

All things considered together, right to free speech and expression can be restricted only where it is absolutely essential to prevent any actual harm. If democracy has to evolve, certifying the films for exhibition cannot be denied on mere conjecture.

Everyone watches them. Everyone enjoys them. From psychological thrillers to rom-coms, film is a part of everyday life and the industry is developing and growing every single day. This results in the massive influence that film has on today’s society. Society is reflected in movies and turn, movies influence society by changes in representations, challenging the audience’s morals and transforming viewers’ opinions. This study analyzes the depiction of drug usage, cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption in movies in terms of character stereotyping and typecasting. Because films are focused on making money they are being used as marketing tools by alcohol and cigarette conglomerates. The study also explores youth perception of such content and tries to determine the behavioral implications or influence of such content on young children. The goal of this research is to analyze the social cognitive influence of movies on the youth and effects of censorship in film today. It analyses the issue solely from the perspective of a youth audience to better understand how the youth today perceive movies and to see if depiction of cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and drug usage has a positive and negative effect on the youth audience. Not only is film influential but it is a source of entertainment and escapism. Film combines music, stories and pictures all in one and it’s a way to forget the real world for 120 minutes or so but at the same time can give audiences a reality check. Movies can create awareness about the importance of education, art, sports and politics and can also warn us about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and other criminal activities. It also brings us to understand more about other cultures, the atrocity of living homeless, and the countries that are in constant battle with war and terrorism. All these movie genres help awaken our sense of responsibly and empathy towards such situations. This socially enlightening movie help us understand the world positively influences our thought process and helps us try to do our bit in order to be of some help to humanity for example helping/donating to charities. In addition, films make our imaginations run wild. After finishing a movie, we think about the characters and the story and develop it further; maybe even thinking about what the characters would be doing after the movie finished. This develops our creativity and leads to writers producing Fanfiction and artists producing Fan art and sharing it with social media sites. A part of the analysis of the study is to also better understanding the impacts of film on society.

1. Introduction

Movies are the lifeblood of the entertainment industry today. Movies today become a popular medium for mass communication. They have transcended from bring just superfluous tools in entertainment to something more concrete in the last three to four decades. Movies have a greater impact on audiences, who relate emotionally to the characters and their actions and are affected by the character portrayals of the actor in these movies. Movies may have an influence in small ways in our daily lives. They influence our fashion, the food we eat, ant the way we talk. Movies over time have also been approaching more realistic themes and depict reality with a stark realism that shows characters doing drugs and smoking cigarettes in very real scenarios. The influences of these types of content often occur as unconscious affectations in our personalities as a result of the particular genre or characters we watch. The study explains that the alcohol consumption increases health problems and risks; most of the young drinkers were injured due to accident as well as they face health problems related to alcohol. Therefore, there are likely chances to reduce the metal ability, reducing self-confident due alcoholism and increasing trend among youth. Cinema has been a major source of entertainment for the people of every age group around the world. Different genres of movies are produced and these influence the public in different ways. Since movies are explored by all, they influence society immensely. This impact can be both negative and positive.

1.1. Review of literature

Many studies have analyzed the use of stereotypes in flims. The study focused on the theory of stereotyping and type casting of the characters who are alcoholics and drug users in movies and concluded that movies as a medium for mass communication have a powerful influence on how the public regards the use of drugs and alcohol. Thus, movies with a few exceptions rarely show the negative impact of these vices, which would help in discouraging audiences from being influenced by them. Many research articles in India have found a new growing trend in Indian movies, the feminine drunk who chronicles movies in the last decade showing this trend of female actors portraying a drunken character in scenes or scenes in movies. My aim is mainly focused on the impacts of Tamil films on society in issue of liquor.

1.2. Methodology

• Conceptual reading
• Self-Analysis of an individual
• Briefly understanding the concept of the research topic
• Extensively reading of the cases involved in the findings
• Concluding the topic by giving a personal touch of thought.

1.3. Significance of the study

The overall objective of the study is to identify reasons for the increasing trend of alcohol consumption in Tamil Nadu and its multitude of impacts on society. The second object of the study is to find out social behavioral problems caused by alcohol based on Tamil films.

1.4. Censorship

‘Censorship’ is a term generally used to connote the process of restricting the access of ideas and information in apprehension that it may disturb the public peace. In India, Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution of India provides for the freedom of speech and expression. The constitution is silent as to the medium of communication of ideas. Nonetheless, this freedom includes the freedom to exhibit motion films. However, this right is not an absolute one. The state can impose restrictions on the content if it is against the interests of public policy, foreign relations, sovereignty and integrity of the state, public order, decency and morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation, or incitement of an offense provided that such restriction is reasonable.

1.5. The Cinematograph Act, 1952

The film industry in India is a mammoth with more than 1000 movies produced per year. The union legislature derives its power to make laws on censorship of cinema from the Entry 60 under Schedule VII of the Constitution of India. The state is also empowered to make laws on this matter subject to the provisions made by the central legislation. The grounds for restricting the films is provided under Section 5(B)1 which are in accordance to reasonable restrictions under Article 19. The Central government is vested with the power of to call for the record of any proceeding except the proceeding pending before the Appellate Tribunal. If a film is exhibited without the certificate of the Board, the exhibitor is liable for punishment.

1.6. Arguments for and against censorship of films

The government has on many occasions banned movies under the garb of reasonable restrictions. Many controversies have also arisen regarding the content of various movies such as Vishwaroopam etc. Many movies like Kissa Kursi Ka got banned during emergency because it was allegedly based on Indira Gandhi’s life. Shah Commission, instituted to inquire into the excesses committed during emergency found Sanjay Gandhi responsible for burning the prints of the movie. Many movies were banned because they were based on issues which could stir up communal enmity like Garam Hawa, Black Friday etc. People who oppose such bans argue that movies should not be banned and people should be given the freedom to form their opinions after watching the movies. This is primarily because the grounds mentioned in Section 5 of Cinematography Act, 1952 are very subjective and broad. Since the censor board has no jurisdiction over the contents posted on the internet, the filmmakers who do not wish to carry out the cuts directed by it release the censored parts on the internet the recent example being the release of censored parts of the movie Angry Indian Goddesses in the form of a video by the director. People who support censorship argue that it protects the vulnerable sections of society like children whose can easily get influenced by the contents and things which are truly offensive and inhumane should not reach the audience.

1.7. Role of judiciary

A debate has been going on about the validity of censorship as a means to ensure reasonable restriction on the right to freedom of speech and expression. The Supreme Court in K A Abbas v Union of India for the first time upheld that the films are within the ambit of Article 19(2) and observed that since motion pictures have a deeper impact on the audience; they should be treated differently from the out forms of art.

In Raj Kapoor v Laxman the Supreme Court held that the initiation of criminal processes for obscenity etc. under IPC it is not sustainable if the film has been passed by the censor board. However, the court also maintained that the bar is not absolute, and the filmmaker has to participate in the legal proceedings and claim the safeguard.

The decision of the Court in S. Rangarajan v. P. Jagjivan Ram is very important. In the instant case, the Tamil movie ‘Ore Oru Gramathile’ was banned by the government despite it having received a U certificate from the censor board. The movie talked about the reservation and how it should be given based on economic status rather than caste. The Supreme Court struck down the ban and observed, “Movie is the legitimate and the most important medium in which issues of general concern can be treated. The producer may project his own message which the others may not approve of it. But he has a right to ‘think out’ and put the counter appeals to reason. It is a part of a democratic give-and-take to which no one could complain. The State cannot prevent open discussion and open expression, however, hateful to its policies.”

In Anand Patwardhan v.Cent. Bd. of Film Certification, the petitioner, was asked by the censor board to carry out two cuts and one addition in order to receive a U certificate for his movie “War and Peace.” The petition was filed against this direction of Censor Board. The Court unequivocally observed that the cuts were directed only to harass the filmmaker.

In Life Insurance Corporation of India v. Prof. Manubhai D. Shah the Court held that merely because a film/show is critical of the government, it cannot be banned. In the Da Vinci controversy, the Supreme Court rejected the writ petition filed by the All India Christians Welfare Association claiming it to be against Article 25 of the constitution of India and that it hurt the sentiments of the Christian community. The court observed that since many predominantly Christian countries have no objection to the content of the movie, and since the movie has been approved by the censor board and central government, it is moot to ban it. Thus, the court has interpreted the provisions of Article 19 and the Cinematograph Act, 1952 to bring out the ambit of censorship and scope of freedom of speech and expression.

2. Films and the roles they play

There is no gain in saying that a movie does wield a tremendous influence in the society. Children and the grown-ups are equally exposed to the dangers of the vulgarity and degrading value of cheap popular cinema, in the guise of entertainment.

Cinema has perhaps the greatest potential to be the most effective mass media instrument. Besides proving cheap entertainment for masses, it can easily become a means of mass instruction and mass education.

Cinema has certainly some clear advantages over other media. It combines primarily, both audio and video and is thus very appealing to the eyes and the ears. With the development of color cinematography, and stereophonic sound, it is certainly one up on other media. The moral values conveyed through the medium of cinema have a lasting effect on the audience. The audience also has a moral, and emotional involvement in the course of events and the roles of various characters, their language and style of speaking does leave an impression on the spectators.

The realization of this fact is, perhaps the reason for setting up a censor board which scrutinizes all the scenes that are not likely to corrupt the wells of social morality. But this precaution could not be of any significance today when we are exposed to the internet where you can treat your eyes to all possible vulgarity and mean, obscene and even pornographic films indiscriminately to the young and the old alike.

2.1. Films related to real life

The extent of influences Tamil films and actors have over the people of Tamil Nadu is clearly evident from the political scenario in the state. For the last 45 years, only people from the film industry have become Chief Ministers in this state. This is because the screen image of the actor and his ‘larger than life’ real image merge and dissolve into one in the minds of the average film goer. While some people still don’t accept that MGR is dead, N.T. Ramarao (another actor turned Chief Minister in Andhra Pradesh), is strongly believed to be the reincarnation of the god Rama and Krishna because of his successful depiction of these characters on screen.

2.2. Impact of alcoholism

Day by day alcohol is becoming increasingly available and is used widely. Addiction has become really a curse upon human beings. More males are affected by alcoholism than female. Recent surveys show that drinking is increasing among youth and women. Consumption of alcohol is apparently on the rise over the world. The total alcohol consumption and prevalence of alcohol-related problems are high in all societies, especially in societies of developing nations.

2.2.1. Positive impact:-

• Progressive thoughts like gender equality, organ donation spread easily through movies. For example, ‘Dangal’ in Hindi and ‘Kanna’ in Tamil movie inspired many to encourage their daughters in sports.
• Till recently, most of the Indians preferred engineering or medicine as their career choice. This belief is changing these days, and movies too have a role in this change. Careers of lead characters in movies impact young people greatly. For example, the ‘Ghaji’ movie attracted many towards a career in the Navy.
• Though most Indian movies concentrate on love between lead roles, these days many movies are coming with wonderful storylines and are influencing youth to focus on life goals rather than just concentrating on the love phase in Tamil film ‘Karrupan’
• Several Indian movies on current issues are thought-provoking and are highlighting the mistakes people are making. For example, ‘M Kumaran Son of Mahalakshmi’ movie highlights the plight of parents who are left behind by abroad-settled children.
• Movies are a great source of entertainment. People can relieve stress and pressure at work or studies by watching movies.
• Through movies, cultures are depicted wonderfully. Hence, movies increases cultural sensitivity.

2.2.2. Negative impact:-

• Indian movies show eve-teasing and stalking as normal and sometimes as heroic. This is impacting youth negatively and is turning them into harassers.
• Most filmmakers ignore their responsibility towards society and add commercial elements to make their movies successful. This kind of filmmaker makes movies that do not offer any good to society but spread negative elements like violence, stalking etc.
• These days Indian movies objectify women by adding item songs or special songs. Irony is that on the one hand they preach gender sensitivity, on the other hand, they make songs that are demeaning to women.
• In most of the Indian movies, the male lead drinks alcohol and shows it as heroic. In some movies, male lead smokes too. This influences teenagers, who have strong emotions.
• Movies always depict luxury lifestyle and rarely show middle class lives. This leads to an increase in consumeristic society, and the worst impact will be on youth.
• Some filmmakers impose their personal opinions on society through movies. This kind of movies may depict certain communities or religions in a negative light.
• Movies encourage people to take revenge. Rarely do movies show lead characters fighting legally. In many films, lead characters kill antagonists by themselves. This is a threat to our society and legal administration.

3. How Tamil films on society is facing an issue mainly focused on alcohol?

3.1.Alcohol in India

In general, the common opinion in India about taking alcohol is that it is evil to do so. There is no acceptance of drinking alcohol in a social manner or as stimulant – so you cannot find openness towards the consumption of alcohol in any form. In addition to that, most of all the alcohol regulation policies formed by each state are unsuccessful and since it is a taboo topic there is not enough information provided. Because alcohol selling in many states is controlled by the government, there are many adulteration of alcohol and the black market. Furthermore alcohol consumption is also a big problem in rural areas.

3.2 Alcohol policy in Tamilnadu

Alcohol in Tamil Nadu is sold by “TASMAC” (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation), a company holds by the government of Tamil Nadu. The place of TASMAC bars has to follow specific guidelines and norms for example prescribed distance to schools, places of workshops, etc. Within the last year, many people petitioned for the shifting or closing of those shops. Anyhow in many places TASMAC outlets still allow the alcoholics to have easy access to all kinds of liquids.

3.3.Tamil flims on society is facing an issue mainly focused on alcohol

We watched movies in theatres once in a blue moon, it’s the only source we had before. But, now we have become so comfortable with downloading movies on mobile itself. We have websites, social media, and statuses to swallow the specific scenes we see. We are in the era of injecting everything into everyone easily. Compared to other countries, Indian cinemas have a culture of taking movies seriously and sensitively in their daily life. We take inspiration from the characters’ behavior and mannerisms; we imitate them. In Hollywood, only superhero movies are taken seriously and there will be an imitation and costume trend among those people. But in Indian cinema, we have a huge fan base for every hero and heroine. The creators should present their work with huge responsibility. But some creators are not helping.

Before and during the 2000s, the villains only took alcohol in the movies. Alcohol consumption is used as a negative element to push out the bad impression of villains among the audience. There were some movies, where if the hero took alcohol, it would affect his life and his family. Even comedies were like if the character consumes alcohol, it would affect him. For example; In Yei’s (2004) movie, Vadivel took alcohol and stood on a bus without holding the handle. When the driver takes a break, he jumps from the bus and gets hurt (Laughing apart). They took Alcohol drinking as a serious element to project the after-effects of its consumption. Now think about Santhanam’s comedy in Raja Rani, who forces his dearest friend to drink alcohol and teaches him some bad words to scold his girlfriend. We the people who already messing with the concept of comparing the characters shown in movies with our real life. This is related to films on society based on alcoholism.

Another huge way that movies affect society is through advertisements of different products. Often, companies will pay productions to include their products in movies because when so many people watch the movie, surely some of them will want to buy the can of Coca-Cola that their favorite character was drinking throughout the movie.

Another way in which movies affect our modern world is that they help the economy grow and prosper. Take, for example, action figures. For every big blockbuster, action figures are created and distributed. Fans buy them for aesthetic and collectible value. Action figures don’t have any real application or impact on people’s lives, they are just for fun. It doesn’t cost a lot for an action figure to be made, they are mostly all made by either plastic, rubber, or both. But since they have such a high collectible value, fans buy them at ridiculously high prices. That way, people bring money into the country, into companies, and private manufacturers (“Influence of Film on Modern Society”). And it’s not only action figures, it’s any form of ‘accessory’ connected to a movie. For example, the money the theatre makes from selling snacks before every screening is 85% of that theatre’s total profit. Some of that money goes to the country in the form of taxes. Another example of this is simply the tickets sold for projections. Although most of the money goes directly to the studio that has produced the movie, some of it goes to the country. It’s not only a direct influence on the country’s economy that films have; the industry itself is of huge significance.

4. Conclusion

Whatever a movie may be about, one should not forget that a movie is a portrayal of a writer’s imagination unless it’s a biopic. One should not madly follow them. Students must realize that their lives and situations don’t need to have a resemblance with the movie. They should understand and know the difference between real life and real life and try to inculcate only the positive aspects of cinema. The Tamil film industry has some of the best technical talents recognized worldwide. Their expertise with the visual medium can go a long way in promoting awareness about several mental health issues, in society. The psychiatric fraternity should exploit the strengths of these filmmakers and assist in bringing out more good films that are also popular. This will bring a change in public attitudes and make way for an inclusive society.

5. Bibliography

1. Dr.Sukanta K. Nanda ‘Media Law’.
2. Oxford Handbook on Indian Constitutional Law
3. Aveseh Asough, Social Media and Ethics – The impact of film on society, December 2016.

6. Cases referred

• K A Abbas v Union of India
• Raj Kapoor v Laxman
• S. Rangarajan v. P. Jagjivan Ram
• Anand Patwardhan v.Cent. Bd. of Film Certification
• Life Insurance Corporation of India v. Prof. Manubhai D. Shah

Censorship is the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable or a threat to security. Every country has its internet censorship system, but when compared to mainland China, other countries have much more lose restrictions when it comes to censorship. Chinese internet censorship works very systematically and is very strict when it comes to covering or restricting information posted online, with a history dating back to the second century AD. A huge business has been created from censorship that is dedicated to helping government officials protect their names and censors anything going against the Chinese government. China’s internet censorship system works through the government deciding on what kind of information should be censored or restricted, such as historical events like the Tiananmen Square Massacre and the on-going Hong Kong protests. The Chinese censorship system is a huge deal to ordinary Chinese citizens.

Chinese censorship first started back in 221 AD, more than 2,000 years ago. Back then, Emperor Shi Huangdi wanted to restrict people from questioning the power of the dynasty. Therefore, he ordered the “Burning of Book and Burial of Scholars”. In this event, ordered by the Emperor, any books related to opposing the choices made by the dynasty or having opinions that can question the dynasty will be burned, and scholars who wrote the books or had openly said different opinions on the dynasty were all buried alive. After this event, no one dared to oppose the Emperor. Centuries later, this event led to governments becoming more and more overpowered and harsh making them wanting more control over China and that is what created the start of the Chinese internet censorship technology in 2015. The technology used for the Chinese internet censorship system is called the “Great Canon” which observes and blocks technology from outside of China. This technology only works inside a certain boundary called the “Great Firewall”, any information beyond the “Great Firewall” is completely out of the Chinese government’s control. The “Great Canon” works by internet service providers in China injecting a Javascript code into Chinese citizens’ insecure (HTTP) requests. It causes traffic to sites out of the “Great Firewall” by slowing and overloading those sites. Any applications, websites and news. from outside of China are completely blocked, giving China an even easier way to censor information. This is done by creating their very own applications, websites and so on. Every internet service created inside of China has a code that scans through websites and/or languages and includes a government filter with the “Great Canon” system. The system is then managed by multiple government agencies involved in monitoring the media and they censors published information online or anywhere else in the “Great Firewall”. There are mainly two government agencies involved. The first, the Central Publicity Department, also known as the Propaganda Department, is in charge of distributing guidelines to “internet content providers” who have to obey and remove offensive content towards the Chinese government. The second, the Ministry of Public Security, according to an article written by Aja Romano from Vox, “monitors, filters and blocks websites which can involve everything from manually removing ‘illegal and criminal information’ online to blocking access to overseas domains, physically raiding offices of suspected offenders and access[ing] their computers.” Both agencies and the “Great Firewall” work together to censor the average Chinese citizens’ life.

The system works so efficiently on blocking and removing online content because authorities demand that companies censor themselves and to police their very own content. A business model has been created by censorship in China. Each online media company in China has its internal content review teams, with a single team being as big as thousands of workers just censoring and removing online content. There are also censorship factories that take on the censorship burdens for other companies day and night. For example, a company called Beyondsoft dedicated to censoring and monitoring online content. In those censorship factories, some people work as professional censors. Each professional censor has to undergo a week-long “theory” training, which teaches them sensitive information they would not have known before, like the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the most censored historical event in China. After the “theory” training, professional censors have to work in strict working environments, with a lot of testing, to make internet censorship work faster and more efficiently. The reason why the censorship factories are so strict is that “missing one beat could cause a serious political mistake.” stated Yiang Xiao, the head of Beyondsoft’s internet service business.

Chinese internet censorship system works extremely fast and efficient. One major example of the system at work is the suppression of the on-going Hong Kong protests. According to Aja Romano from Vox, “the Hong Kong protests against the Chinese government began in spring over an unpopular extradition bill. But after a harsh police response, they escalated into an ongoing series of demonstrations calling for broader change and a more democratic voting process.” the system quickly got to work and censored all information related to the protests, making people in China either completely clueless about the situation and even providing false news and accusations about the protests, as William Callahan said, “the Hong Kong demonstrations are being portrayed, in mainland China, as rioters and terrorists.” The system also quickly censors people from all around the world who had openly spoken about their support of the protests, mainly targeting public figures and blacklisting them in China. Then they remove and censors mention, media and discussion about those who spoke out. An example of this is YouTube’s biggest creator Felix Kjellberg, known online as PewDiePie. He made a video criticizing China’s treatment to the protestors in Hong Kong. Now, Kjellberg is completely erased from popular search engines like “China’s Google” Baidu. The system blocks and filters online content without providing any public notice or explanation, if they want to censor it, they will.

Citizens living in China does not think that controlling and manipulating news from around the world and shutting out other people’s opinions online is wrong, as William Callahan stated, “Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, there’s been much more emphasis on Chinese people, especially ambitious people who are in the Party, to not only agree but to show their agreement with government feelings and government policies, and to perform it on social media.” When all the criticism and different opinions on the Chinese government are censored and left with people who perform their agreement with the government online, more and more Chinese citizens will agree that this internet censorship system is right and is a huge part of China because they think it makes China a better place.

The Chinese internet censorship system works through the government being mainly concerned about Chinese online content. Putting in so much effort to censoring images and videos having opinions on the Chinese government, leaders, massacres… etc. Manipulating Chinese citizens into false beliefs about what is happening around the world. As William Callahan says, the Chinese public’s reaction to online media is “heavily curated by the government, by the party.”

Censorship is a pretty challenging task in this day and age with the advances of the Internet. Censorship is the act of denying access to any material, speech, public announcements, or information that is in opposition to the lawmakers, acting government, institutions, or corporations putting the censorship rules in place. It has almost always throughout history been used by governments to protect their beliefs and values and to try and prevent opposition. A great modern-day example of this would be China. The government of the People’s Republic of China puts massive restrictions on the Internet, books, movies, television, and even speech. Take Tiananmen square for example. An incident in history that would surely be remembered and a day that would be mourned. China denies it ever happened, and unless you, a Chinese person, were alive when it happened you would never know such atrocities had been committed. Tiananmen square sparked a series of communist reforms around the world, which leads me to my question- How can censorship impede democracy?

Some of the reforms sparked by Tiananmen square went rather quickly and quietly. This is partly due to an overthrow of government censorship by means of peaceful demonstrations. There are two great examples of this in Central Europe- the Czech Republic and Poland. In November 1989, the Czech Republic known at the time as Czechoslovakia had an uprise of students peacefully demonstrating for human rights and the right to vote for who led their country. It was called the Velvet Revolution, and it was extremely successful. On November 17th, 1989, just 5 months after Tiananmen square, riot police had beaten students peacefully demonstrating in Prague, the country’s capital. After eleven days of peaceful demonstrations with numbers up to a million in a country with a population of only 16 million; the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia gave up its power and allowed the communist government to collapse. An underground resistance to the communist party called Civic Forum had been growing for decades and was in part led by playwright Vaclav Havel who then became president of a newly democratic Czechoslovakia. (1)

In Poland, the anti-communist movement started much earlier. There had been demonstrations by workers and students as early as 1956. In 1956, workers took to the streets of Poznan, the 4th largest Polish city, and demanded economic and political changes. Their demonstrations were quickly ended by communist authorities with over one hundred deaths. Almost the same thing happened in 1970, with workers demonstrating in major coastal cities for higher wages and economic reforms. Thousands were wounded and forty-five were killed. In 1979-1980, anti-communist groups started to gain some traction. Pope John Paul II visited his home country of Poland and, on live state TV and radio, spoke about human rights and the right to freedom of expression and conscience. In the summer of 1980, a massive group comprised of workers, intellectuals, students, members of the Catholic Church and peasants went on strike all across the country. This led to the creation of a free trade union called Solidarnosc, or Solidarity. The government caved to the group’s demands and legalized the movement in September of 1980. Membership grew to almost 10 million, 29% of Poland’s population at the time, and included 80% of state employees including communist party members. Then, in December of 1981, fearing Soviet military intervention due to the size of the revolutionary movement, the Polish government declared martial law. Hundreds of leaders of Solidarity were arrested and thrown in jail. The movement regrouped underground, now significantly weakened. By the end of 1988, strikes and protests were increasing in frequency and volume, and the Polish government agreed to re-legalize Solidarity. In early 1989, an agreement was struck between Solidarity and the government to hold a free election in the summer of 1989. By August, Poland had its first noncommunist prime minister, who quickly began economic, social, and judicial reforms. (2)

How can censorship indoctrinate citizens? A perfect modern example of this is China. In China, there is a censorship campaign known as the Golden Shield. The Golden Shield is the formal name for the Great Firewall of China, but it encompasses much more than that. The Golden Shield is not only responsible for blocking access to the free internet (That’s what the Great Firewall does) but monitoring, tracking and maintaining a database of all internet users within the country. China began its construction in 1996, and it was fully implemented in 2008. After the rapid increase in users when the Internet was implemented in China in 1995, the communist government of China wanted to control what its users could have access to. This blocked access to anything the Chinese government considered to be unsuitable for their citizens, including pornography, obscene content, anything criminal in nature, and anything defamatory to the Chinese communist government. (4) The censorship of China’s internet is an incredibly massive operation and its estimated 50,000 people are employed by the government to actively monitor internet use and maintain order. When I was in China, I asked a few citizens for their opinion on the ethics of this. Some refused to answer, but others told me they had no idea the internet was more than what China makes it. Of course, my sample size was very small and the age demographic much younger than China’s average citizen age, but it was obvious to me they had never heard of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat. China hasn’t given them a need to look for these things, because they have devised their own versions. Sina Weibo is one of these, Weibo meaning ‘microblog’ in Chinese. It’s essentially Twitter. You can post text and images, comment, chat, and video chat. It’s also similar in that companies can pay Sina to advertise on their site. Also important to note, Weibo and all other platforms operating within China have to abide by a set of censorship rules. This includes automatically filtering out any text to do with Tiananmen Square, Tibet, Taiwan, and anti-CCP (China Communist Party) groups. Overall, China is very protective of what its citizens see, do and say on the Internet, and I think it will be a very long time before we see that change. I believe it is unethical for Chinese people to be unable to access the free, uncensored Internet, but I see why China censors so much. They are afraid the communist regime will be overthrown by people because they looked at something on the Internet. (4) (5)

In conclusion, censorship has many facets of impeding democracy. Modern China makes its citizens believe there is no other way, and that China is superior to everything else because it is a communist dictatorship. Although it is not technically a dictatorship, there has been absolutely no opposition towards the current president, Xi Jinping, 7 years into him leading China. I don’t think China will reform into a democratic country anytime soon, as they have had great success under communist dictators in the past (think the Great Leap Forward). Censorship in China continues to be a hot topic around the world, while it is not talked about in China except for in the government. In other countries in the past, censorship has only worked for so long, and it was typically held together with force. Eventually though, especially in the cases of both Poland and Czechoslovakia, there were simply too many people to try and censor and the communist governments imploded. Freedom of speech, thought and expression are human rights, and communist governments are often quick to take them away. China says they promote these things, however, if someone whispers anything about China being bad, they are dealt with either by force or by stripping of privileges. Censorship not only impedes democracy, but it also makes it impossible if it is held up by strong opposition.

In conclusion, censorship has many facets of impeding democracy. Modern China makes its citizens believe there is no other way, and that China is superior to everything else because it is a communist dictatorship. Although it is not technically a dictatorship, there has been absolutely no opposition towards the current president, Xi Jinping, 7 years into him leading China.

Introduction

The possibility of intelligent softwares intervenes our day to day life has always pose a range of ethical and moral issues and its stand on these issues. (Thomas B. Sheridan. 2016) From SIRI (Apple Inc) to self-driving cars human interactive technologies is growing by leaps and bounds. (Giuseppe Aceto et al. 2015) Akin to network monitoring for faults, attacks, and performance variations, Internet censorship monitoring is a relatively new field of research with methodologies, tools and practices still in course of definition. Now a days the wide use of this technology encompasses from Google’s search algorithms to IBM’s Watson to autonomous weapons specialising in cyber warfare (Makridakis, S. 2017).

In mid-2010, more than 1.9 billion people used the Internet, making it a tool of communications, entertainment, and other applications accessed by roughly 28% of the world’s population (Barney Warf. 2010). The conventional wisdom is that the data and resources we share and use on that platform is biased towards openness and beneficial for all sections of the society. Nevertheless, the pressures from authoritative governments and security agencies to regulate and control the internet space and its users are beginning to alter its basic fabric of its values that may undermine not only the activities of global communication networks but also the long-term prospects of having openness in communications environment (Deibert, R. J. 2003). ‘Australia’s mandatory national web-filtering system, Finland’s increased Internet surveillance for terrorist threats, the UK’s Internet Censorship and Disconnection Law, and the USA’s Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act are some examples’ (Archie L. Dick. 2012).

In this essay I would like discuss the wide spread adoption of cutting-edge web technologies in the arena of Internet censorship. The merits of this technology in perspective of cybersecurity and thwarting attacks as well as its demerits at the cost of freedom of speech and surveillance on person(s) of interest by the dissent governments or state security agencies.

Internet Censorship for National Security

Internet hacking targes the users no matter whether internet censorship laws are in place or not. However, these censorship laws can act as a deterrent for these activities also could possibly reduce the number of hacking incident that occur. This in turn will have positive impact on national security (Medeline Carr 2013). There are dark we technologies that provide access to illicit drugs, human trafficking and pornography can be accessed with relative ease. By restricting these contents governments can make sure the security of their citizens. Internet filtering is just one of the many options available to the governments to curb the use of illegal activities as well as trace the criminals. It helps the government to document it easily. These documented activities can be put forward for the assessments to Freedom House (the OpenNet Initiative), and Herdict Web a Harvard based initiative which voluntarily seeks input from Internet users around the world in order to “crowdsource” real-time data regarding Internet control. The most of the governments are now experimenting with more sophisticated ways of exerting controls that relatively harder to detect (Evgeny Morozov 2011).

Internet Censorship on curbing the fake news

There is an unprecedented increase of fake news all around the world in less than 5 years. This has caused grave effects on issues ranging from free speech to un-biased transparent democratic elections. (Clark et al. 2017) Internet censorship is a potential tool that can provide another level of discernment which could possibly stop or contain any untoward incidents that are based on misleading incidents that never happened. Recently, state censors have started citing “fake news” as a reason for censoring the Internet. However, there is valid point in that claim even though many disagrees. (Co-Pierre Georg et al. 2018) In a real world if your adversary determined to spread fake news he or she will first go through the public profile on social network platforms. Then manipulate his disinformation to match your beliefs to increase the possibility you share this with other members in your network. The recent technological innovations such as data-centric web 2.0 along with responsible individual activism can effectively put control over circulation of fake news.

Lessen the impact of identity theft

Identity theft which takes many forms and is one of the fastest growing crimes in the internet world today. Victims include active internet uses not only from developed nations but also from developing countries. Internet censoring technologies can restrict online content that would allow identity information to be easily shared which in-turn lessen the impact that identity theft causes to the public.( Kristy Holtfreter et al. 2018) In year 2012, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) revealed that an estimated 1.1 million US residents were victims of identity theft in the form of the unauthorized use or attempted misuse of personal information (e.g., social security number, date of birth, and existing credit card accounts) to open a new account e.g., a credit card or mortgage. The problem of identity theft is not confined to the USA. In Australia, an estimated 0.3% of the Australian population over aged 15 was victimized by identity theft in 2010.

More than one-fourth of the planet’s populace utilizes the Internet today, despite the fact that entrance to it is exceptionally uneven all through the world. The web has changed the manner by which individuals acquire news, direct business, speak with each other, mingle, and interface with open authorities (Kelly, Cook & Truong). However, most of the people look at the internet as two sided sword. On one hand, it provides easy flow and availability of valuable information, connecting people. On the other hand, it has become a place where one can easily access material which is dangerous and harmful for the society.

Hamade, S. N found that ‘Censorship is the suppression of ideas and information that certain persons—individuals, groups or government officials—find objectionable or dangerous. Censors try to use the power of the state to impose their view of what is truthful and appropriate, or offensive and objectionable, on everyone else. Censorship occurs when expressive materials, like books, magazines, films and videos, or works of art, and lately internet websites are removed or kept from public access. Censorship also occurs when materials are restricted to particular audiences, based on their age or other characteristics’. There been always a battle to take control of Internet. However, there will be struggle regarding what controls ought to be set up, and who ought to authorize them when there is interaction crossing social and political limits (Murdoch, S. J, and H. Roberts).

This document will discuss the social and ethical implications of internet censorship. The arguments raised here strongly opposes the internet censorship with their own reasons. It begins with how government censors Internet access and contents. Second argument discusses how the governments uses its power over the technology organization in order to gain access over the citizen’s private information. Also, some countries like Russia have introduced laws which bans the use of VPNs and fine the organizations which allows use of VPNs Third argument talks about the negative effect of internet censorship on the international trade. There are many countries and many rules, so it’s hard international organizations to carry on business. The third part offers refutation for the above raised argument against the internet censorship. The essay concludes that the internet censorship should not solely given to the government only. The common people should also be involved in the process of deciding the censorship laws and regulations.

Discussion

One of the implication of internet censorship is it gives too much power and control over information. Governments often have the choice in degree of censorship, most of them opt between the position of depth i.e. degree of intervention and scope or range of topics. For example, Denmark which supports the unrestricted flow of the information and on other hand North Korea prohibiting all access to the internet (Warf, Barney). Many authoritarian countries have taken different measures to filter or otherwise obstruct online free speech because of they are more concerned about the power of these new technologies to catalyze the changes in politics (Borrull, A. L. and Oppenheim, C). Moreover, over the previous decade in order to control the internet governments across the globes have developed various powerful instruments. These incorporates blocking the content that is critical of the regime, limiting the infrastructure and connectivity and arresting those who post the undesirable information. So we can say that there been always a battle to take control of Internet (Murdoch, S. J, and H. Roberts). ‘17 Governments approved or proposed laws restricting online media in the name of fighting “fake news” and online manipulation and 18 Countries increased surveillance, often eschewing in dependent oversight and weakening encryption to gain unfetter access to data’ (Freedom On The Net 2018, pp 03). Hence, the number of countries imposing strict censorship strategies is growing over the years and the year internet is growing less free.

Another disadvantage of Internet censorship is that the authorities demand control over the citizen’s private data. Internet is seen as an open space where everyone can express their views. In many ways internet erases boundaries. Enormous amount of data flows in and out of their country and governments are willing to take control over this data at their will. By stating the reasons such as protections of citizen from thefts or make data more accessible to national security agencies, some of these countries are forcing tech firms to use local servers to store citizen’s data (Müller, U). Countries like China, Pakistan, Russia and Vietnam has already implemented the requirement of localization of data. Though, data localization might sound the secure option to data storage but for a hacker it generally doesn’t matter the location of data storage servers which makes this method vulnerable to cyber-attacks. For example, in India during 2018 Aadhar systems data breach put 1.1 billion people’s data at the risk. Incidents like this demonstrates that we need strong protection framework beyond only localization of data (Freedom On The Net 2018). Over the past years countries like Russia have imposed restriction on virtual private networks (VPN’s) to prevent users from accessing banned websites from Outside County. They also introduced subsequent bill to fine the organizations which allows the user of VPNs. In light of fears about universal collection what’s more, the inalienable uncertainty of individual information, numerous nations are ordering enactment that awards people the privilege to control how their information are gathered, handled, and shared by open and private entities. Governments are making misuse of their power for their own benefits. Therefore, as a citizen we should demand the government for more transparency in private data storage.

We all are aware about the social injustice caused by the Internet censorship and considerably these issues are great cause of concern but the one area which was overlooked earlier and is now becoming critical is the effect of internet censorship on the international trade. Basically, national organizations can efficiently discriminate against international providers by censoring internet data. For example, Google being the organization that prides itself on being the source of information, they refused to abide to Chinese censorship policies. Hence, Google decided to withdraw operations from China. However, despite the fact that China demands Google must agree to Chinese censorship strategies by blocking access to certain frightful content, the Chinese search engine Baidu, frequently shows a similar content. In this manner, it appears the utilization of online oversight to remove remote challenge might be another factor in play (Leberknight, C S, Chiang, M, Poor H V, & Wong, F). We have so many countries and many laws and one Internet. And it is very difficult to business when you have to choose whose law to follow. Therefore, censorship strategies around the world making huge impact on the multinational businesses.

Refutation

It is often argued that governments around the globe are highly censoring the Internet access and content and it should not be happen. But, despite the usually prevalent principle of liberty of expression in democratic nations, it is commonly recognized that certain kinds of expression are not protected because they are considered to be of inadequate importance in relation to the damage they cause. However, this is a false argument as; international problems such as protection of children, terrorist activity, crime, racial hatred etc. are the issues at the stake. The global solution for such issues can be achieved by international treaties and co-operations. It is recognized that it is legitimate to censor where damage is caused to others by the speech, words or craft of a creator, every one of the issues referred to above are obviously creating mischief different gatherings in the society (CERF, V.). Thus, it is also important for the government to take bold steps towards the internet censorship in order to betterment of the society.

We have seen that how government forces the tech giants to gain the control over the personal user details for their own benefits. But rather than forcing the users to make such bold choices, governments and technology companies should introduce more transparency regarding how personal data should be used, enable data portability between the platforms and also give authority to users to delete the data that they want from the collection (Mishara, B. L., Weisstub, D.N). However, government, private organizations are hungry for the data. Either their purpose might be for development of artificial intelligence technology to the political purpose of the governments. In such cases the individuals have very small choices to refuse such requests.

Conclusion

In this article we have seen some of the social and ethical implications of the internet censorship. The use of censorship is necessary for the betterment of the society. But at the same time handing over all the control of the censorship to the government lead to violation of right to information. ‘As per Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.”

This standard applies to all countries and territories, irrespective of geographical location, ethnic or religious composition, or level of economic development’ (Kelly, S, Cook, S, Truong, M,). All things considered, we can be hopeful that with carefulness and proceeding with endeavors to look after straightforwardness, the Internet can stay a power for expanding opportunity as opposed to turn into an instrument for increasingly proficient suppression.

Media censorship is the concealment of articulation, communication or any detailed fact that is treated as disagreeable, inappropriate and sensitive. In Chines government strictly keeps a check on the traditional as well as novel media to prevent potential disruption of its position in the world. While in Turkey, media censorship is modulated by international and domestic jurisprudence and it is controlled by the implementing them in the country. This essay elaborates comparisons between the media censorship of China and Turkey in regards of Broadcasting, print, social Media, Literature and use of internet

In Both China and turkey, the media is controlled by the strict rules and Journalists are also suppressed by the government. In China the suppuration on media is at its top. The media is compelled to present any news or article according to the government guidelines for instance Boehler (2014) ‘Hong Kong protests Blocked’ In Chinese newspapers, it is strictly instructed to avoid some numbers like “four” and “six”. These numbers are also not allowed to be utilized in the headline of the newspapers because the devastating event happened in 04 june 1989 in china so it is considered unlucky sign (The Global and Mail 2012) However, the print media in turkey like the newspaper has been liable to legal actions and raids, with numerous reporters being seized and killed (Yilmaz 2016). The media censorship restricts the freedom of speech in turkey, Reporters without Borders (2019) “On World Day Against Cyber-Censorship, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is drawing attention to the alarming level of cyber-censorship in Turkey, where the judicial authorities blocked almost three thousand online articles last year and the regime is beginning to clamp down on online video services”. Furthermore, Chinese censor system blacks out any debatable parts in the broadcasting of news. On the other hand, in the recent years, the current Turkish president Erdugan has imposed lot of restrictions on Electronic and press Media the television anchors and news journalists are facing tremendous pressure on expression of their views against government’s narrative. (Freedom on the net 208). In 2016 a hundred of people were arrested and many of them was killed by the government authorities. Not only local journalists but the international journalists are also being bullied and threatened by the Turkish government. some journalists were banned to on-air their programs, due to their opposite mind of thought. Press media also forced to be the pro the government and no news article is allowed to print that illustrates the antigovernment ideas. Although it is being said that Media has liberty of freedom by the governing bodies but ground reality is entirely different.

Like suppression on electronic and Print media the use of the internet is also under very strict surveillance and suppuration in both countries but their way of execution is altered. In china many websites are completely banned and some has restricted to limited access social media has being monitored significantly. The online surveillance is stern enough that does not allow to get full access to many websites. The mainstream social media is being blocked in china. Globally popular social media sites like Facebook Messenger, Flickr, Google, Instagram Periscope, Pinterest, Quora, Reddit, Slack, Snapchat, Tumblr, Twitch, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube are banned in china (Haigh 2018). It is the worst example of censorship. In contrast to Turkey, China internet censorship is very refined and efficient. There is a system which is known as The Great Firewall of China to block the websites. A Harvard study was conducted in which eighteen thousand sites were banned and the number of blocking the sites is increasing day by day (Zhu 2018). In China, some websites planned to introduce a changed style of search engines. Some search engines are banned in China. Information about religion, human rights and democracy are also banned. The Chinese Law enforces internet service providers to recognize the users of the internet and help in the control of online public speech. In China, “black PRs” are the critics of government whose data is discarded form the websites (Wu, Weinberg and Ho 2018). While in Turkey, problems identified with the freedom of judicial culture and judiciary. Harassment in the Turkish society including the human rights safeguards: There are burdens of media bans or power outages. The Turkish government also imposed restrictions on public interests. Turkey has made its fire ware network to monitor the online searches of people and they even making surveillance on local communication apps and chatroom. Freedom on the net (2018) “Engelliweb, a website that tracked total blocking figures, found that more than one hundred and fourteen thousand websites were inaccessible as of November 2016, up from about fourty thousans in 2013”

The effect of censorship is also making a vibrant impact on Literature of China and Turkey. In China, some educational organizations were blamed for suppressing the debatable historical events. the Chinese government detained a consignment of textbooks since it was showing the major lands of Taiwan and China. Some websites were also banned in china since it included plagiarized data. GAPP provides a license to all the Chinese publishers and it has the right to censor or ban any publication (Shambaugh 2017). The ratio between the official and un-licensed book is around 40:60. In comparison to turkey, confinements of the academic opportunities identified problems as numerous scholars were suspended, compelled to leave, rejected and taken into the custody of the police. Scholars were also influenced by the government’s media censorship. Later on, a Third Reform Package arrived where all the past prohibition on publications was dropped except if restored by the court.

Media censorship is globally recognized issue.so both Countries China and Turkey strictly follow the rules and regulations formed within the country. The government of China is aware of the policies of China regarding the freedom of media and information, but it is also concerned about those freedoms which can lead to embarrassment for the Chinese government. In contrast to China, Turkey media censorship is always a matter of concern. In Turkey, the major issue in the improvement of freedom of speech and media is the absence of political policies. Both China and Turkey government formulates certain rules and regulations and try to control and maintain the media censorship while protecting the citizen’s right to freedom and information.

Reference list

1. Patric Boehler (2014), South china morning post Record censorship of China’s social media as references to Hong Kong protests blocked, viewed 11 November 2019
2. https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1603869/record-censorship-chinas-social-media-references-hong-kong
3. Reporters without borders, April17,2019 viewed 13November 2019https://rsf.org/en/news/turkeys-courts-blocked-nearly-3000-online-articles-last-year
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Introduction

In today’s world, it has become impossible to imagine our world without the internet. Even the simple activity such as communication and entertainment relies on the internet heavily. Internet has gone beyond the context of connecting just computers and users. The internet provides a diverse range of data and information to different sections of the society. Different types of organisations find the information quite reliable. In addition to these, the business sector also gets benefit out the internet. It offers the reliable platform for carrying out the marketing. They use the digital marketing platforms for promoting their products and services. The extent of this censorship varies across the globe. In most of the democratic countries, the implication of internet censorship is moderate while in many other countries it gets limited to access of information.

Discussion

Concerns in politics

The most prominent cause for internet censorship is the suppression of the use of internet, which has now become an active political tool that is chiefly used to spread messages on social, religious contexts. This lies in contrast to the different policies of the state. For instance, there can be restrictions in having an online presence for the minority communities or exile group of people and many other sites, which may try to throw the ruling party.

Moral and communal issue

The internet censorship also interrupts in the sensitive topics such as moral and values that lies within the society. This has created a positive impact by prohibiting the pornography regarding the child protection and significant reduction in the sexual criminality in the society.

Issues related to the security

Due to several ongoing conflicts across the globe, the organisation and businesspersons are taking precautions for avoiding and protecting themselves from cyber threats or phishing. In this sense, it has led to a positive result in protecting against the hate speech used by extremists, which has reduced their negative influence and propaganda.

Arguments in support of internet censorship

For instance, if the child is browsing the internet, it is quite probable that people might find something violent or abusive, which can harm the mental state of the child. Thanks to internet censorship, this has prevented the offensive materials reaching the intended targets. The rate of drug and alcohol abuse has increased drastically in the past few years. Without the censorship of the internet, this rate will continue to rise. The censorship limits the access to the dark areas of the internet by putting a resistance to the contents and limits the opportunities, which people can create to keep out of reach of the new victims.

There are many cases where the accounts of people are blocked and removed from the social media platforms. The conformist or the bigoted people have illustrated a stringent mindset that is evident in terms of politics outbursts the hate speeches. However, in reality, people supporting censorship do not care about the freedom they only want to see opinions not to be removed for some dishonest reasons. As far as the security issues are concerned, censorship on the internet puts restrictions and penalties if violated. This could eventually reduce the number of hacking activities occurring. Thus, a positive influence on the national security and prevent probable alleged actions such as the incident that occurred during the election of the US president in 2016.

The internet censorship helps to avoid and block violent, dangerous and abusive contents. This in turn protects the child and other sections of the society from viewing contents, which can be harmful to them such as murder, or depressing videos, which have been popping up in the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and so on.

Refutation

Lack of proper observer

Internet censorship if maintained ethically and supervised directly, there are certain people who are responsible for deciding what is acceptable in society and what is not right to watch online. At some point, there would be lack of proper authority who would report to some other appropriate authorities regarding the censorship decisions. Thus with such power in hand, the individual can influence the society in the way he wants to without knowing the post consequences.

Stops information and costly process

Through the internet censorship, fake as well as real and reliable information can be restricted. There have been cases where about 27% of the internet users hav4e been arrested for sharing contents, videos or putting a simple like on Facebook. There are about 38 countries who have arrested people based on the posts shared on social media. The application of censorship over the internet has shut down billions in majority of the organisations. Cutting down censorship of internet is too costly process and the taxpayers of the respective countries will abide this cost.

Limitation in the entrepreneurial opportunities

The innovative ideas of the entrepreneurs are bound to go through an approval of the boards or individuals instead of implementing their ideas solely on their own. Thus, it is quite probable that businesses operating in the same industry and has enough wealth can restrict the entrepreneurs from accomplishing the opportunity. Thus, it would lead to a restriction in the innovations in various business sectors.

Arguments to support internet censorship is not necessary

For instance, if considered that the government is dictating on the restriction of the contents, which are to be viewed by the individuals, then it can be concluded that the people of the society are not responsible for taking decisions. The entire process of taking and making of decisions is ceded over to the government. Also ceding such control makes it easier for the government to go on with more control over the responsibility. Thus, the entire process involves shifting of the responsibilities to the places where it would have lied. In addition to these, a free usage of internet enables individual to share their views, thoughts over it. There are laws that exist which would provide proper protection of laws for people who share such abusive contents. Applying additional restrictions would foster a higher level of bureaucracy.

The blockage of the business websites due to lack of meeting up with the standard of goodness is critical illustration of lack of systematic use of power and authorities. Thus giving the power to the government for deciding the goodness and badness of the entity can have a fatal consequence on the economy of the business. The lack of promotion of online selling and purchasing of goods can place business in a disadvantageous state in comparison to the competitors in the market. Thus there will be people who will take advantage of the powers they possess. Thus authorities knows that they can engage such illegal actions without the fear that such evidence could get posted online.

Internet censorship is an evil to the society and should be avoided in the rates wherever needed. Child pornography is an extreme case and for this, there is already appropriate legislation for individuals who attempted such spreading of illegal contents. There are certain forms of speech, which are quite harmful and offensive to the society. However, these can be dealt by being exposed to such disruption and combating them. The censorship will have a negative impact on the communication, study of the citizens. Internet filtering can help in reducing such effects to a certain extent.

Conclusion

The internet has been the most cherishing inventions in human history. Many people use it for destructive purposes that have affected many individuals in this process. The control power lies on both sides regarding which content can be accessed. Many countries are banning abusive and violent content on the internet. The advantages and benefits provided by the internet is limitless but there are many countries who are working on the internet censorship that is to limit the access contents that are published, viewed or enacted over it. It is seen that there are certain tools, which are used by the government to restrict the use of internet access while the people who support it are trying to overcome the different barriers caused by it. The internet censorship must be regulated in a balanced way, as absolute censorship would not be a solution. Thus, internet censorship is required but the type of implementation should be done by proper methods, which would be beneficial for the people.

References

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Having social media can have many ethical and legal implications. Social media such as Facebook’s censorship has arisen on its users. Imagine having to follow certain rules in order to open a Facebook account and being monitored. Following the same information filtering and reporting requirements as the government commands.

Thousands and thousands of people use Facebook. Faebook is even in other countries because of the fact that it follows many rules that it is allowed to be used not only in the U.S. Facebook is the number one social media used and since they follow may laws and rules their censorship is a big thing for them. Many people tend to use this app more than any other and the second one most used is twitter. Like they say if you want people to hear you out post it on facebook or twitter.

President Trump has many ideas for this nation. One of his speeches he brought out about how social media such as Google, Twitter and Facebook are bias against and suppression of conservative users. With Trump wanting our tales of Social media censorship and contact info has many pros and cons to it. In reality if things want to get changed there is many issues and laws to go through before anything is changed.

Many questions are being asked about how and why Trump is doing this. First of what legal issues arise through this new government policy?Are their any laws are compromised or broken? Are there any ethical issues arised? What about freedom rights being boken and which ones? How would all of this change business or even affect it? Would business be affected in profit of facebook and other search engines? Can it affect the legal system such as the court system here in the U.S.? Also what reactions would I make to these government demands and what compromises I would make to asure I am considering the government’s need for information and public rights. There is many issues and laws that I will be covering in order to explain better on how this issue that Trump brought out will help and affect all of us as citizens of the U.S.

First of what legal issues arise through this new government policy? There is many legal issues that will arise through this new government policy, one would be Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. This act is inteded to protect interactive computer services from being sued over what others post. This section 230 was intended so that the internet can be free of political censorship. Other legal issues that arise through this new government policy is disrimination, copyright issues and privacy. Having these issues in social media make a huge difference.

Discrimination can be an issue in the form of people using trumps new policy and stating anything they want and discriminate others in any way they want through social media. Copyright issues apply as plagiarism,ownership, details of which should be set out in a contract and website stealing. Being copyrighted can pass so many bounderies and be iligal in so many ways. Privacy is the biggest legal issue with this new government policy. Privacy can affect people in so many ways. First it will disclose peoples information and that is something people feel like its private. Also, people will be exposed to what they say on their social media, the government will be able to see and delete anything they want.

Despite the legal issues there is ethical issues as well. There is many ethical issues, some of those ethical issues would be bullying, creepiness, and misinterpritations. These ethical issues can affect many in so many ways. Dispararging competitors in social networking is unethical because of the negative impacts. Also using Facebook in contests and other ways have the risk of exposing people’s secrets with no rewards. The biggest ethical issue of it all is bullying facebook has been used in many ways to bully others and in many cases the ones being bullied have too their own life away because of the bullying.

By Trump making these new policies it can affect business in so many ways. Facebook is a big social media where people tend to advertise their business. If this new policy remains in tact businesses might not want to promote their business on social media anymore because of their information being censored. If businesses start being censored even then they might loose profitibility in the fact that business owners do not want to promotetheir business on social media. Social media is used in many ways for business they tend to help get the message around the world and helps promote business in a matter of seconds. Soocial media is a big part of the economy.

This new policy wont only affect the businesses but it will affect the legal system, court system and others in so many ways. One way it can affect the legal system is by that the first amendment would be violated. How he first amendment would be violated would be by that haaving to give contact information and having censorship breaks the law. Also open questions raise concerns about if the government will be able to remove allegedly objectionable facebook comments without breaking first admendment protections.

A way that it would affect the court system would be by that courts are now using social media in so may ways to make their job easier. Having social media censored can prevent the courts from many thing and it can also prevent them from hanig their own social media page. Having social media becomes so easy for them to handle news and other important information people need to know about courts.

If I was a high raking executive at Facebook with decision making influence within the company what my reaction would be to the U.S. Government demands would be denied. I would deny those emands for the fact that many people would leave facebook because they wouldn ot want to expose themselves in that form especially with government. Also, I would probably accept them because in order to run a business rules have to be followed and if the government does not approve of this it would be taken down.

Some things I would propose as a compromise to make sure I am considering the Government’s need for information and the people’s rights would be fairness. By fairness I mean that the government should take in consderation that not many citizens want to have their social media be exposed to an etent where contact information is needed. I feel like everyone should be able to have a social media without havig to put their contact information. On the other hand how I would take the Government in concideration would be by that giving them the right to open up about politics and having a more open site about people opinions would be good to an exent. Any harm or any thing that puts someone’s life in danger wouldn’t be acceptable.

Over all putting so much effort in a situation like this can affect many things. Legal issues will be affected such as privacy which is every humans concern. Having their information disclosed wouldn’t be something people would like to happen to them.Another issue would be ethical issues. A major ethical issue with social media would be bullying. Bullying is a big issue for the faact that people have lost their lives because of it.

Not only will there be ethical or legal issues but bussinesses would be affected also. Trying to promote a business or make profit from using social media will not be much of a help for a businessif this new policy comes in tact. If a business is affected the legal and court system are affected as well. Having this new policy will affect many in many ways and if I would compromise something it would to ask for fairnes for every issue that will arise beause of this policy that Trump is talking about.

Refrences

1. Dreyfuss, E. (2017, June 29). Why Victims of Facebook Censorship Don’t Leave Facebook. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-too-big-to-delete/
2. Gilbert, B. (2019, July 11). Trump accuses Twitter and Facebook of censoring him and conservative commentators during bizarre ‘social-media summit’. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-social-media-summit-twitter-facebook-censorship-claims-2019-7
3. Robertson, A. (2019, June 21). Why the internet’s most important law exists and how people are still getting it wrong. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/21/18700605/section-230-internet-law-twenty-six-words-that-created-the-internet-jeff-kosseff-interview
4. Social Media and the Courts Network: National Center for State Courts. (2018, September 6). Retrieved from https://www.ncsc.org/Topics/Media/Social-Media-and-the-Courts/Social-Media/Home.aspx