Internet Censorship In Israel?
A law proposal by politician Amnon Cohen, from the ultra-orthodox political party shas, that is supposedly meant to protect kids from the dangers of pornography, violence and gambling sites has passed the primary voting stage in the Israeli Knesset .
The proposed law requires that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) block adult content-based sites (sexual, gambling and violence) from children. As a means to verify one’s age, ISPs will require some biometric means of identification for adults, in addition to a personal password. The current law proposal does not specifically state which sites will be blocked, nor which technology will be used by the ISPs for this sort of identification.
Even though this proposal is utterly ridiculous and almost impossible economically and technologically to enforce, it is still very scary and raises many questions. Will the government now tell me which sites I can visit? Who are these people who will now sit in their high chairs and decide what content is considered violent and what content not? Will ISPs in Israel now hold a white list of every user’s personal information? If a news site covers stories about violent happenings in the world, will it now be censored? And if now these types of sites are censored, what sites will be next? Perhaps anti-religious ones?
Jonathan Klinger writes:
“The real question will be who decides which websites should be blocked. Is NRG (a popular Israeli news website) a site that has sexual content because it hosts the NRG sexy column, where one can possibly spot a nipple or two? Or perhaps it is a site that mainly deals with violence because it contains reportings on war, casualties, knife stabbings, and deaths? No matter how we look at it, our society is violent, and every news website deals with violence.”
Gadi Shimshon adds:
“Nothing in this new law proposal protects the children of Israel. It is a product culminating from technological ignorance, over-righteousness, and political power play.”
Parents everywhere (not just in Israel) should be aware of what their children are doing and educate them about these issues. It is not the government’s job to decide how these issues will be dealt with in every household. I doubt that this law will be able to get the majority of votes in the Knesset in order to pass, however, this proposal should serve as a warning and people should react and take action. The power to protect the freedom of content lies in our hands. In less than two weeks time the government takes the proposal to the next stage.
The above banner was created in protest of the proposed law. It shows the face of Amnon Cohen and reads: “My brother, your big brother has arrived…come meet your new educator” .
Technorati tags: israel, censorship, law, amnon cohen, children, violence, news, jonathan klinger, gadi shimshon, freedom of speech, cyber activism, internet, politics
May 29th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Trackback from http://dotmad.blogspot.com/2007/05/censorship-threat-to-israeli-web.html
May 29th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Think twice. May be there is something good in this bad law!
http://quasifictionalviews.blogspot.com/2007/03/making-web-safe-for-everyone.html
May 29th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
Dio:
I read your post and I must say I disagree. You write: “I am decidedly anti any type of sensor in any form whatsoever but the governments should enact strict laws against creation, hoisting and distributing the contents that are immoral and harmful for the humanity.”
I am sorry but I do not believe it is the government’s job to censor websites that they find immoral. It is up to the people to decide. In this case, up to the parents to educate their kids about these issues. Any content censorship as far as I am concerned is a mark of a dictatorship, not a democracy.
May 30th, 2007 at 4:51 am
Thanks for reading the post and your comment. And I respect your opinion.
Let us look at it this way: I know an uneducated father and mother who have a college going son. Parents have bought him a computer and he can connect to internet from home.
Unfortunately, he gets into porno addiction and remains online at nights while his parents think their son is working hard.
Who should be responsible for this? Who can save the boy?
Let me add again that I am against sensor in any form but let us not make the internet unsafe. Let us not give them a chance for waywardness. let us make it difficult at least. No?
May 30th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Dio:
I understand your point of view. However, again, I do not feel it is the government’s job to control what sites we visit. The child you mention should get help from his family, friends, and perhaps seek professional help. Regarding the law proposal in Israel, as I write in my post, it was proposed by the ultra orthodox group who is merely trying to gain political power by creating this law. There are so many things already controlled by this group in Israel. I hope web surfing won’t become a part of that list.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:48 am
I wish so too. But I also wish it is safe for those who don’t have professional or personal help you are mentioning and for those who come accross this innocently and are hooked for good.
I see the point you have here and I agree with you there. I am also against aurthodoxy but here we have to see what they are asking for not who is asking for.
May 3rd, 2008 at 7:09 am
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