Dear President,

The internet. It is formally defined as the vast computer network linking smaller computer networks worldwide. What makes the internet so unique is its ability to connect anyone anywhere to a wealth of knowledge. We too often take it for granted, but in relative terms, it is quite new. Censorship has been virtually nonexistent for the internet, but has recently become an issue. The internet is too important to limit its freedoms, and that is why censorship is so dangerous.

Some people argue that censorship can protect against terrorist recruitment and cyber-bullying, but censorship is not the answer to either of these problems. We often times only see the bad in things and ignore the good. A simple solution to cyber-bullying is to not engage and to understand the platform to properly set up privacy settings. The aggressor can not attack you personally if you keep your identity hidden. I actively seek to keep my online activities private and anonymous, and that keeps attacks on my online expressions only about my expressions and not on my appearance, ethnicity or status. Terrorist recruitment is another thing that companies use to justify censorship, but the effectiveness has yet to be proven, and the underlying problems still exist. Censorship is dangerous, it alters your perception of reality and changes what ideas can be exchanged. We need to protect the internet because the internet protects us.

No one expected the internet. It was never intended to connect so many different people with all different backgrounds, but it now has become a priceless tool that gives everyone an equal status and voice. We have become dependent on it to store our memories, thought, and information. We search Google for questions, information and anything else we can think of. We use Facebook and Twitter to connect with family and friends all over the world, but we take these services for granted as being accurate and reliable with the information we ask it for. Google has started altering search results to attempt to direct people who they think may be looking up information related to ISIS recruitment. According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook took down an infamous picture of the Vietnam War. Twitter created a safety council to govern the tweets to prevent abuse. All of these activities seem relatively insignificant, but it could point to a future where the internet isn’t as free as we would all like it to be. These services are used by billions, and walk a fine line when it comes to protecting their users and protecting free speech. Altering search results is for a good reason now, but how do we know that they only censor when it comes to recruitment. Facebook is reevaluating its ruling on the picture, but that was only because the people who posted it was a popular news service and a high ranking government official. Twitter creating a group to stop bullying sounds good in practice, but the internet exists for the exchange of ideas, and this will only hamper that. These companies are ungoverned and control what they share with their audience, and however small the censorship is now; it will only grow with time. I would argue above all else, we need to protect what the internet has come to represent; freedom.

Works Cited:

• Francisco, K. (2016). Facebook Backs Down on Censoring ‘Napalm Girl’ Photo. WSJ. Retrieved
  

6 October 2016, from http://on.wsj.com/2bYZtNR

• Twitter's new Trust and Safety Council is an Orwellian nightmare. (2016). Theweek.com.
  

Retrieved 6 October 2016, from http://bit.ly/1QyYVGn