Is censorship necessary? - Page 3

Originally posted by: Heart

People can be misled, so you always can not rely on the people to be rational. There are certain situations where a quick decision needs to be taken regarding the censorship of the material, since it can lead to things like public violence.. in that case you can not sit around and wait for public opinion. This is exactly where censorship is needed.

I am not talking about the whole government curbing your freedom of speech deal, but decisions of certain important situations can not be left solely on public.

Originally posted by: Freethinker112

And Government can't mislead to fulfill their own agenda? I would like to quote Benjamin Franklin,

Once you give them the power, there is no guarantee it won't be abused. So, I still believe that it is not a good idea. And what good a little censorship will do? If people are dumb enough to get violent over small matters, the nuisances will find one way or another to instigate people. You have to go at the root of the problem. Silencing people just because someone is easily offended is no solution.

Originally posted by: Heart

It depends on your definition of temporary safety. Issues like Terrorist attacks and religious issues are much more than just temporary safety, it is a matter of national security and such things need to be monitored. Websites not being monitored and blocked is an open invitation for various activities which can harm the population.

Censorship in issues, where the safety of population is put into question, is quiet necessary. But, it should be confined to that and that only. Blocking websites which support a certain person against corruption is not the type of censorship I am talking about. I am talking about censorship of a certain inflammatory comments which creates riots in a certain state, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes.. that is not to be taken lightly.

Most people do not stop to verify what they hear or read but act instantly on it. If there are people who are already waiting to take advantage of such situations then it can get very bad within no time. If everyone was mature enough to think for themselves there would be no need to censor anything but the reality is far from it hence some censorship is necessary to prevent widespread violence .

Originally posted by: Heart

When there is blood and death involved, I think content is pretty important too.

Originally posted by: zorrro

Most people do not stop to verify what they hear or read but act instantly on it. If there are people who are already waiting to take advantage of such situations then it can get very bad within no time. If everyone was mature enough to think for themselves there would be no need to censor anything but the reality is far from it hence some censorship is necessary to prevent widespread violence .

Originally posted by: Freethinker112

So people are stupid, so it is a fault of technology? Someone can shout something in street, spread banners or anything. If people are not mature enough, they are to be blamed.

Who is blaming technology? Censorship is directed at the people not technology. By limiting the spread of inciting materials the govt tries to limit the possible damage. i agree that it is just a temporary solution. Its obvious that the govt feels inadequate to address people's stupidity. It is resorting to next feasible option. At best it can buy some time to take more concrete steps but that is rarely taken.

Not only the websites the govt had to put a cap on the number of sms that people used to send. They first fixed it to 5 per day but later permitted up to 20 per day. There are schemes that allow free sms and people end up sending hundreds of them at a time. Besides this the sim card can be easily bought by miscreants bypassing the usual protocol that needs proper identification and proof of address. This is something that the govt needs to rectify urgently. The genuine buyers face a lot of harrasment in producing all the necessary documents whereas I have seen some people possess a number of unauthorised sim cards which get distributed to anyone they wish to. Sometimes people even pass on their sim cards thet they wouldnt be using any longer with complete disregard to the potential misuse that it can be put to.

Originally posted by: zorrro

Not only the websites the govt had to put a cap on the number of sms that people used to send. They first fixed it to 5 per day but later permitted up to 20 per day. There are schemes that allow free sms and people end up sending hundreds of them at a time. Besides this the sim card can be easily bought by miscreants bypassing the usual protocol that needs proper identification and proof of address. This is something that the govt needs to rectify urgently. The genuine buyers face a lot of harrasment in producing all the necessary documents whereas I have seen some people possess a number of unauthorised sim cards which get distributed to anyone they wish to. Sometimes people even pass on their sim cards thet they wouldnt be using any longer with complete disregard to the potential misuse that it can be put to.

What I am saying is that not a person can decide what is offensive and what is not. Take real life example. If someone offended a religion or a person, what would happen? That person will get beaten up or whatever, but the point is that HE will face the consequences. But someone posted something on internet, instead of finding and punishing him people started killing each other? The people who were killed had no hand in the rumors or websites. This shows that there is something wrong with the people. If someone posts something stupid, find and punish him as you would do in real life.