Censoring On The Internet

To block or not to block internet web site content is a question Microsoft's Bill Gates commented on the other day. Gates says that despite the efforts of dictatorships to censor content on the web, the information still gets to consumers anyway. On that matter I agree.
The Internet is a different form of communication. It does not allow selective censorship. Take the case of the Chinese government, which is the biggest censor on the net. China offers to users on its servers Microsoft, Google..all the popular web sites and search engines. But it selectively censors what appears at each, a so called "Chinese-version" of the site. So, what one using a Chinese server sees on Goggle, or any other site for that matter, is an edited or censored version that passes the test of China's Internet censors.
Thus, it appears the censorship works. But that is not so. E mail and chat rooms are much harder to censor. The truth will get through to the curious users despite censorship of web sites, dooming the attempt to control information to futility. In essence, the Internet as a whole must be "unplugged" (no server offered) or the dictator or censor who wants to control it must admit that to do so is impossible. the Internet is an all or nothing principle. While censoring web sites does limit information one can get here, there is so much more to the Internet than web sites and other controllable venues.
Why....these words thenselves are an example of material that won't be censored by a search engine/web site censorship program. As Gates said himself, The ability to really withhold information no longer exists" on the Internet. Users find alternative ways of discovering what they are interested in seeing. Late last year Microsoft was told by Chinese government officials to shut down the site of a popular Chinese blogger, Zhao Jing, because it examined "sensitive subject" the government did not want Chinese citizens to discuss.
Microsoft complied with the request (too much money to lose if not), but the information was disseminated by private E mails anyway, thwarting the attempt to hide what the government did not want its citizens to think about. The Internet has its own system of insuring freedom of speech, the desire of individuals to share truth rather than merely read propaganda.
Ugh...I know what you are thinking....that I should shut up my own propaganda once in awhile. Well, go ahead and say it. You're free to do it on the Internet.
As much as I hate censorship, Kory Tippetts, of Orem, Utah would probably be better off today if he censored his own phone calls. Kory's the guy who picked up his phone anc reported to police that someone had stolen his quarter pound of marijuana. Haha Yep, Kory identified some pot as his stolen stash and actually tried to collect it from police after they invited him to come pick it up at the local public Safety Building. So now Kory's phone call has him under arrest and booked with possession of marijuana and intent to distribute.
Police also eventually b nabbed the thief of Kory's drugs. Both men are probably going to be "censored" from contact with more normal citizens when they receive their prison sentences at trial next month.