Internet freedom is an umbrella term that encompasses

digital rights Digital rights are those human rights and legal rights that allow individuals to access, use, create, and publish digital media or to access and use computers, other electronic devices, and telecommunications networks. The concept is particular ...

freedom of information Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigeno ...

, the right to Internet access, freedom from

Internet censorship Internet censorship is the legal control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet. Censorship is most often applied to specific internet domains (such as Wikipedia.org) but exceptionally may extend to all Inte ...

, and

net neutrality Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of co ...

. Some believe that Internet freedom is not a human right. They think this because putting something like Internet freedom as a human right could weaken what human rights stand for. Going along with this, people pay for, own, and operate these servers and saying someone has a right to them which makes it a claim of entitlement. Some countries limit what their citizens can watch and view on the Internet to varying degrees. "In June 2012, it was declared a human right by the United Nations Human Rights Council." Some countries have attempted to ban certain sites and or words that would limit internet freedom. "Since the 1990s, European regulators have held American technology firms to higher standards of privacy and competition than American regulators have required them. European regulators have also sought to eliminate from their networks hate speech that is tolerated by the First Amendment but is illegal in Europe." In today's society, more and more fake information is being posted online prompting many people to not believe what they read on the internet. This is troublesome because many people today use the Internet for their daily news and weather, as opposed to television. This change has continued throughout the past decade and will continue to increase. It allows for the increased flow of information and allows information to be obtained faster than ever before. Events such as elections and disasters are known about within seconds rather than hours or days. Not everywhere relishes in the luxury though. "The

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(PRC) has the world's largest number of Internet users, estimated at 330 million people, including 70 million bloggers. It also has one of the most sophisticated and aggressive Internet censorship and control regimes in the world. In 2020 Freedom House ranked China last of 64 nations in internet freedom.

References

{{reflist Broad-concept articles Internet access Digital rights Computing and society Social concepts

See also

References