Chapter IV Results and Discussions

From the gathered information about the findings of the researcher from different trusted polls and surveys gathered around the world, the results of shows that, there are many people from different countries that are using the internet. North America has the highest proportion of its population online at over three-quarters (77 per cent) of the population. Followed by Oceania and Australia, Europe, Caribbean, Latin America, Middle East, 11 percent in Asia and the lowest level of internet penetration was Africa. Also, from the Internet World Statistics, North America is declining from the largest from the internet population to a number below Europe and Asia. The findings said that Europe is now also on the way out in its throw weight online, relative to Asia. Asia is replacing North America and Europe as the dominant presence on the Internet, constituting an increasingly large proportion of the world Internet population.

The researcher found out that since 2006 there are many websites that are appears to be growing steadily, they continue to enhance their website and create more things that will make the user happy and satisfied on their websites. They make and improve the content of their websites as well as the interaction of it in the user.

Because many people are using the internet for many purposes such as being updated to the latest trends and use. The mobile industry begin s to be popular because the mobiles that are creating now has a capacity to not just send a message but also it also has a ability to connect to the internet that makes people stay connected more to each other. The poll results that mobile communication reached nearly 80 per cent of the worlds population, and is converging rapidly with Internet communication.

A poll of 27,973 adults in 26 countries, including 14,306 Internet users was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan using telephone and in-person interviews between 30 November 2009 and 7 February 2010. Overall the poll showed that despite worries about privacy and fraud, people around the world see access to the internet as their fundamental right. They think the web is a force for good, and most dont want governments to regulate it.

Four in five adults (79%) regard internet access as their fundamental right. The poll of more than 27,000 adults conducted by GlobeScan found that 87 per cent of those who used the internet felt that internet access should be the fundamental right of all people. More than seven in ten (71%) non-internet

users also felt that they should have the right to access the web. Countries where very high proportions regarded internet access as their fundamental right included South Korea (96%), Mexico (94%), and China (87%). Most web users are very positive about the changes the internet has brought to their lives, with strong support for the information available, the greater freedom it brings and social networking. Nearly four in five (78%) Internet users felt that the Internet had brought them greater freedom. From the survey of the questions entitled Access to the Internet Should Be a Fundamental Right of all People? by the BBC. The findings result that 53% felt that the internet should never be regulated by any level of government anywhere. This means that many people dont want the government to regulate them, of what they are doing on the internet. Opinion was evenly split between Internet users who felt that the internet is a safe place to express my opinions (48%) and those who disagreed (49%). Somewhat surprisingly users in Germany and France agreed the least, followed by users in highly filtered countries such as China and South Korea, while users in Egypt, India and Kenya agreed more strongly.

The findings result that the aspects of the Internet that cause the most concern includes, fraud which has a 32 percent, violent and explicit content which has 27 percent, threats to privacy with 20 percent, state censorship of content, 6 percent, and the extent of corporate presence with 3%.

Discussions
One of the early nicknames for the Internet was the "information superhighway" because it was supposed to provide the average person with fast access to a practically limitless amount of data. For many users, that's exactly what accessing the Internet is like. For others, it's as if the information superhighway has some major roadblocks in the form of Internet censorship. The motivations for censorship range from well-intentioned desires to protect children from unsuitable content to authoritarian attempts to control a nation's access to information. It blocks access to the Web pages they identify as undesirable. Internet censorship isn't just a parental or governmental tool. There are several software products on the consumer market that can limit or block access to specific Web sites. Most people know these programs as Web filters. Censorship opponents have another name for them called Censorware. While there are some outspoken supporters and opponents of Internet censorship, it's not always easy to divide everyone into one camp or another. Not everyone uses the same tactics to accomplish goals. Some opponents of censorship challenge government policies in court. Others take the role of information freedom fighters, providing people with clandestine ways to access information. Theres no denying that the Internet contains a lot of material that most parents wouldn't want their children to see. Whether it is pornography, a hate speech, chat rooms or gambling websites. Many parents worry that their children will be exposed to negative or even dangerous content. While some opponents of censorship may feel that parental supervision is the best way to keep kids safe online, many parents point out that it's difficult to oversee a child's access to the Internet all the time. Many parents turn to software and hardware solutions to this problem. They can purchase Web filtering programs like Net Nanny or CYBERsitter to block access to undesirable Web sites. These programs usually have a series of options parents can select to limit the sites their children can access. These options tell the program which filters to enable. For example, CYBERsitter has 35 filter categories, including pornography and social networking sites. Most Web filters use two main techniques to block content: Blacklists and keyword blocking. A blacklist is a list of Web sites that the Web filter's creators have designated as undesirable. Blacklists change over time, and most companies offer updated lists for free. Any attempt to visit a site on a blacklist fails. With keyword blocking, the software scans a Web page as the user tries to visit it. The program analyzes the page to see if it contains certain keywords. If the program determines the Web page isn't appropriate, it blocks access to the page. Another option for parents is to install a firewall. A computer firewall provides protection from dangerous or undesirable content. Firewalls can be software or hardware. They act as a barrier between

the Internet and your computer network. They only let safe content through and keep everything else out. Firewalls require a little more involvement from the network administrator, in this case, a parent than Web filtering software. Tech-savvy parents might not have a problem installing and maintaining a firewall. Others prefer to use Web filters, which do most of the work for them. Corporations that restrict employee Internet access usually do so for a few reasons. One of the most common reasons is to increase productivity. While employees can use the Internet for research or communication, they may also use it as a distraction. Some companies restrict Internet access severely in order to prevent employees from wasting time online. Another corporate concern is harassment. Without restrictions, an employee could surf the Web for inappropriate content, such as pornography. If other employees see this material, they may feel that their work environment is a hostile one. Some companies resort to using Internet censorship in order to avoid lawsuits. While several companies use Web filtering software similar to the products available for home use, many also rely on firewalls. With a firewall, a company can pick and choose which Web pages or even entire domains to block. This way, the company is more likely to avoid blocking sites that employees may need to access legitimately. At many workplaces, when an employee attempts to access a restricted Web site, he or she will see a message that says the network administrator has identified the site as inappropriate. Usually the message includes the option to petition the network administrator if the user feels the site is wrongfully blocked. The network administrator can adjust which sites are restricted through firewall settings. What about the corporations that provide Internet access, such as telecom and cable companies? They can play a crucial role in what content customers can access on the Internet. In the United States, there's an ongoing battle over a concept called net neutrality. In a nutshell, net neutrality refers to a level playing ground where Internet service providers (ISPs) allow access to all content without favoring any particular company or Web site. Telecom and cable companies successfully petitioned the Supreme Court to dismiss net neutrality [source: ACLU]. Without net neutrality, ISPs can charge content providers a fee for bandwidth usage. Content providers that pay the fee will get more broadband access, meaning their Web sites will load faster than competitors who didn't pay the fee. For example, if Yahoo pays a fee to an ISP and Google didn't, the ISP's customers would discover that Yahoo's search engine loads much faster than Google's. Supporters of net neutrality argue that such preferential treatment amounts to censorship. Many countries restrict access to content on the Internet on some level. Even the United States has laws that impact the kind of information you can access on the Internet in a school or public library. Some countries go much further than that and a few of them don't allow any access to the Internet at all.

The OpenNet Initiative (ONI), an organization dedicated to informing the public about Web filtering and surveillance policies around the world, classifies Web filtering into four categories. First is for political, content that includes views contrary to the respective country's policies. The political category also includes content related to human rights, religious movements and other social causes. Second are for social, web pages that focus on sexuality, gambling, drugs and other subjects that a nation might deem offensive. Thirds is for conflicts and Security, pages that relate to wars, skirmishes, dissent and other conflicts. Last is for Internet tools, web sites that offer tools like e-mail, instant messaging, language translation applications and ways to circumvent censorship Countries like the United States are fairly liberal, with policies that restrict only a few Web pages, but other countries are stricter. According to Reporters Without Borders, an organization dedicated to promoting free expression and the safety of journalists, the countries have the strongest censorship policies includes Belarus, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam. Some countries go well beyond restricting access. The Myanmar government allegedly keeps Internet cafs under surveillance with computers that automatically take screenshots every few minutes. China has an advanced filtering system known internationally as the Great Firewall of China. It can search new Web pages and restrict access in real time. It can also search blogs for subversive content and block Internet users from visiting them. Cuba has banned private Internet access completely -- to get on the Internet, you have to go to a public access point. Jonathan Strickland also stated that thousands of people combat censorship through blogs every day, there are several organizations that raise awareness about Internet censorship. Some are formal organizations with prestigious memberships, while others are looser groups that aren't above advocating a guerilla approach to getting around strict policies. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an adamant opponent of Internet censorship. The ACLU has filed numerous lawsuits in order to overturn censorship laws. In 2007, the ACLU convinced a federal court that the Children's Online Protection Act (COPA) was unconstitutional. COPA was a law that made it illegal to present material online that was deemed harmful to minors, even if it included information valuable to adults. The OpenNet Initiative is a group that strives to provide information to the world about the ways countries allow or deny citizens access to information. The initiative includes departments at the University of Toronto, the Harvard Law School, Oxford University and the University of Cambridge. On ONI's Web page you can find an interactive map that shows which countries censor the Internet.

Reporters Without Borders also concerns itself with Internet censorship, although the group's scope extends beyond Internet practices. The group maintains a list of "Internet enemies," countries that have the most severe Internet restrictions and policies in place. The Censorware Project has been around since 1997. Its mission is to educate people about Web filtering software and practices. At its Web site, you can find investigative reports about all the major Web filter programs available on the market as well as essays and news reports about censorship. A similar site is Peacefire.org, which began as a site dedicated to protecting free speech on the Internet for young people. Other groups offer advice on how to disable or circumvent censorware. Some advocate using proxy sites. A proxy site is a Web page that allows you to browse the Web without using your own Internet protocol (IP) address. You visit the proxy site, which includes a form into which you type the URL of the restricted sites you want to visit. The proxy site retrieves the information and displays it. Outsiders can only see that you've visited the proxy site, not the sites you've pulled up. It may be decades before the Internet reaches its full potential as a conduit for ideas. Ironically, it isn't going to get there through technological breakthroughs, but through changes in national and corporate policies.