You Cannot Censor the Internet

By Ewan Spence

Historians always like to point out that the Internet is derived from a military program called Arpanet – a project designed to ensure that locations could continue to communicate even when the nodes of communication on a direct path between them were destroyed, presumably by a nuclear strike on US soil. The idea that the internet can route round any physical problems is one of its strengths, but in the 21st century, it is the routing around the meta-physical road blocks that could be the internet’s greatest feature.

The UK Government is currently considering plans to legally prevent news outlets publishing stories that the Government deems is harmful to the Country, and ergo the Government (report in The Independent). The current system of DA-Notices used is on an advisory basis; ie “would you mind awfully not mentioning this, chaps?” although a governmental committee is wanting a legal mechanism to be put in place.

The problem is that this will not work. And the internet is the reason why.

Matt Drudge, of the Drudge Report illustrated this with the case of Prince Harry. A member of the UK Armed Forces, as a member of the Royal Family the inclination was to keep him away from the front line, but the Armed Forces came to an agreement that the UK press would not mention he was shipped to Afghanistan until he returned. The UK media collectively agreed to this deal, and the public was none the wiser.

But Drudge, a US political blogger, was under no gentleman’s agreement, and published the story. The public found out, and the general impression was that they were not happy with the press colluding with the Armed forces and HM government.

How exactly would forcing the UK Media to legally not publish this make any difference? And is this law going to apply to the UK bloggers? Are we going to be told what we can and cannot blog about? Or will it be a case that when something is blogged that the media have been banned from, the blogger is going to be hauled away for trial (which of course can’t be reported about…).

Oppressive regimes like China are barely able to keep ahead of the stream of news from the internet with their ‘great firewall,’ and the addition of laws in the Western World to gag the mainstream media will have not a single means to leverage the national and international power of the internet. Governments cannot control the media, and in many countries the freedom of the press is an almost sacred right. The internet hands that power to individuals in the connected world, and that is not something to be afraid of.