Everyone with basic knowledge of the Internet – surfing, email, Facebook, etc. – knows there is a lot of trash out there in the Ethernet. But there is also a lot of good: People sharing ideas, teaching, keeping people informed about everything from cooking to fixing cars to building computers, ad infinitum.
But the United Kingdom is setting a dangerous world precedent: Internet censorship. And it doesn’t stop there: The Office of Communications (Ofcom) has authority over television, radio, broadcasting, and even the postal service. Now, it has been given power to decide what can be placed on the Internet and who can place it there.
At best, it is antithetical to free speech. The reasoning behind the idea is to protect children from pedophiles and cyber-bullying and includes all platforms of “social media” i.e. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. and “user-generated” content.
The problem comes with the fact Ofcom has always been accused of left-leaning, and is given the power to censor any who don’t adhere to the same politically correct tenets as that office.
England’s newspapers, many of the major TV and radio stations under government charter, book publishing companies, and now the Internet are all under the control of a government entity that is not even accountable to the government itself!
So often what happens “across the pond” sooner or later happens in America. If not for the Internet, sharing truthful information would suffer. Sometimes the only thing that keeps organizations and government entities in line is the fact that the truth will usually come out and is shared over email, conservative web sites, and people and groups who are devoted to maintaining Freedom in America and in the world.
Just as we should not give up Freedom for “safety” neither should we give up Freedom of speech allowing over-reaching laws that deceitfully curtail and censor information on the Internet, no matter what the offered reasoning.
It is not up to the government to protect us from absolutely everything detrimental to our lives. It is up to each of us individually to learn to recognize what is or is not good for us, our children, our friends, and our way of life. While the government should be preserving National Security and border control and American interests, the people are responsible to unite and fight against those things that are damaging to our freedoms and a very real threat to our American way of life.
Even our Creator did not promise us a life of ease on this earth, yet He who knows our hearts and thoughts allows us to make choices and decisions that will forever affect our lives.
When Joshua crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho, the Lord reminded him of all the victories the Lord had brought them through (Joshua 24) and Joshua presented the people with a choice:
15But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Yes, the Internet is full of a lot of unfit and un-holy things; but it is OUR choice what to do about it.
THE RIGHT RENDITION 