ITGS Debate: Podcast to the world!

Recently in ITGS we have been researching on the impact ot IT on education. One of the topics discussed is censorship of the Internet and how it applies to education, how it is found in educational institutions and whether it should exist. To highlight this topic the students conducted an in-class debate which we also recorded and now present as a series of short podcasts.

Debate Topic:

"Censorship of the Internet is necessary to protect students from unacceptable online content"

Each entry below is a summary of each speakers position with the podcast audio file also available for listening and/or downloading.

Speaker 1 FOR: Arpit (Listen to the podcast)
The first speaker on the side “for” censorship on the internet was Arpit. He had introduced the topic of discussion, and had immediately spoke on the usage and production of pornographic material across the globe. In order to back up his statements he gave real life examples of children and the crimes they had committed which were provoked by content viewedon the Internet.

Speaker 1 AGAINST: Saif (Listen to the podcast)
These days Censorship of the internet is becoming quite popular in
countries throughout the world, such as China, UAE, Myanmar, Morocco,
Singapore, France, South Korea, USA, etc. We may think that this is a
positive thing, but look at the reasons as to why most governments have
started the censorship. Other than censoring pornographic sites,
governments in the UAE, South Korea, Singapore, France, have censored
websites containing religious, and political, and racial content.
Therefore why should censorship of these types of content be necessary for
students? Students should have the right to know about racial and
political issues in their country. Every human being has the right to
know. Therefore why should they be banned from visiting sites which
contain such information. It would be biased of the ruling government not
to let people read about the political situation of the country. Thus
there is also an issue of Equality of Access. Students along with everyone
else, should have the right to read about anything they want, they have
the right to know, and reading will help to increase their general and
practical knowledge. Therefore no, censorship of the internet is not
really necessary to protect students from unacceptable online content.

Speaker 2 FOR: Shaveena (Listen to the podcast)
She opposed what Saif had said regarding the responsibility of certain students and their access to the internet. Shaveena introduced the notion of viewing information which maybe propaganda, and might give children inaccurate information. When approaching the educational aspects in society, Shaveena had mentioned that the internet, through pop ups, and spam, tempt individuals to plagiarise material placed on the Internet.

Speaker 2 AGAINST: Reem (Listen to the podcast)
As Saif said censorship of the internet is indeed becoming very popular.
Yes I will agree to the fact that banning pornographic sites for children
is right. However some countries have banned many religious and social
sites. In Korea for example, people cannot access websites without their
ID number. What if the database is not updated regularly? The word wide
web is certainly one of the best ways to access a vast quantity of current
information. If the internet use of the internet of censored, it will
affect different businesses and companies and on the long run this may
take a toll. Don't we all find Wikipedia useful? Their site stated that
their site is on the most commonly censored website. Why would one do so?
At times its easier to find information using wikipedia. Countries like
Tunisia have banned P2P software. Life without Limewire or Kazaa would be
unbearable, where would you download all your illegal music from? Syria on
the other hand has blocked political websites and arrested people who
tried to those sites. Morocco on the other hand has blocked access to
blogging sites like livejounral.com. how will the world overcome the
digital divide if useful resources like blogs, and useful political and
religious websites are blocked? Yes, censorship is a problem regarding
pornography but other viable, useful software's and sites are being banned
because of internet censorship. Therefore I conclude with saying I think
censoring the internet is not exactly a viable solution to decrease the
access to pornographic sites.

Speaker 3 FOR: Wasi (Listen to the podcast)
Wasi had begun with relating hard copy libraries to the internet. Stressing that if books and other hard copy material could be filtered when brought within the confines of a school, why internet material can’t be filtered as well.
He then quickly mentions the reliability and validity of certain material on the internet, and how sites should be censored which fall below a certain level of reliability when it comes to the material being exposed.

Speaker 3 AGAINST: Mehrab (Listen to the podcast)
The internet is filled with explicit and useless popups. As reem and saif
have mentioned earlier, censorship of the internet is mainly used for
religious, cultural or other purposes concerning age. But today, it is a
huge issue in most countries around the world such as China, UAE, South
Korea, Singapore and other countries and many lisenced websites are banned in these countries for containing racial, sexual or certain cultural
purposes. But the problem is that nowdays it has become an everday saying that children of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. But how will this
happen and how will they able to be leaders if they do not have access to
all sorts of information that they need to know. The internet should be
available to anyone and everyone who can access it and none of the
websites should be banned or censored. As long as the information on the
website is reliable and has not been altered, everyone should have the
rights to access websites. Most people today use the internet for good
causes and to gain knowledge and information about many different things
under different topics. Censoring valueable websites that contain a lot of
good and reliable information shouldn't be censored or banned by anyone
because if it is information, it is there for a cause. Most schools or
organizations use filters or censors to block certain websites or online
downloading or communicating programs or p2p softwares but this is always
done within the boundaries of the school or organization. Blocking
websites or programs that are not useful when at a specific place can be
banned by the person in charge of the place. Information about cultures,
politics, countries, science and many other topics are always available on
the internet, so blocking the pathway to all these open information will
lead to huge gaps in ones mind and knowledge.

Thank you to Ms Nilanthi Das for adjudicating our debate.
Thank you to Refa'at for facilitating the podcast recording.