If freedom is among your concerns, then it will come to freedom of speech, freedom of internet, freedom of information and the list goes on. And what usually opposes freedom, is censorship.
In this post, I want to discuss each type of freedom in terms and in definition and talk about how we can stop or relieve the process of censorship in today's world, to make it a better place to live.
Censorship is the prohibition of any type of information delivered to us, like websites, books, films, news ... that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security, by governors and people who have the power.
So we have:
- some content or information
- people who are eager to have these information
- regulations and rules and concerns by governors
then we have: Censorship!
Things haven't been like this all the time. there was a time, when the media and the major flow of information was CENTRALIZED and Media was under control of those who hold the money and power. the time which everybody believed Dan Brown who said "History is always written by the winners."
But we stepped in the age of:
Decentralization
Napoleon once said, 'What is history, but a fable agreed upon?”; but Napoleon hadn't heard of Social Medias and Web3.0! Centralized media platforms, which were almost always in the favor of the rich and the powerful, have been dominant for so long that many people have forgotten there is a better way to make the information spread.
Internet put an end to that oblivion and inattention.
Today media shouldn't be submitted to a central authority, subjected to editorial policies and stored on servers in ever larger data-centers, anymore! the Blockchain has changed many things.
have you heard of DNN as an example? DNN, or Decentralized News Network, is a news platform, combining news creation with decentralized networks to deliver factual content, curated by its community.
Steemit, Medium, Steepshot, Busy, DTube, Peepeth and many other DApps are getting developed everyday to make us sure, that we are not going back to centralized flow of information anymore!
Internet freedom
Regretfully though we are living in 2018, many governments in the world are still dogmatically increase their efforts to manipulate, emulate and monitor information on internet, threatening the notion of the internet as a liberating technology. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Belarus, China, Cuba, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Syria, North Korea and more, are intensively censoring the information flow on internet.
Of course there are examples in contrast: Iceland ranked first as the nation with the most Internet freedom, almost no censorship on any type of media or information and almost everyone in the households, connected to the net.
Freedom of information
Freedom of information is an extension of freedom of speech, a fundamental human right recognized in international law, which is today understood more generally as freedom of expression in any medium, be it orally, in writing, print, through the Internet or through art forms.
Wikipedia page for Freedom of information
How can we help stopping the censorship
If you haven't ever thought about it, please read the rest of this post! Because I believe it takes all of us to stop this humiliating phenomena.
- Read more, get involved and spread the truth
here comes this controversial word: TRUTH... yes, everything you spread should be based on facts and you should have measured its truthfulness in a way. spreading nonsense and fake news is as bad as censoring the truth. - Express yourself and speak out
enjoy every right and opportunity to do that! write blogs, tweet, post on social media .... about the right things you have in your mind and about how things should be. don't imagine anything behind red lines. respect others with a right attitude but challenge any idea in the world. - Adopt more decentralized products and help more people to do so.
Cryptocurrencies vs Fiat money is an example. encourage people to use crypto instead of fiat money for more life activities they do. - Use VPN and Proxies to keep your anonymity and help others to do so
Again, the Blockchain is an ultimate answer to censorship, and here is how: https://fee.org/articles/the-blockchain-can-solve-internet-censorship-and-copyright-issues/
image sources:
Freedom definitely comes with transparency.
true!
Can there truly be absolute freedom? That is the question.
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i believe it can't. we have self censorship, moral observance and thoughtful acts which all make you less expressive.
but we should try to limit censorship which power imposes.
Wonderfully put @honarparvar! I feel it's important to keep in mind how young the decentralized new media we are all working to create actually is. Sure there are (and always will be) those who will game any system, but in this value based new economy we're building, value will eventually go to value.
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"value will go to value"
exactly, over long run and in the big picture.
I can't agree more
Good post! However I see a form of censorship on even Steemit -- namely, the posts that everyone sees are the ones upvoted by robots. It's possible for powerful accounts to flag a post and have its rewards automatically cut, too.
good point 👍
Exactly this. New user, as of 30 minutes ago. Already followed by a number of robots who promise to upvote my posts for a fee.
Granted, it’s not the platform itself that is promoting/censoring, but the robotic “services” who boost things based on who pays, rather than merit.
I hate to be cynical; but, freedom of speech is manipulated by financial interests.
Genuine freedom is awareness; and, knowing the truth. It's internal; and, nothing can take that away (John 8:31-32).
Best regards.
Peace.
you are not cynical to me, you are realistic. well said, but still we can hope/fight/challenge/prepare for a world with more freedom :)
What a well written, informed post. I appreciate the time you put into compiling the information into a quality post. Our freedom is very important and it is up to us, the people, to keep it this way. The best way we can keep our freedom is to keep ourselves informed. This post is doing just that!
This is one of the main reasons I love Steemit. It is a way to communicate in a platform without censorship. People are able to be themselves and talk about what they want. Too many companies and governments try to dictate what we can or cannot do. I love having such a platform to openly express myself.
Thank you for sharing ♥
thank you Christina
I do agree with you about steemit 😉
For me, censorship will always be there for as long as there is money because money is the root of all evils. There's really no freedom if you don't have the money because money can buy freedom. SAD BUT TRUE :'(
Essa I don't see that dark :D money is not evil, money is just a tool, an instrument. hopefully freedom will be more and more, as awareness grows in communities.
Thank you for correcting me :) and yea I hope freedom will prevail :)
Very well put, freedom is fleeting here in the USA and I hope we can keep at least what we have now. Does it seem to you guys that people are eager to trade thier freedom for safety?
I'm not sure if i got your point by safety?
nice art btw 👍
Freedom for safety = monitor and possibly sensor me if you think it may protect someone. I would rather let my enemies have a public platform, so we know what they're doing. In the USA more and more censorship is taking place every day to save peoples feelings. I understand and I'm sympathetic to those people, but if you can't offend anyone you can't speak because someone will be offended everytime you open your mouth.
well nothing is perfect, this may cause corruption, but it's inevitable for modern life!
but personally, i don't like it, both trading and the modernity!
That is a fair assessment.
Thank you for replying, I look forward to your future work.
How nice would it be if we could create our own free worldwide internet.
Most governments would call this, the forbidden internet.
we have opt out their control 😉
Great article. It is helping push me to my plans of hard core promotion of Steemit and decentralized platforms.
Josh! your ID, angry Capitalist is great :D
if you are really capitalist, I can tell you steemit is the right place for you! here money attracts money! :)
And adopt blockchain technology for all transations!!
for tranactions, content, contracts etc
Great post, and for a blockchain n00b such as myself, a great primer.
I am on Steem because of the recent gab.ai de-platforming. They say “If you don’t like Twitter/Facebook/Google, build you own!” And then when a Gab comes along, they get kicked by PayPal and Joyent. Blockchain is the only way to prevent this! I’ve swallowed the red pill.
great to see you opt out from the old school 😃
have you checked steepshot, peepeth, dtube ....?
still a long way to go, and steemit is still the best among these social media but good to test them 👍
Yes we do have decentralized information these days but money and power will still have advantage on most things.
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money can be decentralised too. fingers crossed 🤞
Hopefully we will find a way to make it fair ☺
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