Societies need censorship: October 21, 1996 issue of New Thinking

October 21, 1996 New Thinking:
Societies need censorship

Website content management

Home I About I Services I Clients I Contact

New Thinking Home

Subject Classification
Reader Feedback
Subscribing
Unsubscribing
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996

Books by
Gerry McGovern

Content Critical

Gaining competitive advantage through high-quality web content

The Web Content
Style Guide

The essential guide
for online writers, editors and managers

October 21, 1996

Societies need censorship

By Gerry McGovern

How would you feel if someone you didn’t know brushed against your shoulder as they passed by you on a busy platform? How would you feel if that someone brushed against your shoulder as they passed by you on a wide footpath, relatively empty of people?

How would you feel if that someone brushed against your shoulder as they passed by you on a huge, open field, and you and they were the only people walking in that field?

Privacy is about space. The invasion of your privacy is about the invasion of your space. However, as we can see from the above questions, the level of privacy that we demand within our space is dependent on the environment in which we find ourselves at any particular point in time.

On a busy platform, we would normally ignore someone brushing against our shoulder. In a huge field, we would feel invaded.

The United States is imbued with a very frontier-like, individualist mentality. The rights of the individual reign supreme in many minds. In the East, the rights of the individual come very much second to the rights of the family/community/society.

Westerners look at the East and often wince when they see the restrictions which individuals face. Easterners look at the West and often wince when they see people doing just what they want to do.

Who is right? It depends, doesn’t it, on whose eyes you’re looking through?

It is estimated that there are 50 million people on the Internet worldwide. When in history did an organization or culture of 50 million, 5 million or 500 operate successfully without laws or regulations?

Freedom and privacy are linked. Freedom to... Freedom from... Privacy to... Privacy from...

In a world of very divergent people -- which the Internet most definitely is -- the ‘freedom to’ and ‘privacy to’ of one person, will inevitably conflict with the ‘privacy from’ and ‘freedom from’ of another.

Freedom, privacy and censorship are linked. To give a certain level of freedom and privacy to one person, one must inevitably censor/regulate the privacy to and freedom to of another.

I think it is counter-productive and downright stupid for people to claim that on the Internet you should be totally free to do as you wish, and that your privacy should be protected at all costs. (Ironically, the massively searchable Internet embodies in its very essence one of the least private environments ever created.)

It is counter-productive because such claims play into the hands of those who want to portray the Internet as lawless, out-of-control and irresponsible, and in need of draconian measures of control.

It is stupid because 50 million people are 50 million people and without a system of law and order, the most savage will bully and spam and mail-bomb and intimidate the weak. And that is not an observation, but a statement of time-honored fact!

All civilized and democratic societies seek balance. The balance between freedom/privacy to and freedom/privacy from.

If the Internet is going to develop into a truly civilized and democratic place, it too must seek out that balance. It is much more advisable for those who use and understand the Internet to work for that balance, than to allow Internet-phobic legislators to implement their ‘balance.’

Because make no mistake, given the chance, they will.

Gerry McGovern

Next issue: The old Web
Previous issue: Dinosaurs and rabbits
New Thinking homepage

New Thinking Newsletter
Subscribe to this free weekly newsletter covering the role and function of content on the Web.
More info | Privacy policy
Read the current issue

Email Address:

 Subscribe  Unsubscribe

Content management seminar feedback
"Gerry's presentation was very well received by the more than 400 higher education delegates. I've chaired this meeting since 1994 and very few speakers have generated the same level of enthusiasm. Wit and wisdom is always an unbeatable combination."
Bob Johnson, American Marketing Association

“Excellent presenter ... thought-provoking and relevant. I hope we can persuade him to visit us again one day.”
Malcolm Davison
The British Association of Communicators in Business

"Hearing Gerry McGovern speaking, one can feel that he truly masters the subject of content management. He was voted ‘best speaker of the conference’ by delegates."
Toon Lowette
European Association of Directory Publishers

Find out more about Gerry McGovern's seminars

All civilized and democratic societies seek balance. The balance between freedom/privacy to and freedom/privacy from.