But, increasingly, those routes are being channeled and filtered, while message origins and destinations are being monitored and placed under legal constraint. When they designed a system without central switches, they knew full well that, just as character is destiny in human lives, technology architecture has momentous consequences in freedom of speech. As always, the rich and mighty wish to retain their position. Insidiously, would-be censors cloak themselves in very good motives. They say they want to protect children from sexual or violent material, to ban child pornography, to suppress epithets by neo-Nazis and other hate groups, or to prevent distribution of encryption software, in the name of national security.
Censorship s apparently laudable ends go on and on.
Censors would disarm terrorists by preventing distribution of information about explosives or weapons. They would stem the flow of illegal drugs by banning information regarding their production and positive statements about their effects. They would prevent communication among criminals, particularly hackers, terrorists, and drug distributors. They would protect governments and companies from exposure of state or trade secrets, or even embarrassing information. They would protect personal privacy by regulating the exchange of personal information.