Title: Why Internet Censorship is Bad for Everyone
Headings: Why Internet Censorship is Bad for Everyone
Why Internet Censorship is Bad for Everyone
First World Problems
Slowing Progress
Anonymity
Bad for Business
Follow the Money
Access for All

Content: A man by the name of Ignaz Semmelweis first championed the idea that doctors washing their hands and instruments could reduce the rate of death in hospitals. He was right, as we know today, but to his contemporaries he was a nut. He was ostracized from his position as a doctor and eventually died in a mental hospital. But his story is important when it comes to sharing ideas on the internet. Unlike in Semmelweis’s time, ideas can be shared much more immediately, so long as they aren’t blocked by censorship. While there are plenty of bad ideas, the potential for life changing ideas to be spread is worth sorting through the chafe. Galileo was one of the first figures to champion the idea of a heliocentric solar system, but he ended up under house arrest for the remainder of his days. What these people lacked was all the same, and something the internet does best, but it is also threatened. Anonymity
The same people who want to censor the net are also interested in keeping everyone on the radar. Blocking access to websites inherently requires that service providers know who is issuing the request for that website.