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Information Democracy And Censorship In The United States

518 Words3 Pages

The creation of the internet and its numerous influences spawned numerous challenges in the switch from a predominately analog world to a far heavier reliance on digital media. With every new invention and core change in the way human beings interact with each other comes a new set of challenges. Two of the greatest challenges that the new digitalized world has faced in this catalytic change in media are information democracy and censorship. Questions such as how to regulate the internet, how far regulation should go in democratic societies such as the US, and what should users be able to access are all questions our society has been forced to answer and are still in the process of attempting to better answer and more accurately define. …show more content…

Allowing citizens to seek and receive public documents serves as a crucial tool for fighting corruption, enabling citizens to more fully participate in public life, making governments more efficient, encouraging investment, and helping persons exercise their fundamental human rights. However, with the rise of the new digitalized world, democratic nations have been forced to walk fine line between allowing citizens access to information and preventing the spread of harmful or sensitive information that could potentially put the nation at risk. In order to help better establish this concept and allow citizens access to more confidential data, the United States passed the Freedom of Information Act. This law allows United States citizens the ability to access more sensitive information by filling out a formal request for access. Government agencies are allowed to deny these requests, but in order to do so, they must prove that the information could potentially be harmful to the wellbeing and safety of the

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