In the article ‘Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom China, Russia, or the US?’ Morozov (2015) states that China and Russia both violate internet freedom since China blocks a few foreign websites and Russian make laws to surveillance data being stored inside the country. However,
the United State, despite being an advocate of internet freedom, had demanded to obtain internet data regardless of where it is stored as long as it is handled by US companies. He also mentioned that many US companies' interest are the same as the Washington's and their cooperation threatens other countries' technological sovereignty.
I agree with the author that China, Russia and the US all violate internet freedom but the US is much more aggressive than the other two countries. China and
Russia's restrictions only affect their own domestic users while the US is spying
on everyone around the world as most data are processed by American companies. The US government wants to access to all of the data, regardless where the data was generated. It means that over 75% of data generated worldwide can be accessed by the US government since since this amount is processed by US companies, namely
Google, Yahoo and Microsoft (Search Engine Land, 2013). The irony here is that Washington accuses almost every other countries on the planet of violating
human rights and lacking of freedom while it is actually the one whose violation is themore severe and wide-spread.
Morozov mentions the Prism Program carried out by NSA which is strong evidence showing the US spying on personal data. Such a double standard makes people suspicious about
the US government's agenda.
Also, China and Russia have valid reasons to explain their violation of internet freedom. China and Russia are rising in many ways like economics, political and military and their rise challenges American interest. The not so friendly relationship with the US makes their digital sovereignty
much more important for national security. For example, China blocked
Facebook and YouTube because some Ughur and Tibetan extremists used those
two websites as platforms to spread threats which led to explosions and riots in
Tibet and Xinjiang. To fight against terrorists is the exactly the same reason that
the US uses to require customer data from those companies. However, Facebook and YouTube refused to cooperate with Beijing in the investigation and claimed
it was against customer privacy. Such incorporation resulted in
criminals fleeing away. There is also evidence pointed out by Mozorov that those American companies are actually providing data to Washington. I am not saying that the government has right to access personal data. However, when it is the matter of national security and
involves many more lives, we may give the government permit to do so. As for
China, it is only trying to reduce its citizens' use of American server since
American companies are not cooperating. People may accuse China and
Russia of being autocratic.However, the reality is even Brazil and Germany
whose governments have much better reputation and relationship with the US tried to get rid of American companies due to security reasons. These
examples can also be found in Mozorov's article.
The even worse thing is the Prism Program mentioned above. It taps into
user data of many big American companies and gets access to your personal data without you even knowing it. As I said, users may grant government some
right to access their personal data when it is critical moment. However, what the
Prism doing is watching my every movement. This government is not even my
own one and I severely doubt its agenda.
From this perspective, China and Russia are merely trying to protect their
citizens.
In conclusion, China and Russia blocked a few websites and force data to be
stored domestically while the US is looking at everyone’s internet data. All of
these are wrong, but the US is much more wrong and violates many more
people’s privacy.
Reference
Morozov. E. (2015, Jan4). Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom - China, Russia, or the US? .The Guardian. Retrieved from
Sullivan.D(2013),Google Still World’s Most Popular Search Engine By Far, But Share Of Unique Searchers Dips Slightly. Search Engine Land. Retrieved from: http://searchengineland.com/google-worlds-most-popular-search-engine-148089
Ball.J and Rushe.D(2013), NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others. The Guardian.
Thanks for your effort, Zhenda. This is an improved essay. I'm still bothered by the formatting though, and your reference lost is not fully in APA.
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