This week, we learned about the freedom of speech which is a continuation of the cyber ethic lesson.
Through the lesson, I learnt more about the harm principle and the offense principle. In layman terms, both these principle are there to make sure that whatever we speak does not cause harm to another. Reason behind these principles is that we live in a democratic society and we have to the right to say practically anything we want. However, what is said could directly or indirectly cause harm to another mentally. Thus, we need these principles to keep us in place with how we speak and what we say.
Internet censorship was something that I did not really know much about and I was shocked to see that in some countries, example China has such high internet censorship that you could not post anything on the web that is deem as not right by the moderators. Censorship by itself is not that bad like censorship of military top secrets as it would be unwise to release such information publically. Regarding censorship on pornography, I find it pointless to do so as if one wish to view it, he/she would already have the mentality to face whatever consequences there is with it such as addiction or having reality distorted. In addition, even if there is censorship, people who is determined to view it would still find some way to break through the censorship hence why waste the time putting the censorship when it would be wiser to just make it into something educational to the people. If it was made educational, this would not happen (http://sg.news.yahoo.com/chinese-married-couple-clueless-sex-040003352.html ).
I personally view that slandering is an act of cowards. Such comments are totally irrelevant or have no point in bringing up as it would cause damage to the victim's image and reputation. How would you feel if that victim was you? Demoralised or cannot accept the fact? I would say that the effects vary. It could cause surrounding audience to have a different view of the victim but nonetheless, damage would definitely be dealt in the mental dimension. It could result in the victim's losing confident in life thus committing suicide. Even if you are unhappy with someone, one should just keep such offending comments to our own mental dimension or you could just tell it to the person directly what you find should be changed privately as it will make a difference.
All in all, this was a great lesson as I learned more about the freedom in speech both on the cyber space and in reality.
This week we've learnt about freedom of speech on the internet. We can safely say that in Singapore, we do get quite a fair bit of freedom on the internet. Some people may feel that it is insufficient, while I feel that in a country like Singapore, the slightest problem may be a big problem.
We also learnt about the harm and offense principal, which is clearly understandable through their terms. The harm principal is where one poses harm to others with their act while the offense principal is where ones' actions/speech is offensive to a person/a group of people.
Cyber defamation, which relates to slander, happens to celebrities all the time, even in Singapore. Though they're celebrities and "should know how to handle such situations", we all have feelings. We never know when mental health problems will kick in and cause one to not be able to handle a situation like before. This is all about ethics, when one knows cyber ethics, he/she will know their limits in the cyber world. People should be educated on slander and not practice this any time, not only in the cyber world. If slander is still practiced in their everyday lives, it will make no difference.
Cyber pornography is unhealthy if one is addicted to it. When a person becomes addicted, he/she are often unable to decipher between the real world and their world. In this case, other people will come to harm when one gets too involved in pornography, just like the case scenario given to us. It may be acceptable if there is parental guidance and only for people above a certain age, as it may be educational in a certain way. However, Young children often learn and imitate what others do, hence such contents would be inappropriate to them.
During this week's lesson, I've definitely learnt alot about the topic on the freedom of speech. I've learnt that the freedom of speech is not always good, but it sometimes causes more harm than good.
In the past, I used to think that the freedom of speech is a must have, in order to voice out all of our unhappiness about the things around us and share information freely with anybody. I've never really linked slanders and libels to the freedom of speech.
However after reading on the many incidents regarding this issue, I've come to conclusion that the freedom of speech given to individuals may give that individual a lot of power. He or she can either put it to good use or bad use.
This brings me to the harm and offense principle. These two principles were unknown to me before the lesson but now I've learnt what are they. To put it in simple words, harm principle is the event whereby a person pose themselves as harmful to others and the offense principle is the event whereby a person's speech is offensive to others. These two principles is very useful since it can be a standard to a person's behaviour online. People who don't adhere to these standards will then be prosecuted.
Regarding cyber pornography, what I feel about it is that (to be frank and not that I support it or anything)it should not be banned or anything. This is because it is a person's rights to view pornographic materials. There is nothing wrong with it, with the exception that he or she do not view any child pornography/ distribute it to under aged audiences/ commit an outrage of modesty.
Scandals and libels should never be allowed. How can you just say something incorrect about another person? It may cause embarrassment to that person and even many harm.
This week's lesson is a continuation of last week's topic of cyber ethics just that we are learning about the freedom of speech for this week's lessons.
Through the lesson, I've learnt the harm principle that says any particular principle should be allowed the light of day, no matter how immoral it may seem to be and also the offense principle which says that speech must be regulated if content may be offensive in nature. Most importantly, a person should not lie or slander and try to get away using freedom of speech as an excuse as speech should not contain any offensive content. The lesson also made me realised that it is always good to be careful about what we post on the internet.
The internet censorship in some countries has also proved to be shocking to me. The internet censorship for China is even so huge that it is an internet black hole. Some of the censorship would be good such as the censorship for pornography as it would not be good for kids or teenagers to know such stuffs. Otherwise they might commit crimes such as molesting a girl when they get addicted to it. Therefore, I feel that it would be better for pornography to be illegal or otherwise legal with restrictions.
For Slander/Libel, it is not a very nice thing as it causes great harm to the person which is being targeted. Nobody would like to have any negative comments being made about them. Furthermore, some of the victims might take it to heart and as a result get into depression and might even suicide. Knowing that slander could have such a big impact on a person's mind, it would be good to have lesser slander and more of positive comments would be my suggestion.
This week, we learned about the freedom of speech which is a continuation of the cyber ethic lesson.
ReplyDeleteThrough the lesson, I learnt more about the harm principle and the offense principle. In layman terms, both these principle are there to make sure that whatever we speak does not cause harm to another. Reason behind these principles is that we live in a democratic society and we have to the right to say practically anything we want. However, what is said could directly or indirectly cause harm to another mentally. Thus, we need these principles to keep us in place with how we speak and what we say.
Internet censorship was something that I did not really know much about and I was shocked to see that in some countries, example China has such high internet censorship that you could not post anything on the web that is deem as not right by the moderators. Censorship by itself is not that bad like censorship of military top secrets as it would be unwise to release such information publically. Regarding censorship on pornography, I find it pointless to do so as if one wish to view it, he/she would already have the mentality to face whatever consequences there is with it such as addiction or having reality distorted. In addition, even if there is censorship, people who is determined to view it would still find some way to break through the censorship hence why waste the time putting the censorship when it would be wiser to just make it into something educational to the people. If it was made educational, this would not happen (http://sg.news.yahoo.com/chinese-married-couple-clueless-sex-040003352.html ).
I personally view that slandering is an act of cowards. Such comments are totally irrelevant or have no point in bringing up as it would cause damage to the victim's image and reputation. How would you feel if that victim was you? Demoralised or cannot accept the fact? I would say that the effects vary. It could cause surrounding audience to have a different view of the victim but nonetheless, damage would definitely be dealt in the mental dimension. It could result in the victim's losing confident in life thus committing suicide. Even if you are unhappy with someone, one should just keep such offending comments to our own mental dimension or you could just tell it to the person directly what you find should be changed privately as it will make a difference.
All in all, this was a great lesson as I learned more about the freedom in speech both on the cyber space and in reality.
Written by Calvin
This week we've learnt about freedom of speech on the internet. We can safely say that in Singapore, we do get quite a fair bit of freedom on the internet. Some people may feel that it is insufficient, while I feel that in a country like Singapore, the slightest problem may be a big problem.
ReplyDeleteWe also learnt about the harm and offense principal, which is clearly understandable through their terms. The harm principal is where one poses harm to others with their act while the offense principal is where ones' actions/speech is offensive to a person/a group of people.
Cyber defamation, which relates to slander, happens to celebrities all the time, even in Singapore. Though they're celebrities and "should know how to handle such situations", we all have feelings. We never know when mental health problems will kick in and cause one to not be able to handle a situation like before. This is all about ethics, when one knows cyber ethics, he/she will know their limits in the cyber world. People should be educated on slander and not practice this any time, not only in the cyber world. If slander is still practiced in their everyday lives, it will make no difference.
Cyber pornography is unhealthy if one is addicted to it. When a person becomes addicted, he/she are often unable to decipher between the real world and their world. In this case, other people will come to harm when one gets too involved in pornography, just like the case scenario given to us. It may be acceptable if there is parental guidance and only for people above a certain age, as it may be educational in a certain way. However, Young children often learn and imitate what others do, hence such contents would be inappropriate to them.
During this week's lesson, I've definitely learnt alot about the topic on the freedom of speech. I've learnt that the freedom of speech is not always good, but it sometimes causes more harm than good.
ReplyDeleteIn the past, I used to think that the freedom of speech is a must have, in order to voice out all of our unhappiness about the things around us and share information freely with anybody. I've never really linked slanders and libels to the freedom of speech.
However after reading on the many incidents regarding this issue, I've come to conclusion that the freedom of speech given to individuals may give that individual a lot of power. He or she can either put it to good use or bad use.
This brings me to the harm and offense principle. These two principles were unknown to me before the lesson but now I've learnt what are they. To put it in simple words, harm principle is the event whereby a person pose themselves as harmful to others and the offense principle is the event whereby a person's speech is offensive to others. These two principles is very useful since it can be a standard to a person's behaviour online. People who don't adhere to these standards will then be prosecuted.
Regarding cyber pornography, what I feel about it is that (to be frank and not that I support it or anything)it should not be banned or anything. This is because it is a person's rights to view pornographic materials. There is nothing wrong with it, with the exception that he or she do not view any child pornography/ distribute it to under aged audiences/ commit an outrage of modesty.
Scandals and libels should never be allowed. How can you just say something incorrect about another person? It may cause embarrassment to that person and even many harm.
By ZhongHan
This week's lesson is a continuation of last week's topic of cyber ethics just that we are learning about the freedom of speech for this week's lessons.
ReplyDeleteThrough the lesson, I've learnt the harm principle that says any particular principle should be allowed the light of day, no matter how immoral it may seem to be and also the offense principle which says that speech must be regulated if content may be offensive in nature. Most importantly, a person should not lie or slander and try to get away using freedom of speech as an excuse as speech should not contain any offensive content. The lesson also made me realised that it is always good to be careful about what we post on the internet.
The internet censorship in some countries has also proved to be shocking to me. The internet censorship for China is even so huge that it is an internet black hole. Some of the censorship would be good such as the censorship for pornography as it would not be good for kids or teenagers to know such stuffs. Otherwise they might commit crimes such as molesting a girl when they get addicted to it. Therefore, I feel that it would be better for pornography to be illegal or otherwise legal with restrictions.
For Slander/Libel, it is not a very nice thing as it causes great harm to the person which is being targeted. Nobody would like to have any negative comments being made about them. Furthermore, some of the victims might take it to heart and as a result get into depression and might even suicide. Knowing that slander could have such a big impact on a person's mind, it would be good to have lesser slander and more of positive comments would be my suggestion.