Universal Declaration of Human Rights A boy, age 15 Grade 10 student Voice “Complete censorship is an obstruction to knowledge” A 15-year-old Grade 10 student shares his experience of using the internet. He believes a fundamental characteristic of the internet is that its access and usage is anonymous. However, some people take advantage of this anonymous nature to harm others, thinking that they are safe to do so because they are protected by the right to privacy. He reports that there is a secret website, well known among students, containing rumours and gossip which is recounted and later modified by students anonymously. “This website is famous amongst students, who post rumours and profanities on it without any supervision,” he explains. He asserts that the ‘privacy policy’ of the internet should guarantee the privacy of its users and that this should be monitored by webmasters. Regarding the violation of privacy and dignity via the internet, he believes that close supervision is a must because the internet is an open channel, providing access to everyone. He claims that the easiest way to prevent defamation is through the use of a web administrator. The duty of the website owner or webmaster is to have their site supervised and the duty of the users themselves is to prevent any problems from occurring. “It seems that the cyber community can be dangerous,” he notes. “But there is no need to worry about it if we can control it well. My teacher told me that the internet is a good thing. The only problem is that not all people are good. However, I do not favour complete censorship. We should be entitled to view websites and complete censorship is an obstruction to knowledge.” 56 Dignity and Justice for All of Us