US President Barack Obama asked China to abandon the so-called practice of “internet censorship” during his China trip last month, calling for the freedom of expression and non-censored internet.
However, internet censorship is far from an issue of black and white. Even in Obama’s own country, whether to censor the internet or not is under intense debate.
Two federal laws intended to censor offensive online content were passed at the turn of this millennium, while four states -- New York, New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia have passed Internet censorship legislation restricting/banning online distribution of material deemed "harmful to minors" since 1996.
Although these laws were later struck down by the Supreme Court on constitutional groups, but they are telling stories that the Americans are widely divided on this issue.
Actually, some other countries are also trying to filter harmful internet content, or using other ways to manage the internet, including South Korea, and Germany
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