NSA: It's Everywhere....

For the last several weeks on the ICTV political talk show "On The Hill," we have been debating the NSA's role in the Edward Snowden case as well as the recent announcement that the United States is also tapping into the phone calls of European leaders including Angela Merkel. However, what we have not discussed is the censoring of journalists by the American government among others.

In theory, censorship of independent journalists really shouldn't sound that foreign--even in America. What was a new concept for me, however, was just how closely Google is now tied to the American government. The fact that "Inner City Press" was removed from being a "hit" on Google is absolutely insane. A company that prides itself in such terrific corporate responsibility as well as a dedication to its users would not possibly have done something like that (in my opinion at least)... unless an even more powerful force intervened. And considering Google's enormity in the 21st century, there is only one answer to that question: the U.S. Government.

But again, in theory, the censorship of Google and the "hits" possible through it in China doesn't sound foreign. This can't help but make one wonder just how similar the United States' media policy ACTUALLY is to a nation with an extremely powerful central government. Then again, this shouldn't come as a surprise either: when Google'ing the word "censorship," the second "option" to complete the requested search is "censorship in China."

An interesting example of censorship in the 21st century not examined in our weekly readings, and imperative to understanding this concept in the context of this decade, is censorship in the Middle East. The Arab Spring certainly was a source of much censorship--and entire, Internet shutdown--but, paradoxically, it was a Google executive who was behind the Facebook mobilization in Egypt in early 2011.

Although things may have "simmered" down in the Middle East today, CNN looks at how censorship is still plaguing the birth place of the Middle East: Tunisia.