Internet censorship as a controlling mechanism of the modern era

Cenzura je praksa koja se pojavila s početkom pisma, a njezina popularnost je prisutna još i danas u 21. stoljeću. S obzirom na to da je internet postao predominantni medij, posebice među mlađim generacijama, većina ljudi se oslanja na internet tražilice, blogove, forume i portale kada se žele informirati o nekoj temi. Takav dinamičan i nereguliran izvor informacija predstavlja opasnost državama koje se aktivno trude oblikovati svijest svojih građana. Najistaknutije među njima su Kina, Saudijska Arabija, Sirija, Iran, Egipat, Kuba i mnoge druge, a cilj ovog rada je približiti čitateljima različite motive i načine kojima se spomenute države koriste kako bi filtrirali protok informacija na njihovim lokalnim mrežama. Tako iza svake cenzure stoje različiti razlozi cenzuriranja - politički, religijski, društveni ili ratni. Kako raste svijest građana o nemogućnosti pristupa određenim informacijama, proporcionalno raste i želja za zaobilaskom same cenzure, a tu dolaze u pomoć svakojaki alati i softveri razvijeni posebno u te svrhe. Naposljetku ostaje teško pitanje u kojoj mjeri je cenzura opravdana u državama bez demokratskog legitimiteta.Censorship is a practice with a long-standing tradition, having appeared alongside the invention of writing, and its popularity is still intact in the 21st century. Considering the fact that the Internet has become the predominant medium, especially among younger generations, most people rely on search engines, blogs, forums and online news websites when looking for information. Such a dynamic and unregulated source of information poses a threat to countries that actively try to shape their citizens' beliefs. The countries that undoubtedly stand out in their censorship practices are China, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Cuba and many others, making the aim of this paper to shed light on the different motives and techniques these countries use to filter the flow of information on their local networks. Thus, there are different reasons behind every act of censorship - some are political, some religious, social or even war-induced. As a consequence, the more people's awareness of censorship grows, the more they want to bypass it with the help of various online tools and software, designed specifically for those purposes. Eventually, the question that inevitably lingers is to what extent is censorship justifiable in countries without democratic legitimacy