Assuming that the US terms of service is strictly web based and the government will impose a strict ban on certain websites, it is not difficult to say that other nations will view the US as moving backward in transparency and freedom of action.
Having been raised in the strict and conservative nation Malaysia, I have experienced the difficulty of having certain websites blocked for many long years! Take youtube for an example; we cannot view a bunch of music videos or even live badminton matches posted by the world badminton federation (WBF) channel. To impart a better understanding of this action, I first need to summarize our broadcast and internet system. Telekom Malaysia, a government owed company is responsible for providing its subscribers with a telephone and internet connection. As for television, without any subscription to any other service, there are only 6 channels, 4 of them which are owned by Media Prima Berhad and the other two by Radio Television Malaysia. For more abroad channels like National Georgraphic or BBC, we are forced to subscribe at a high price to Astro, a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) pay TV service. Now here is the problem, most of the time regular television channels do not air live broadcasts that do not involve Malaysians. Take All England for instance; only Astro airs this event which mean subscribers to the Sports Channel on Astro can view it only. What about subscribers that do not follow any other sport other than badminton? Tough luck! In another country, the alternate way to watch All England is through the WBF channel on YouTube. However, we are not so lucky. Wanting to protect Astro's interests, Telekom Malaysia blocked the channel entirely! Unlike the US, we are not protected by the Bill of Rights. Every single thing being watched on TV is strictly controlled by the government. If the US introduces the US terms of service, it will only mean that the legislative body that outlined the terms has discretionary power over what can and cannot be seen online. Are we to say that the legislative body will forever take the majority's view into consideration or only for their personal gain? There is no definite answer to this question.
The internet is a powerful tool that allows transparency. Transparency is important because it acts as a check and balance to the actions made by private and government bodies. Wiki Leaks serves this function because it is not regulated. Officials are more weary of their doing, thus reducing the blatant crimes that are performed. The US terms of service may act negatively to the benefits of transparency. In Malaysia, the internet is the only means of obtaining news and information without being surveilled by the government. We are taught not to believe anything written in newspapers and watched on TV news channels. A very interesting scenario came into play during Malaysia's 13th General Election (GE13). In the wake of casting votes, a few ballot bags appeared out of no where in a few areas that claimed there was an power outage. There was a public outcry when this happened. However, when consulted with the electric company, they denied this claim. Are we to believe them when there are many witnesses and pictures that claimed this happened even though the national news reports from various media company denied this? The only way for us to be correctly informed of what actually happened is through news articles from countries abroad! How insane and outrageous is that? As a Malaysian, I am ashamed of our system and the anti-transparency actions of our government. I am ashamed of the Malaysia terms of service and how the government has a way of covering things up. And to be honest, I believe if my government could change the stories of news agencies abroad to coincide with what they want, they would. They might even consider blocking international news websites altogether! The idea I am trying to push here is that the US terms of service will in a way impact the way the internet is used by Americans. The internet should be a means of spreading information and knowledge without any restrictions. I deem the US terms of service unnecessary.
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