Evolution of Health Care Information Systems Paper Essay

Evolution of Health Care Information Systems Paper - Essay Example An information system may simply be defined as an arrangement of people, technology, processes and data that interact to gather, process, store, transfer and provide output in form of useful information that supports the organization. The HCIS (Health Care Information System) traditionally was developed to primarily manage financial and administrative data with an aim of supporting management functions as well as general operations of the organization that deals in healthcare services (Tan, 2005). Administrative applications of HCIS include admission, transfer and discharge registration, scheduling, accounts receivable and patient billing, utilization management, payroll, staff scheduling, material management, general ledger and accounts payable administration (Tan, 2005). The clinical information system on the other hand contains clinical/ health related information that is related to diagnosing, monitoring and treating patients. Clinical applications generally consist of the ancillary information system and other systems which include nursing documentation, medication administration, tele-health and telemedicine, electronic medical record and provider order entry. Changes witnessed in healthcare systems have become real, more as a result of advancements in information systems, medical technology and healthcare delivery, and management practices (Tan, 2005). Up to the early 1980s, HIS (Healthcare Information Systems) were more oriented towards information â€Å"supply† for purposes of conducting business. Attention however shifted over time to a system that is more â€Å"demand† oriented; information and its importance. This led to the gradual replacement of pencils, calculators, paper and cards, mechanical punches and people for performing vital tasks (Dudeck, Blobel, Lordieck & Bà ¼rkle, 1997). The typical office in the healthcare facility then was characterized by cumbersome and labor intensive work methods. These methods and systems were later

'radical change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

'radical change - Essay Example On the other hand, in the development process, a large organisation may come face-to-face with momentous need for radical and fundamental change. In most instances, changes in a large organisation may be triggered by several circumstances that include: emerging threat from a competitor, decision to expand the company’s market, unexpected reduction in the company’s production and profitability, change in customers’ needs and demands as well as sharp slide in the company’s production (Pardo Del Val and Fuentes 2003, p.149). Therefore, to ensure the success of any radical change in an organisation, leader and managers ought to come up with a promising and an effective mechanism to facilitate effective implementation of the required change. Additionally, the adoption of a strategy that would incorporate ideas and views from all stakeholders is also essential and critical for the company’s development (Thornhill, Lewis, Millmore, and Saunders 2000, p.11) . The essay below will as a result identify and expound on the most effective means of addressing the financial crises in Associated Dairies & Farm Stores Limited

Reflective Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reflective Analysis - Essay Example I succeeded in hanging the infusion and had it working properly with no hitches or messes. When I was preparing to leave the patient’s bedside, my instructor asked if I had forgotten something. I panicked silently in my head and mentally reenacted all the steps 4 more times. I paused before answering in the negative. The instructor asked me for a second time, and again I replied in the negative. The dialogue was repeated 2 more times before the patient finally turned to me and politely (and jokingly) quipped , â€Å"She’s obviously trying to tell you something†. I still couldn’t put my finger on it. My instructor said, â€Å"Well, great work on the IV, but if Mr. Green wants to get out of bed to use the restroom or anything else she will have to jump (and maybe fall).† I stared at the bed, and it was still at waist-height! I had become so engrossed in my task that I forgot that the instructor had raised his bed for the IV troubleshoot. I knew that something was amiss somewhere, but the dots wouldn’t connect. My instructor was not the type that corrected students just for the sake, so I immediately felt that I had made a mistake somewhere. The issue at hand was ethical because it was covered in the nursing handbook/code of ethics. As such, I had broken an ethical rule which required that a patient’s bed be lowered to its lowest or most appropriate setting. My values and beliefs in relation to this event are all related to my practice as a nurse. I believe that a nurse must observe the nursing code of ethics at all times. It is the guiding principle of the practice. The issue was a very serious one because it is clearly stipulated in the nursing code of ethics that the nurse must always make the patient feel safe and ensure the patient’s safety by doing things like lowering and raising the bed height as is required. In my case, the bed height had been temporarily raised by the instructor and I

Information Security Management ( Study Case ) Essay

Information Security Management ( Study Case ) - Essay Example Charlie must adopt some personal strategy to make top management realize the need and significance of information technology in their firm. He must explain them the benefits of adopting information security by comparing their firm with other firms. b) The most important advice to Iris: The most important advice is to make the top management understand the need for information security. From the illustration, it is understood that Random Widget Works gives the least priority to information security. Making the management understand its importance will let the management take initiatives for framing new policies and allocating ample resources to give security to data and information. C5 a) Confidential Information Confidential Information denotes the documents that should not be shared with anyone outside the organization. Example Documents that can be classified â€Å"Confidential’ Strategic Planning Document Technical documents Information about clients Sensitive Information: Sensitive Information denotes the set of documents that require special attention and have to be prevented from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. Sensitive information can be either confidential or public. However, a high level of integrity is to be maintained in case of sensitive information (chapter 5). ... These documents are issued exclusively released with the intention of giving the public some information about the company. Example Documents that can be classified â€Å"Public† Profit and loss account statement Balance sheet statement Registration details of the company b) Label scheme to associate with classification system: The security labels are a must for all documents in order to get security clearance. Any security label has the following four components. Security Policy. Classification. Categories Privacy Mark There are different labeling schemes followed by different organizations. However, for Random Widget works, the following schemes would be helpful. Confidential information: Confidential documents must be bound with white cover, with the text â€Å"CONFIDENTIAL†, stamped diagonally across the document in red color. Sensitive Information: Sensitive information has to be covered with white wrapper with the text â€Å"SENSITIVE† stamped diagonally ac ross the document in yellow color. Public Information: Public documents may or may not have stamps labeled on them. However, a green color stamp will let the user easily identify that the document could be released for public use. C6 a) Incident or Disaster? The current occurrence was just an â€Å"Incident† as per Iris’s point of view. According to our case, both Joel and Harry had saved their documents and sent ‘to the print server. There were 80% chances of recovery of data. This would have been called a â€Å"disaster†, if there were no chances of recovery of data. Had it been a disaster Iris would have delegated responsibilities to Harry and Joel. Recovery of data holds great significance in organizations as most of the data are confidential and contains secure information that can cause a disaster

Persuasive speaking PowerPoint Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Persuasive speaking - PowerPoint Presentation Example The crucial message to emphasize actually is that it is never too late to finish what one has started; meaning, there is value in finishing one’s education. Why do students drop out in the first place? There are a multitude of rationales for dropping out. The reasons range from personal problems, family concerns, transportation dilemmas and academic issues. Furger, in his article entitled How to End the Drop Out Crisis (2008), has identified several reasons why high school students opt to leave school without earning their high school diploma. Among those cited were: â€Å"(1) dropping out is the culmination of years of academic hurdles, missteps, and wrong turns; (2) it is a response to conflicting life pressures -- the need to help support their family financially or the demands of caring for siblings or their own child; (3) students become bored and see no connection between academic life and "real" life; (4) young people feel disconnected from their peers and from teacher s and other adults at school; and (5) schools and communities have too few resources to meet the complex emotional and academic needs of their most vulnerable youth.† By being aware of these reasons, parents, teachers, school administrators, the local community and the nation, as a whole, should look for appropriate measures to address the root causes for dropping out especially as it has serious implications to the economy. The research conducted by The Alliance for Excellent Education (2007) highlighted that dropouts are a financial drain on the economies of each state and the nation. Lower local, state, and national tax revenues are perhaps the most obvious consequence of higher dropout rates. Even when dropouts are employed, they earn significantly lower wages than graduates. State and local economies suffer further when they have less-educated populaces, as they find it more difficult to attract new business investment. Simultaneously, these entities must spend more on so cial programs when their populations have lower educational levels. Dropouts represent a tremendous waste of human potential and productivity, and reduce the nation’s ability to compete in an increasingly global economy. On the contrary, helping students realize the value of education by assisting them to graduate has economic and social benefits to society. Students who manage to graduate earning higher wages tantamount to resulting in attendant benefits to the local, state, and national economic conditions. Likewise, diverse research studies have validated the following advantages: high school graduates live longer (Muennig, 2005), are less likely to be teen parents (Haveman et al., 2001), and are more likely to raise healthier, better-educated children. In fact, children of parents who graduate from high school are themselves far more likely to graduate from high school than are children of parents without a high school degree (Wolfe & Haveman, 2002). High school graduates are also less likely to commit crimes (Raphael, 2004), rely on government health care (Muennig, 2005), or use other public services such as food stamps or housing assistance (Garfinkel et al., 2005). Additionally, high school graduates engage in civic activity, including voting and volunteering in their communities, at higher levels (Junn, 2005). A remuneration of the discourse reveals that there are obviously more benefits to be derived from seeking ways and means to ensue students stay in school until graduation than to

Is the Ecological Crisis the Human Rights Concern of the Century Essay Example for Free

Is the Ecological Crisis the Human Rights Concern of the Century Essay The ecological crisis has now become an important topic throughout the years. Even so, toward the end of the last century, the issues of such crises became a focal talking point of governments, international organisations and scholars. This most likely is, as Leigh (2005) discusses, an increasing acceptance that such ecological disasters affecting mankind has been one of â€Å"the most critical turning points† that the world has ever encountered. Such crises are experienced when our environment is modified in ways which undermine our continued existence. As the environment and its ecosystems are in a constant state of being damaged, its quality is vastly ruined and this has major effects on the lives that are dependent on it. Magdoff and Foster (2011) suggest that for the ecological crisis to be understood, it must be looked at in the sense of the boundaries of the planet. They go on to indicate that ultimately the Earth has several thresholds which it must remain in in order to preserve the gentle conditions that the Earth has experienced in the past century. These thresholds include loss of biodiversity, climate change, a depleting ozone layer, world-wide freshwater and chemical pollution. Unfortunately, the planet has already passed two of these, including loss of biodiversity and climate change due to our damaging activities that cause environmental disparities. Until recently, the ecological crisis and its subsequent effects have been discussed mainly in the scientific disciplines as merely an environmental issue. It has also been made into an economic concern. However, it is now more than ever in the 21st century being debated and referred to as a subject for human rights. This essay seeks to examine the issue of the impact of the ecological crisis, its human rights implications, and how it has come to be considered the human rights concern of the century. The Ecological Crisis The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st has seen a remarkable increase in the number of environmental catastrophes that the Earth has experienced. These disasters have not been just limited to one eographic region but they have affected nearly every single part of the planet. Some have included climate change, which in turn has been affected by the greenhouse effect and gases ; the advent of peak oil; loss of biodiversity and therefore diminished quantities and quality of food supplies; plus deforestation, chemical pollution and oil spills. These in turn have had a knock-on effect on the way of living for man and caused such issues as rising sea levels, floods, reduced food resources, droughts, and polluted air and water supply. As mentioned, the Earth’s threshold for climate change and biodiversity loss has been passed and this has already been causing irreparable harm to the planet’s ecosystems and the environment. It is still possible, however, to stop such effects from permanent harm to the environment, which is why the ecological crisis has become such an important matter for discussion today. Climate Change â€Å"Of all the environmental issues that have emerged in the past decades, global climate change has been the most serious and most difficult to manage† (Dessler and Parson, 2006). Like with the above quote, it is thought by many scientists and scholars that climate change is and will be the biggest threat to the environment mainly because of its potential to bring about such brutal destruction. Oxfam International (2008) stated that some of the 23 richest countries in the world (comprising Canada, Australia and USA) where just fourteen percent of the entire world population inhabits, produced almost sixty percent of the planet’s carbon emissions since the 1800s. The Earth’s climate is changing. In fact, it has always been varying from time to time. However, the degree of change is now the big worry. The Great Warming (2006) defines climate change as an alteration in the â€Å"long-term climate† of a particular area. It is further stated that humans contribute to this climate change by discharging greenhouse gases and sprays up into the atmosphere while also modifying the land we live on. Dessler and Parson (2006) debate the forecasts for climate change in the 21st century are more or less unclear, nonetheless, this uncertainty can work either way in that the climate may increase or decrease. The prospect of such unknowns makes this question a lot graver. Many of the activities that individuals carry out on a daily basis has contributed significantly to the greenhouse effect, the depletion of the ozone layer, and therefore climate change. As The Great Warming (2006) put it, the inhabitants of the Earth are constantly burning fossil fuels for heating of houses, for production of electricity and to run machines and vehicles. All of these activities have been adding to the warming effect on the atmosphere. The UNDP (2007) report on fighting climate change established that since the start of the industrial age, the temperature of the Earth has risen by about 0. 7 degrees Celsius and this increase seems to be speeding up with time. The report went further in determining that if a threshold of 2oC is broken, we hazard the idea of greater irreparable damage to the environment. Magdoff and Foster (2011) quotes the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stating that by the end of the century in 2100, the most probable temperature increase worldwide will be in the 2. to 4. 6oC range. This, we can see, is far higher than the previously mentioned threshold of 2oC, and as the authors mention, is a major cause for concern and panic. Such drastic climate change can ultimately lead to ice caps melting, sea levels rising, droughts, forced migration of peoples, a reduction in food produce, and danger to coastal regions. This can lead to reduced health and welfare of the population while also causing serious issues with atmospheric pollution. Other forms of the Ecological Crisis Climate change has not been the only crisis the environment has faced. There has also been widespread degradation with other human-driven activities. Goodhart (2009) explains that the ecosystem has been affected by severe exhaustion of its resources. This includes deforestation which has led to erosion and land slippage and thus pushed people out of their habitat. Oils spills have been a major source of concern, according to Goodhart, which has threatened the survival of certain oceanic species that are a vital source of food for man. The ecological crisis will affect the entire world population if nothing is done to stop the effects of all these contributory factors. This has led international organisations such as the United Nations (UN) to establish various agencies and protocols that will guide international actors in dealing with the crisis. These include the IPCC, as well as the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The UN has also held several conferences over the years to tackle the problems including the Earth Summit in Brazil and the United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC) . As will be seen in the next section, some of these mechanisms have begun placing more emphasis on and framing the environmental issues as human rights concerns. Relationship between the Ecological Crisis and Human Rights â€Å"As the world marks the 60th anniversary of the UDHR, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay points out that a wide range of universally recognized rights including food, life, water and adequate housing are under a direct threat as a result of climate change† (OHCHR, 2008a). The destruction of the environment and its consequent effects on humans is leading to grave human rights concerns. In its resolution on climate change, the UN Human Rights Council stated their concern for climate change posing a direct danger to communities in the world, further suggesting that this ecological crisis has consequences for the â€Å"full enjoyment of human rights† (HRC, 2008) . Framing of the issues in human rights terms has been a very useful tool for creating greater awareness of its impacts and ensuring that the subject reaches new actors and activists, ultimately influencing the process for the better. Human rights are now frequently referred to as â€Å"universal and indivisible†. For this reason, Hawkins (2010) suggests that every human being is â€Å"entitled to every basic right by virtue of their humanity†. As climate change is possibly the biggest ecological concern of late, many scholars refer to it the most when focusing on the human rights implications. However, there are still very deep human rights concerns for the other contributors to the crisis. Depledge (2007) mentioned that there are, at present, no organisations such as the UN that blatantly suggests a right to a healthy environment. Nevertheless, he proposes that the human right to health covered under the UDHR directly implies a link to the environment. This is because the way in which the environment is kept can and does affect the security of people. Therefore, we see truth in Commissioner Navi Pillay’s words in mentioning these rights. Hunter (2009,p. 7) also suggests that climate change can have an impact on the right to self-determination. One example of the effect of the crisis on this right is that of the Inuit people of Alaska who in 2005 submitted a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights suggesting that their â€Å"way of life† was being hindered by climate change which in turn influences their continued existence and culture. Climate change, if continued on its current path will increasingly raise the Earth’s temperature. This will further affect the water sources, our food, and cause major disease outbreaks. These activities are bound to result in significant human rights violations under the various charters and treaties. Firstly, the right to health will see a drastic rise of malnutrition in children. There will also be a threat of major increases in droughts and flooding around the world (Oxfam, 2008). Another right that needs to be preserved during this process is the all-important right to life and security. Article 3 of the UDHR asks for the â€Å"right to life, liberty and security of person†. These rights are in serious danger of being breached from the issues of the ecological crisis. Goodhart (2009) maintains that the depletion of environmental resources like clean water and oil has â€Å"been a cause of violent conflict in several areas around the world† and this is of extreme distress because of the occurrence of, say, peak oil. Climate change can greatly affect the security of people around the world. As a result of the rising sea levels, the increased temperature and therefore the damage to land, inhabitants of the Earth will experience more flooding, droughts and fires, heat waves and higher occurrence of storms. All of these can ultimately lead to death and an increase in numbers. Another important right affected by this crisis has been the right to food as stipulated in Article 11(1) of the ICESCR . Current trends are not a good sign for people’s right to food under this treaty. Oxfam (2008) suggests that any further warming of the planet is bound to expose fifty million more people to hunger by the year 2020. Within another 30 years in 2050, that number could vastly increase to 132 million. These are extremely high numbers that would be detrimental to the survival of many regions and populations. The Oxfam report cites the case of Africa, where land for cultivation is being reduced by climate change causing the season for growing crop to decrease thereby producing less crop for food. The International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP) categorically mentions that climate change creates violations of human rights due to the constant harm that we are inflicting on the environment (ICHRP, 2008). The most serious effects of the ecological crisis will usually and unfortunately be experienced by the people whose rights and protections are currently not being respected and so occurrences like climate change, tar sands, and pollution will have a greater impact on the more disregarded populations. This includes the poor and usually indigenous peoples around the world. As Havermann (2009) put it, the indigenous peoples around the world are some of those that are most susceptible to these crises while being the ones who have the smallest responsibility for them. For example, the oil and gas expansion by multinational corporations around the world is having severe effects on climate change and the environment, leading on to issues for human rights particularly with indigenous peoples. As Karliner (1991) noted, oil and its excavation has an overwhelmingly negative effect on the economic stability of these groups. Also a huge concern, as a result, is their health which tends to suffer from these activities. The problems faced by many countries with deforestation have also been exacerbating the situation for the realisation of human rights around the world. Many of the forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. The boomerang effect is thus a reduction in the all-important biodiversity that the forests contain and that is necessary for the continued livelihood and survival of those dependent on it. This includes, according to ICHRP (2008), the over fifty million tribal inhabitants of forests around the globe who are constantly affected with their food safety harshly curtailed. If the present rates at which such deforestation and the previously mentioned rises of climate change, oil spills and pollution continue, it is thought that a majority of the rainforests on the Earth will have vanished even before the 21st century has ended. Concern of the Century? Many environmentalists and human rights defenders have framed the ecological crisis as one with a human rights dimension. This is because most see it now as a serious inhibitor to development, to the daily living of man and to fulfilling the rights that have been laid out in the various international instruments. The ecological crisis has seen a large number of environmental problems over the years and its effects are now being debated fiercely on the world stage. Some world leaders, scientists and the general population are all trying to engage in finding solutions to the problem while others still question and underestimate the gravity of the phenomenon. The issue has become a major concern, not just for the planet physically, but also in a human rights context because the ecological crisis single-handedly affects a range of different human rights as seen above. In many instances, its effects can breach more rights than some of the other current rights violators. In addition, while most abuses of human rights can generally be halted voluntarily, if these environmental problems are allowed to linger untreated then at some point in time the destruction of the environment would have become irreversible. This in turn would result in more human rights violations. As Hawkins (2010) argues, the resources of the planet are limited and so to continue with the existing trend will place humanity in peril. Also, the atmosphere cannot distinguish between the greenhouse gases that affect climate change by the region it comes from (UNDP, 2007). Climate change, for example, is non-discriminatory and unlike other rights violations being perpetrated around the world, it can affect just about anyone. This is why such a huge international human rights advocacy process has now been implemented. In a statement in 2007, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon referred to climate change as â€Å"the greatest emerging humanitarian challenge of our time† which is â€Å"menacing the whole human family†. As the UNFCCC acknowledged in the framework, the universal reach of the effects of climate change requires the â€Å"widest possible co-operation from all countries† (UNFCCC, 1992). It is evident that the human rights implications of the ecological crisis is a great concern for many people especially in the recent efforts by NGOs to publicise the matter, while a number of measures have been put in place by international organisations such as the UN to tackle the problems – through summits, conferences and protocols like the Kyoto protocol. In 2008, a resolution was passed by the Organisation of American States (OAS) on human rights and climate change (ICHRP, 2008). The commitments set forth in the 1997 Kyoto protocol are soon to end in 2012. Neglecting to meet these obligations will cause us to reach even closer to further crisis. In December 2011, Canada officially pulled out of its commitments to the protocol (Carrington and Vaughan, 2011). The backlash and criticism from world leaders and actors was astounding and this showed the level that the ecological crisis and its implications for human life have reached in this century. Conclusion Going forward without confronting this global challenge that is the ecological crisis with the seriousness that it deserves will result in countless human rights violations around the globe. The climate change, deforestation, oil spills and rising sea levels will cause a massive increase in the destruction of habitats, reduced water supply, island and coastal regions vanishing, and greater health concerns. These in turn are destabilizing many peoples’ rights to food, health, security, life and livelihood. It is imperative that the principles and norms of human rights are continuously applied to these crises so as to halt the irreparable destruction of the environment and the future of humankind. As noted by the UNDP (2007), the 20th century saw leadership disasters resulting in two world wars in which masses of people suffered. In this the 21st century, the destructive nature of the ecological crisis has become the new and preventable disaster.

The Growth Of Information And Communication Technology

The Growth Of Information And Communication Technology The growth of information and communication technology has significantly impacted on every facet of the world on most often noted is the internet. The advancement of Information and communication technology ICT, coupled with the rapid uptake of increasingly affordable, key technologies such as the Internet, has also helped foster an environment that promotes globalization of knowledge and information. The Internet has revolutionalized communication making information access across boundaries deemed seemingly impossible in the past a thing of general practice. People around the world are able to communicate with unprecedented ease. In the past, government has enjoyed great successes in censoring traditional communication media and this has affected information flow to the masses. The internet on the other hand with is multi-directional information flow communication nature where anyone can air their opinions on any desired issue at will has posed great challenges to governments. For countries with repressive regimes, the Internet has become a revolutionary force as it allows the free flow of information and which has been perceived as threat by the authorities in some countries. Government in some countries have responded imposing strict censorship on Internet usage by the public through monitoring, filtering and access to some site in the internet in a bid to control access to information. Internet censorship can be defined as the control or suppression of the publishing or accessing of information on the Internet. Internet censorship has been a greatly debated topic around the world with people having different opinions. In most countries governments at different level have been the in the fore front in the campaign for a regulated internet. Though there are a few arguments that support the need to have the internet censored, it has been largely rejected by organizations and individuals across the world as censorship of the internet is widely regarded by many as an attempt by government to suppress freedom of speech. This essay examines the arguments against internet censorship by government, its impact, successes and failures of government in some countries that embarked on such projects, and the challenges they have faced. It also assesses the key importance of censorship and concludes with an individual opinion evaluating the stated arguments. The case against the government Campaigners against the governments censorship of the internet have strongly opposed censorship and have stated that it prevents freedom of speech thus undermining confidence and trusts in the medium and this inhibits crucial flows of data. Also, Internet censorship and filtering leads to monitoring which is seen by many as another big brother ploy by government to invade the public privacy. It is more often argued that the government will use internet censorship as a tool to promote political agenda and the public has been quick to conclude that the true voice of the public will not be heard. In Australia, the National-Anarchists reject any parliamentary censorship of material and the reasons given has been summed up simply, any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both Benjamin Franklin.[1] Reports on internet censorship show the level of its pervasiveness recently being experienced in some countries. There are several tools and solutions instituted by the government of these countries for the purpose of internet censorship and also the content censored also vary with most blocked contents being political, pornographic, religious contents and others. [2] The common argument used by most countries in proposing censorship is that of child pornography. Most people however believe that the governments plans on internet censorship do not quite provide the solution to child pornography. It is often seen as, and in fact proven by experts that websites play only a minor role in circulation of child abuse materials and cannot be simply banned by Government [1]. It is often suggested that censoring for children by utilizing a user backed software and filtering systems instead of governmental censorship is a viable solution for keeping children away from indecent internet content. There are several software systems that allow parental control of internet materials. The OpenNet Initiative (ONI) has made a categorization of nations that is classes as internet enemy list. The ONI is joint project between some academic institutions across the world with the goal to monitor and report on internet filtering and surveillance activities by different nation. The project uses several means to determine the extent and nature of government-run internet filtering programs. It lists China, Iran Saudi Arabia etc in the forefront of internet censorship in the world. A new wave is now being generated by the Australian government as it moves to launch its own internet censorship project, [3] which has sparked up several arguments across the world. According to the ONI reports, censorship varies with countries and some countries have pervasive filtering policies, often routinely blocking access to not just pornographic and prohibited contents, but also human rights organizations, news, blogs, and Web services that challenge the status quo or are deemed threatening or undesirable. The Chinese governments The Great firewall currently uses four mechanisms DNS blocking, reset commands, URL keyword blocking and content scanning to prevent Internet users in the country from reaching blacklisted Web sites or content [16]. This technique though quite effective faces some technology challenges as private VPNs used by banks, manufacturing and other businesses often allow users within these organizations bypass this great firewall. These VPN services are now even open to the public for sign up at a fee that is quite affordable and attempts by the government to clamp down on this may impact on the economy since businesses will be affecte d. The general public thus rides on this loophole [4]. Methods of implementing censorship have also been criticized. Blocking unwanted and prohibited content using a dynamic process that would require analysis of website content in real-time would significantly slow down the internet. This is already being experience on the china network. [4]. Reports from Australia also suggests this will be the case when the Australian project kick off. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) confirmed that under trial conditions internet filtering reduced speeds between 2% and in excess of 75%, but with half the tested products falling between 20-30%. It was concluded that proper implementation of the censorship project could result in a 20% drop in internet speeds [5]. Policies have been another hugely criticize factor. Often times government policies on censorship do not make a clear distinction on materials unfit for internet content, this resulting in legal and harmless contents being blocked. Organizations have challenged and even filed lawsuits to prevent passage of censorship bills in some states citing free speech violation and the decision to embark on censorship as unconstitutional. This is the case of a Utah Internet Censorship law, intended to restrict childrens access to material on the Internet but that may in fact also restrict adults access to a wide range of lawful material [6]. Examples cited COPA internet censorship law of 1998, included whether an education web page showing young women how to perform self examinations for breast cancer be banned and being classed as sexually explicit [7]. Australian government for example intends to use a public complaints mechanism for blacklisting URLs as well as URLs provided by international agencies. Analysts have questioned the accountability and transparency of this and have stated that the same government bureaucrats who put together their initialed flawed blacklist would remain responsible as arbitrators of the system. In support of the publics claim, a recently leaked list of blacklisted website showed that about half of the sites listed were in fact not related to child porn as claimed by the government but rather other contents that were to a certain degree could be classified as legal content for the adult community. This has sparked further debate on the issue [8]. A word for the government The biggest arguments presented so far by the government in support of internet censorship have been issues relating to preventing access to illegal contents and child pornography, racism, fraud terrorism, religion etc. With the attempts so far made by several nations to impose some form of censorship meeting with similar resistance, government should realize that the key challenges faced are three fold, the people, the law and the coping with technology. One could however wonder why the topic on censoring the internet would generate so much argument when the public indeed presently abides by certain degree of censorship. From schools preventing access to certain contents and websites, warnings are displayed on university networks on the impact of downloading of file sharing, companies prevent employees from accessing chat systems, networking website and other sites at work using firewalls to ISPs blocking potential dangerous contents either because of virus or to keep their network safe and uncompromised, Why then is the public so opposed to the government censoring the internet? It could be safe to state that the public is just not ready for the extreme spectrum of Internet control which would result in a globally regulated internet by the government for the fear that the public could lose its freedom of speech and the fear unknown. Conclusion Recommendation Though internet censorship could be considered a necessity in cases where there is need to set a standard for publishing and the kind of information to publish on highly sensitive topics, by and large the foreseeable disadvantages far surpasses the benefits that may be accrued. I do not see Government succeeding in the offing in the fight to regulate content on the internet. Technology favours the public internet users rather than government and as such the government will be playing catch-up and their efforts may yet be foiled. Technology is presently enabling data encryption, user generated videos and pod casts thus complicating the tasks by the monitoring bodies. Also the laws governing internet censorship if passed will meet several barriers as they are more likely to be passed by countries independently. The internet spans boundaries and how these laws would apply to other countries a crucial aspect of consideration. The law will need to keep up with changing technology as such there will be no rest for law makers. Passing laws takes considerable time, and lapse in law would result in loopholes that could be exploited by the public. In addition, the controversies generated by government censoring the internet far outweigh the benefit. The internet is a global communication platform and the government needs to study close before imposing laws. Close attention should however the paid to the fact that the global nature of the net does present problems to censorship. To conclude, though the proposed laws by government to regulate the internet is of good intention, it is unwise for the government to censor the internet because any law infringing on the publics right to free speech or breaching individuals right to privacy and freedom on such a vast communication medium as the internet will be difficult to enforce.