Lesson video

Hello, my name is Ms. Powell, and welcome to "Computing." I'm so pleased that you decided to join me here today.

In today's lesson, we are going to discuss right to access.

This means what kind of information and content is available to citizens.

Let's get started.

Welcome to today's lesson from the unit "Online Safety." Today's lesson is called "Right to Access," and in today's lesson, we'll discuss the right to access information in the context of online safety concerns.

We'll be using these keywords throughout today's lesson.

Let's take a look at them.

The first word is censorship.

Censorship.

This means altering, restricting, or pivoting content viewed or published.

Next word is Dark Web.

Dark Web.

This means websites that are hosted on the Dark Net and therefore are not indexed by search engines and can only be accessed through specific software.

The next word is encryption.

Encryption.

This is the process of applying an encryption algorithm to plain text to produce ciphertext that cannot be understood without decryption.

VPN.

VPN.

A VPN, virtual private network, creates a secure and encrypted connection between a computer and other computers via the internet.

Lesson outline, right to access.

This lesson is split into two sections.

In the first section, we'll compare online censorship in different countries.

In the second section, we'll argue for or against privacy technologies.

Let's get started with the first section, compare online censorship in different countries.

Compare online censorship in different countries.

Which of the following types of internet content do you think should be blocked by a school? Number one, any website with content that is only suitable for over 18s.

Number two, social media sites.

Number three, games.

Number four, streaming sites.

Number five, messaging services.

And number six, websites with illegal content.

Pause the video and have a quick think.

In schools, certain content is often blocked to ensure a safe and productive learning environment, like explicit or offensive language, potentially harmful attachments, and emails from known spam senders.

Additionally, schools may block emails from certain senders or domains based on their reputation or if they're deemed a security risk.

Schools block online content to create a safe and productive learning environment for students and to comply with legal obligations.

This includes protecting students from potentially harmful or inappropriate materials such as pornography, violence, or hate speech.

Filtering helps prevent exposure to online predators and ensures the school's network security.

Filtering can also block harmful content or the likes that could carry malware, reducing the risk of cyberattacks on the school's network.

Why do you think that certain types of content are blocked from a school network? Pause the video and have a think.

Jacob says, "To safeguard the children by blocking illegal, inappropriate, and harmful materials.

Alex says, "To reduce the risk of cyberattack, e.

g.

blocking websites that may have links to malware." And Lucas says, "To reduce distractions to learning." Right to access.

Just as in school, governments restrict what can be viewed or published by the citizens within their country.

Today, you'll consider a citizen's right to access information online in the UK and how this compares to other countries.

In the UK, a small amount of content is blocked, i.

e.

cannot be accessed from UK-based IP addresses.

This includes websites that show extreme pornography and some websites that share pirated material.

Websites that break the law or enable others to do so are illegal and can be taken down, and if caught, the owners can be arrested.

The government and law enforcement do not have the right to monitor your private communications without a warrant, but communication service providers have to keep your communications for limited periods of time so they can give them to law enforcement if requested.

Content that criticises the government is allowed.

In China: Access to the internet in China is heavily restricted.

Many foreign sites are banned.

Instead, internet users in China can access Chinese equivalents, the contents of which are monitored by the Chinese government.

In China, internet use is heavily monitored by the government, which means that the government can prevent its citizens from accessing information.

For example, they can prevent news stories on human rights abuses or ones that criticise the government from being posted and can find out who is sharing and reading them if they are posted.

Journalists, activists, and other internet users who speak out against the government can be arrested and imprisoned.

In the USA: The First Amendment in the USA makes it unconstitutional to censor the internet, and as such, the only parts of the internet in the USA that are censored are those that contain obscene content.

Political media and other content is not restricted in any way unless it breaks the law.

In the USA: The USA is potentially moving towards a higher level of censorship.

For example, the government has previously attempted to force social media sites to reveal the identity of users who have criticised the president.

The government is also trying to change the regulations that give everyone equal access to online content.

In Russia, internet users have access to social media sites.

A lot of content, such as anti-government posts or pro-LGBT material, is blocked or filtered.

In Russia, the government has been accused of manipulating online discussions using fake accounts to ensure that internet users are more likely to see pro-government content or are unable to access news that portrays the government in a bad way.

They also monitor internet content and have arrested journalists, activists, and other internet users for writing anti-government content.

True or false? All citizens, no matter which country they live in, have the same right to access information online.

Pause the video and have a quick think.

Is that true or false? The answer's false.

Why is that? In the UK, China, USA, and Russia, citizens have different rights to access information online.

Which country bans social media sites and has its own versions? Is it A, China; B, USA; or C, United Kingdom? Pause the video and have a quick think.

The answer is A, China.

Well done.

Which country makes it unconstitutional, against the rules, to censor the internet? The only parts of the internet in this country that are censored are those that contain obscene content.

Is it A, Russia; B, USA; or C, China? Pause the video and have a try.

The answer is B, the USA.

I have a task here for you.

I'd like you to give it a try.

Compare online censorship in different countries.

Number one, compare the internet censorship policies of the UK, China, the USA, and Russia.

In your response, explain how the level of censorship in each country reflects its government's priorities and values.

Provide examples to support your answer.

Government censorship is the suppression of information, speech, or public communication by government.

It can manifest in various ways including controlling what is published, broadcast, or accessed online.

This control can be used to maintain political power, protect national security, or enforce moral standards.

Governments may censor information to maintain control and suppress dissent or opposition.

Information deemed sensitive to national security may be suppressed or classified.

Governments may use censorship to enforce certain moral standards or suppress what they consider are harmful.

I'd like to give you some feedback.

This is Jacob.

Jacob says, "China and Russia heavily censor the internet to maintain government control.

The UK enforces moderate censorship for safety, especially to protect minors.

The USA supports online freedom, limiting censorship to harmful or illegal content.

Each country's policies reflect its government's priorities: control, stability, safety, or individual freedom.

Jacob says, "For example, in the UK, freedom of speech is valued, and citizens are given freedom to search for information online without too much censorship.

However, in the UK, we also care about protecting individuals from harmful content, particularly young people.

In Russia, websites that are anti-government are often restricted, and people have been arrested for writing or posting anti-government content.

This is because, in Russia, they focus on maintaining national pride and government control." Well done.

That brings us to the end of the first section, compare online censorship in different countries.

Let's move on to the next section, argue for or against privacy technologies.

Argue for or against privacy technologies: Accessing censored content.

As we have seen, sometimes a government removes content because it is harmful or dangerous.

However, governments can abuse their power and censor information.

People can use technology to get around censorship, access information, and share their voice.

You will explore three types of privacy-enhancing technologies: Number one, encryption.

Number two, onion routing.

Number three, virtual private networks, VPNs.

Encryption.

Encryption is the process of transforming data into a code.

Every encryption process can be decrypted to return the original data.

Encryption is the process that converts readable text, plain text, into an unreadable format, ciphertext, using a specific algorithm and a key, making it secure.

Only those with the key can decrypt the data and read the original information.

This is crucial for protecting sensitive data like personal information, financial details, and confidential communications.

Ciphertext is the encrypted form of the message, meaning it's an unreadable version of the original readable text.

This process is achieved through encryption, where an algorithm called a cypher and a key are used to scramble the plain text.

So in this example, I have my top-secret message.

I can use encryption to change it into ciphertext.

The resulting ciphertext can only be deciphered and returned to its original format, plain text, by someone with the correct key, also known as decryption.

Only people with the key can access the data after it has been encrypted.

This is why encryption can be used to restrict access.

Server-to-client encryption.

When you use a messaging service, the service receives your message unencrypted and then encrypts it to send to the receiver.

In this example, the sender sends a message, the messaging service encrypts it, and sends it to the receiver.

With end-to-end encryption, the message is encrypted on your device so that it can only be decrypted by the sender and receiver.

The messaging service sends the message without being able to read it.

Here's a sender.

They send an encrypted message to the messaging service, who send on the encrypted message to the receiver.

Onion routers.

Onion routers are pieces of free software that provide anonymity online.

The onion browser is designed to look like a regular web browser, complete with a search engine.

Regular web browsers.

When your regular browser connects to a website, it sends the message directly to the server hosting the website.

Here's your web browser.

It sends a request to the website, and the website sends a response back to your web browser.

Onion browsers.

Instead, an onion browser connects to the website through a chain of several computers.

These computers are all connected in a network called an onion network.

An onion browser works by analysing web traffic through a network of volunteer-run servers called relays, using a technique called onion routing.

This routing encrypts data and bounces it through multiple relays before it reaches its destination, making it difficult to track the user's IP address or browsing activity.

This process, known as onion routing, obscures both the user's identity and their online activity from surveillance and traffic analysis.

By encrypting and bouncing traffic through multiple relays, it makes it difficult to trace the data back to its origin.

This process, akin to an onion with multiple layers, makes it hard to trace the original source of the traffic.

The exit node removes the final layer of encryption before sending the data to the destination.

Fill in the blanks to complete the sentences: "Blank" is the process of transforming data into a code.

"Blank" are pieces of free software that provide anonymity online.

Pause the video and have a try.

Let's check the answers.

Encryption is the process of transforming data into a code.

Onion routers are pieces of free software that provide anonymity online.

Onion routers and encryption.

Keep the messages sent to your browser secure, it is encrypted by several layers of encryption.

The encrypted data is transmitted through a series of network nodes called onion routers, each of which peels away a single layer, revealing the data's next destination.

When the final layer is decrypted, the message arrives at its destination.

The sender remains anonymous because each node knows only the location of the immediately preceding and following node.

How do onion routers provide anonymity? Every computer in the chain that your message passes through can only see one step behind it and one step ahead of it.

This means that if an attacker investigates anyone in the chain, they can't find out who originally sent the message or where it's going.

The second way that onion routers help to hide your identity is through a network.

There are millions of users worldwide, and when they send messages into the network, it becomes very difficult to trace individual paths and therefore prove who is sending messages to whom.

The World Wide Web.

We can split the World Wide Web into three different layers: Number one, the Surface Web.

These are all the websites you can access through a search engine.

Number two, the Deep Web.

This is the largest portion of the web and includes all the websites you can't access through a search engine.

The Dark Web.

This is a subsection of the Deep Net.

These websites are hosted on dark networks.

The Surface Web: 1% to 10% of websites, e.

g.

public websites and homepages.

The Deep Web: 90% to 99% of websites, e.

g.

school intranets, library service websites, social media accounts accessed after you input your username and password.

The Dark Web: size unknown, e.

g.

black market websites, blogs the author wants to keep hidden, invite-only forums. The Dark Web.

As well as sending messages, onion routers can be used to host websites.

Websites on the onion network are part of the Dark Web, which means all of the websites that are not indexed by search engines and are hosted on dark networks.

Websites on the onion network have the domain.

onion as opposed to.

com or.

co.

uk.

These websites are much harder to find and therefore remove.

Virtual Private Networks, VPNs.

A virtual private network, VPN, creates a secure and encrypted connection between a computer and other computers via the internet.

VPN stands for virtual private network, a service that protects your internet connection and your privacy online.

Using a VPN is often called tunnelling.

If you imagine your standard internet connection is going outside and driving to the shops, someone could see that your car left your house, drove to the shop, and came back.

A VPN is like an underground tunnel.

Instead of driving on public road, you drive through this underground tunnel and pop out of the exit where a bunch of other people are also popping out in cars that look just like yours.

If someone was watching your house, they might notice you went into the tunnel and came out a while later, but they wouldn't be able to see into the tunnel to know exactly where you're going.

And anyone watching the exit of the tunnel wouldn't know which car is yours.

A VPN is this hypothetical company.

It acts as a disconnect between the website you're trying to access and your router.

This hides your computer's internet protocol, or IP address, from the website you visit, which makes it more difficult for anyone with bad intentions to find and access your computer.

Use of VPNs: Number one, to encrypt your communications with the internet.

Number two, to connect computers in an organisation securely.

Number three, to work remotely.

Number for, to hide your identity and location from a website.

I'd like you to match the definitions.

We have onion browser, encryption, and VPN.

The definitions are the process of applying an algorithm to plain text to produce ciphertext that cannot be understood without decryption.

A piece of free software that provides anonymity online.

A secure and encrypted connection between a computer and other computers via the internet.

Pause a video and see if you can match the words to the definitions.

Let's take a look at the answers.

An onion browser is a piece of free software that provides anonymity online.

Encryption is the process of applying an algorithm to plain text to produce ciphertext that cannot be understood without decryption.

A VPN is a secure and encrypted connection between a computer and other computers via the internet.

Encryption, VPNs, and onion browsers.

Encryption, VPNs, and onion routers can be used to help a citizen avoid censorship.

Encryption.

A citizen could use encryption to hide the content of their communications online and make it difficult for them to be tracked.

VPN.

A citizen could use a VPN to access information that is normally restricted in their country.

Onion browser.

A citizen could use an onion browser to prevent their government from seeing websites they have accessed.

I have a task here for you.

I'd like you to give it a try.

I'd like you to argue for or against privacy technologies.

Should privacy-enhancing technologies be illegal? It is not illegal to use encryption, onion routers, or virtual private networks, VPNs, in the UK, but do you think it should be? Consider whether you think this technology should be made illegal and why.

Write a three-minute speech that explains your argument.

Pause the video to have a think.

I'd like to give you some feedback.

Lucas says, "I think privacy-enhancing technology should be illegal.

If the government doesn't think we should see certain information to protect us from bad content online, then that's best for everyone.

If these technologies are illegal, then all people have a right to access the same content, and that would be fair.

These types of technologies can be used to commit crimes.

Allowing access means that it makes things difficult to police and may put people at risk.

Jacob says, "I think people have a right to say what they want.

It's not fair that governments can silence people's opinions.

I think privacy-enhancing technology should be legal.

People don't just use them to commit crimes.

They use them to keep their stuff private.

There are so many people trying to access other people's data illegally online.

Why wouldn't people try as hard as they can to keep themselves safe?" Every country has a different stance on privacy-enhancing technologies, and not all see them as favourable.

Depending on the country, governments may impose fines on both the citizen and the VPN service provider.

VPNs may be legal in some countries.

Cybercrime or infringements are not.

The terms will probably say you're responsible for any illegal activity on your part, and the VPN provider may also say it will report suspected fraud or illegal activity to law enforcement.

Read the terms and conditions of any service you're using.

Let's summarise right to access.

Not all internet regulation is the removal of illegal content.

Some of it may instead be considered as censorship.

Laws around access to information online differ across the world.

Technologies can be used to help citizens in areas of high levels of internet censorship to access and share information.