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Can Newt nix the net?

Newt Gingrich's plans to censor the Internet are doomed to failure.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, a primary architect of the "Republican revolution" that was so roundly rejected by voters in the recent US elections, seems to be toying with the idea of running for president in 2008.

Newt is searching for policy buttons to push that will score with voters, and one of his latest wacky brainstorms is to promote government censorship of the Internet. He's not just talking about ill-advised and unworkable schemes that would restrict "harmful" materials only to adults - he wants to actually shut down websites, starting with ones that promote what he calls a "jihadist" message.

At least, that's the first topic area on his censorship agenda. Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press, he suggested that a panel of federal judges be assigned to decide which sites should be shut down. Newt's concept seems to be that freedom of speech isn't practical when there's a "war on terror" - and the US Constitution's First Amendment is on his hit list.

It's certainly true that jihadist sites, like a wide variety of unrelated sites that spout hate and promote evil, are utterly despicable, and they arguably can do real damage, which brings up the inevitable "you're not allowed to yell fire in a crowded theater" analogies.

But take a memo, Newt. Regardless of how you feel about absolutist views when it comes to freedom of speech, attempts to censor the Internet are doomed to failure. That's the technical reality, and the sooner you and other would-be censors get it through your heads the better.

The Internet is of course international in nature. Judges or other authorities in one locale might decree particular web sites to be verboten and order those sites shut down or attempt to block access to them from within their jurisdiction.

But web sites can be hosted anywhere in the world - and if you close down or block local access to one instance of a site, other "mirrored" copies quickly spring up. Would-be censors quickly find themselves playing an Internet version of Whac-a-Mole, to little or no effect.

Unless you're willing and able to entirely cut people off from all Internet access, effective censorship of Internet materials cannot be accomplished. Even in China, where an elaborate censorship and content control system is an integral part of their Internet infrastructure, users find ways around the restrictions when they want to access foreign sites that have been supposedly blocked by the authorities. And web sites can always find ways to camouflage themselves - and in going underground become even more attractive to their potential audiences by virtue of having gained a "forbidden" status.

The urge to censor is in the very fabric of most governments, a means to mold and control the hearts and minds of their populations. As long as there have been governments, and probably much further back, attempts at censorship - whether for ostensibly benign or blatantly evil purposes - has been the order of the day.

But in the Internet age, censorship has become a misguided and largely impotent bogeyman. It is still an easy way to score political points - but it cannot attain its stated goals, and risks provoking a damaging backlash. The sooner governments of the world learn this 21st century reality, the freer - and ultimately safer - we'll all be.

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