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Everybody has access to the Internet - and that includes people who morally object to certain things and children who should be protected from certain things.

The word censorship is unfortunate because it suggests the actions of someone like Hitler or Saddam Hussein who is against their citizens knowing the full truth because it is too horrific. But stopping unpalatable items being published to a prospective audience of billions is done for a good reason - to protect public morals and people's sensitivities.

International trade barriers are normally put up by countries to protect their own economy. America is in the forefront of this shortsighted policy. It in fact does the opposite. It starts a type of trade war and other countries will boycott your country's goods if you make it difficult to import theirs. France is another country which is always trying to block imports yet quite keen to export. It is hypocrisy.

In the long run, it harms trade because other countries understandably retaliate. The best system for everybody is free trade. The more exports and imports a country boasts, the more jobs get created. Obviously, each country wants to export more than it imports, but that isn't going to happen. Take the UK, for example. Its balance of payments on manufactured goods is atrociously in the red. But it makes up for this with huge profits in the services industries. So, it's swings and roundabouts.

But to equat Intenet 'censorship' with international trade barriers is an odd statement.

Learn more about this author, Phil Hill.
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