Opinion: Egypt's YouTube Ban

Many people across the world take social media sites for granted, signing onto Facebook, Twitter and YouTube without thought. But what if one could not check their Facebook or see the hot new YouTube video because of a government ban? That’s what is happening in Egypt, where the government is about to set a YouTube ban in place.On Saturday, Feb. 9, an Egyptian court placed a one-month ban on YouTube, saying YouTube failed to remove all anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim videos from the site. The video that started the controversy was the “Innocence of Muslims” video that was posted in September 2012. The court still has to decide whether or not they will place a ban on any other social media site that helped circulate the video. The judge that presided over this case said that this is a “temporary punishment.”  When this ban will be implemented is unknown.How does a government place a ban on the Internet? It seems quite ridiculous, considering that many of the websites that have been created are open and free for public use. To ban a certain website seems like a short-term fix to satisfy government officials, not a long-term solution. These bans are absurd. No matter what, people are going to find a way to access the banned sites. However, bans on websites can shed some new light.Here in America, people have the right to search what they want, whenever and wherever.  Americans have complete and utter freedom when it comes to the Internet. People can post almost anything, knowing that they are not breaking any laws. Americans take for granted the amount of freedom they have on the Internet. Just hope and pray that the American government does not go to the extreme of placing Internet bans.But if they do, Americans must ask themselves: how will we react?