The internet dilemmas in the guide — privacy, anonymity and surveillance, the right to be forgotten, the digital divide, freedom of expression, censorship — all have the same shape. The thing that causes the harm is the thing that makes the benefit possible.
Three properties of the internet, each read from both sides.
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Two of the named dilemmas are worth knowing in detail, because they have real legal answers you can cite.
Anonymity protects
- Whistleblowers, activists and people under repressive rule
- Support groups where being named would be dangerous
- Ordinary privacy from advertisers and from the state
Anonymity shields
- Harassment with no consequence
- Fraud, impersonation and coordinated abuse
- Nobody to hold responsible after the fact
Real-world examples you can name
Google Spain v AEPD — the right to be forgotten — Court of Justice of the EU, May 2014
A Spanish man asked for search results about a long-settled debt to stop appearing under his name. The court held that a search engine is a data controller and can be required to de-list results that are inadequate, irrelevant or excessive — without the original page being deleted.
Who it affected: Anyone in the EU asking a search engine to de-list results about them.
Apple v the FBI over the San Bernardino iPhone — February–March 2016
The FBI asked a court to compel Apple to write software that would disable the passcode limits on a locked iPhone. Apple refused, arguing that such a tool could not be confined to one device. The case ended when the FBI paid a third party to unlock the phone, leaving the legal question unresolved.
Who it affected: Every user of encrypted devices, and investigators who cannot read them.
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A network designed to route around damage treats blocking as damage. That is why censorship online tends to be partial, and why states that want it complete have to act at the provider layer.
How blocking is done, and what it costs
- Remove the content at the source — effective, and needs the host's cooperation or jurisdiction over it.
- Block the address — easy to order, easy to work around, and it often catches unrelated services.
- Slow it down — deniable, hard to prove, and it makes a service unusable without ever being called a ban.
- Shut the region off — total, and it stops hospitals and businesses along with the protest.
Real-world examples you can name
Government internet shutdowns — tracked annually by Access Now since 2016
States order operators to suspend mobile data or the whole internet, usually during protests, elections or exams. India has recorded the most shutdowns of any country for several consecutive years.
Who it affected: Everyone in the affected region — including businesses, hospitals and students.
How this is tested — this micro carries most of the 8- and 12-mark questions in topic 3.4. It comes up two ways:
Paper 1 — structured question
- Part c: evaluate a restriction on internet access or content
- Part b: explain a concern about anonymity or surveillance
Paper 2 — source-based question
- Q3: contrast two sources on internet freedom
- Q4: synthesise sources on regulating the internet
The trap: picking a team: An answer that is entirely for free expression, or entirely for safety, cannot pass the middle band. The markband wants both and then a decision.
To what extent should governments be able to restrict access to the internet?
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.