The Internet is considered by most to be a “global village” that allows the free expression of ideas. What people may not be aware of is that this free expression of ideas is not world wide.

While several countries, including the United States, have no restrictions to the access on the Internet, some countries do restrict the information that can be accessed on the super information highway.

Martin Mehl, a senior in journalism, is an international student from Germany. Mehl described Europe’s access to the Internet as very restricting.

“They [Germany] have very strict laws on data access and data protection,” Mehl said. “Public accessibility in Europe is nothing like the United States, it’s actually the counterpart.”

Mehl said one of the major factors in European law is intrusion of privacy and anything that is private is not for public access.

Restrictions come in the form of passwords which are needed to gain access to certain information on the web. However, more regulations are on the way. The technology for this restricted access is not available yet.

“Currently, they [Germany] have the same as the United States, you can have free access, but they do try to have complete regulation by passwording and data protection,” he said.

The problem with the restrictions is that the technology is not there for the total restriction.

“The development was too fast to really catch up with implementation,” Mehl said.

The same can’t be said for other parts of the world. Karinah Piip, an international student from Hong Kong, said there are no restrictions to the Internet.

Piip said access to the Internet is widely used at both the schools and in the home. Most of the information on the Internet though, is very westernized.

“Most homepages are from America,” Piip said.

According to a Wall Street Journal article, 90 percent of the content on the Internet is in English.

Mehl said Germany has about 9 percent of the Internet. To gain this access though, the government must give permission.

“You have to go though a lot of bureaucratic structures to basically justify what you are doing,” Mehl said.

What does the future hold for this technology? Mehl believes there is a need to get an organized structure for the Internet. A body much like the Federal Communication Commission should be set up abroad and the United States should be the leader, he said.

“It should be coming from the United States as a guideline and then the other nations can adapt,” he said.