Censorship SPES 

Censorship is addressed heavily in both Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Rebecca 
Mackinnon’s TED Talk. However, they are addressed differently. In Fahrenheit 451, material 
media such as books are censored, while Mackinnon shares how information is censored 
electronically. Furthermore, Fahrenheit 451 is a prediction of what could happen to a 
dystopian world, while Mackinnon’s talk shows what censorship is occuring in the world 
currently. In her TED Talk, Mackinnon discusses how governments around the world have 
asked technology companies to censor certain topics or companies in cyberspace. She says 
that people can, “use the Internet to hold government accountable”(Mackinnon). In the world 
today, the Internet plays a large role in daily life, and has positive and negative effects. Today, 
the Internet is the fastest form of communication, but can still be state-mandated.. In 
cyberspace, governments can delete information, but printed media has to be deleted 
physically. In Fahrenheit 451, the government censored printed media, such as books. In 
Fahrenheit 451, “they pumped the cold fluid from the numeraled 451 tanks stapped to their 
shoulders. They coated each book, they pumped rooms full of it”(Bradbury). In both, the 
government is censoring information, which can make the public very ignorant. However, 
information in cyberspace is censored differently printed media. Online, the government can 
order the information be taken down, censoring the public immediately. When the 
information is physical, it can be hard to censor it immediately and effectively. In conclusion, n 
both, information is seen as a threat, so it is therefore censored or filtered. Though the 
censorship in Fahrenheit 451 and Mackinnon’s TED Talk are on different platforms, 
governments are still censoring the public.