What is censorship?

Censorship is the suppression of information or ideas. Censorship occurs when a person or group of people restrict access, ban or destroy material they find to be objectionable or offensive. Censorship can be applied to almost any form of expression including books, films, songs, paintings and speech.

With relation to information sources, censorship can occur when a person or group of people place pressure on authorities and institutions including libraries to restrict access to, remove or destroy material. In the past censorship has usually been applied to books and speeches, but another dimension has emerged with the increase of material found on the Internet.

What is freedom of speech?

Freedom of speech is regarded as a basic human right within democratic societies. Freedom of speech means a person has the right to express their views on any given topic even if those views are offensive to other people or contradict other people's views.