Since digital privacy is a global issue, governments worldwide have to develop specific policies and regulations, but they might vary across cultures. For example, countries like China, Cuba, Ethiopia, Syria, Pakistan, Bahrain, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan censor the websites that their citizens have access.
The leaders of these nations believe that racist, politically extreme, and pornographic content can harm the stability and security of these states. According to the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), individuals have the right to privacy, restricting organizations’ right to collect and process personal information. Indeed, such measures are critical for maintaining political stability and ensuring digital security.
GDPR applies to European citizens, even on the territory of the U.S., which has not developed proper regulations about this issue yet. Thus, individual states had to implement their own rules, such as the California Consumer Protection Act, to provide digital protection to their residents. Although web content is not restricted in the United States except when the intellectual property should be protected, Americans still try to establish parental control mode on their children’s devices. Overall, it appears that more freedom is available in Europe and the U.S. than in authoritarian regimes, but Americans seem to have less digital security.