One of the results of the growth in communications technology has been the reduced ability of individual countries to legally constrain information. The impact of communication on authoritarian governments has been well documented, but democratic nations also wish to control the flow of information into their countries.

   This paper examines attempts by Great Britain, Israel, and Canada to restrict access to information in matters of national security and in the protection of a criminal justice system. The failure of these nations to control information points out the probable futility of such actions in an age of increasingly digitalized information and the need for an international definition of freedom of expression.