 Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient as determined by a government or private institution, for example, corporate censorship. Governments and private organizations' citation needed may engage in censorship. Other groups or institutions may propose an petition for censorship, indeed, such private activity is protected by the First Amendment. When an individual such as an author or other creator engages in censorship of their own works or speech, it is referred to as self-censorship.Citation needed it occurs in a variety of different media, including speech, books, music, films, and other arts, the press, radio, television, and the Internet for the variety of claimed reasons including national security, to control obscenity, child pornography, and hate speech, to protect children or other vulnerable groups, to promote or restrict political or religious views, and to prevent slander and libel. Direct censorship may or may not be legal, depending on the type, location, and content. Many countries provide strong protections against censorship, i-law, but none of these protections are absolute and frequently the claim of necessity to balance conflicting rights is made, in order to determine what could and could not be censored. There are no laws against self-censorship.