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Clinton Renews Call for Internet Freedom
February 16, 2011
By: Chinyelu Odunze | Printer Friendly

On February 15, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a speech in Washington, DC renewing the call for internet freedom, championing the internet’s contribution to the uprising in Egypt, and warning repressive nations that blocking Internet freedom will backfire. 

Secretary Clinton called for the world community to adopt common standards for internet use.  "If people around the world are going to come together every day online and have a safe and productive experience, we need a shared vision to guide us," Secretary Clinton said during a speech entitled "Internet Rights and Wrongs: Choices & Challenges in a Networked World" at George Washington University.

The February 15 speech on internet freedom comes 13 months after Secretary Clinton first spoke on behalf of the topic, during a censorship battle between China and Google.  In her January 2010 speech, Secretary Clinton called on the global community to protect freedom of expression, association, and assembly in the online world.

This time, Secretary Clinton criticized those countries that tried to suppress its citizens with web-based tactics.  "We believe that governments who have erected barriers to internet freedom – whether they're technical filters or censorship regimes or attacks on those who exercise their rights to expression and assembly online – will eventually find themselves boxed in," Secretary Clinton said.

Secretary Clinton said the recent internet-fuelled toppling of rulers in Egypt and Tunisia, and protests in Iran, demonstrated that governments could no longer choose which freedoms to grant citizens.  While citizens in Egypt used the internet to organize protests and Iranians banded together online after the last election, Secretary Clinton acknowledged that the internet is not solely responsible for what happened in those regions.   Specifically, PC Magazine quoted Secretary Clinton as stating: "Egypt isn't inspiring people because they communicated using Twitter. It is inspiring because people came together and persisted in demanding a better future."

"In both of these countries, the ways that citizens and the authorities used the Internet reflected the power of connection technologies on the one hand as an accelerant of political, social, and economic change, and on the other hand as a means to stifle or extinguish that change," Secretary Clinton continued. 

Therein lies the challenge, Secretary Clinton said, "Governments have to choose to live up to the commitment to protect free expression, assembly, and association."

Additionally, Secretary Clinton cautioned nations that try to block the internet and other vital services to restrict expression and opposition content will as a way of stifling their citizens will pay moral, political and economic costs.

"Countries may be able to absorb these costs for a time, but we believe they're unsustainable in the long run," Secretary Clinton said. "Instead, I urge countries everywhere to join us in a bet we have made- a bet that an open Internet will lead to stronger, more prosperous countries."

For previous news on Internet Freedom, please see:
A Brief Survey on the Status of Internet Freedom in the World

To View Video of the Speech, please see:
Secretary Clinton’s Internet Freedom Speech at GW

Sources:
BBC News - China Warns US over Clinton’s Web Freedom Call

CCN - Clinton Calls for Global Recognition of Internet Freedom

CNET  - Clinton Speech Pushes for Internet Freedom

PC Magazine - After Egypt, Clinton Calls for ‘Serious Conversation’ on Internet Freedom

The U.S. State Department - Internet Freedom