In a speech this morning on internet freedom, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised technology as a tool for advancing democracy and called for a “single internet where all of humanity has equal access to information and ideas.” Speaking at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., Clinton delivered a firm indictment of online censorship — but tread lightly on the subject of China.
Clinton began her remarks highlighting the impact of technology in galvanizing relief efforts in Haiti and mobilizing against crackdowns in Iran. “Even in authoritarian countries,” Clinton said, “information networks are helping people.”
Clinton cast the openness of online networks as a fundamental human right: “Today we have an urgent need to protect these rights on the internet frontiers of the 21st century.”
The speech arrives on the heels of Google’s threat to withdraw from China over its censorship, which Clinton initially defended. While Clinton did not touch on the Google issue explicitly in her speech, she did clearly rebuke all government censorship efforts. Clinton lumped China together with Tunisia and Uzbekistan as examples of nations that have “stepped up their censorship.”
The U.S. and China, Clinton acknowledged, “have different views on this.” Although Clinton suggested that the U.S. would “address this difference candidly,” she offered no details on this process.
But her words did lay out a sharp dichotomy between those that allow information to flow freely, and those that do not. Countries that restrict internet freedom, Clinton predicted, “risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century.”
