转载:Clinton aims at China in free internet speech

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INDIRA LAKSHMANAN, NEW YORK
January 22, 2010

US SECRETARY of State Hillary Clinton will call today for an uncensored global internet where individuals and companies can operate without fear of repression or computer attacks such as those that Google says emanated recently from China.

Mrs Clinton will outline the Obama Administration's vision of promoting internet freedom and security, highlighting how the US is supporting organisations around the world to develop tools to circumvent firewalls and promote democracy and economic growth, officials said.

Alec Ross, Mrs Clinton's adviser on technology, told a policy forum on Wednesday in Washington that her speech would frame the issue as a threat to the free flow of information and resources.

''Do we want to live in a world where there is one internet, one knowledge commons from which we can all draw'' or where the ''knowledge you have access to is based on what country you live in and the whim of the censors?'', Mr Ross said at the New America Foundation.

Google, which runs the most popular internet search site, said earlier this month that it might end its operations in China after what it described as an infiltration of its technology and the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Google said dozens of other US companies were also attacked.

Mrs Clinton's speech will assert that internet freedom ''exists at the convergence of economic issues, human rights issues and security issues,'' Mr Ross said.

The top US diplomat will deliver the speech at the Newseum, an interactive museum on the news media located near the US Capitol. Mrs Clinton plans to underscore US concerns about censorship and hacking in countries, including China. California-based Google said it would stop censoring its search results and began talks with Chinese authorities. The Chinese Government has denied it was involved in the cyber attacks.

Leslie Harris, president of the Centre for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based advocacy group, said she hoped Mrs Clinton would call for ''greater corporate responsibility'' in markets such as China, where companies such as Yahoo! and Google had agreed to modify their products in order to do business.

Ms Harris praised the Obama Administration for successfully ''pushing back'' when China tried to require filtering software to be installed in all laptops sold there.

Internet censorship existed in almost a third of the world, Mr Ross said. Mrs Clinton plans to highlight the use of internet tools including Twitter by dissidents in countries such as Iran.

The State Department has $5 million ($A5.4 million) available in funds appropriated by Congress last year for organisations that promote technologies to get around firewalls, for training internet journalists and for other efforts promoting democracy. The department has already allocated $US15 million to similar organisations, although officials say they cannot name the groups without endangering them.

Mrs Clinton will also cite innovations the US is developing to help people use mobile phones and the internet to share information and resources. One example is the State Department's text-messaging campaign to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti, which has raised more than $US25 million in $US10 donations.

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