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Ensuring Internet Freedom Is Top Priority, State Official Says

Students in South Korea use the Internet. (AP)

By Carol Walker
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington --An informed citizenry is one of the greatest forces for global peace and stability, said Josette Shiner, under secretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs, at a State Department briefing February 14 announcing the formation of the Global Internet Freedom Task Force.

“It’s a top priority for the State Department and the U.S. government to do all we can to ensure maximum access to information over the Internet and to assure minimum success by censors,” Shiner said.

The task force will make recommendations to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on policy and diplomatic initiatives, Shiner said.

The task force, which includes State Department officials in international communications policy, human rights, democracy, business advocacy and corporate responsibility, will work with U.S. businesses, nongovernmental organizations, the European Union and other governments to address Internet freedom issues.

“Many technology companies share a strong commitment to be socially proactive and want to work to help those who lack the freedom we often take for granted,” said Paula Dobriansky, under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs, at the briefing.

Shiner said the task force is especially interested in the foreign policy aspects of Internet freedom, including some governments’ use of Internet technology to restrict access to political content and to track and repress dissidents.

STATE CENSORSHIP OF THE INTERNET WIDESPREAD

Internet filtering and censorship by governments around the world is widespread, according to the OpenNet Initiative, a partnership between the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School and the Advanced Network Research Group at the Cambridge Security Programme at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

There are a few dozen countries where there is active filtering and censorship by the state of Internet activity, said John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center, in an interview with the Washington File.

“The task force will look to ensure that our concerns are being raised at all levels with governments and international organizations,” Shiner said. The task force is also very interested in considering Internet privacy issues, she said.

Shiner said the United States “has very serious concerns about the protection of privacy and data throughout the Internet globally and, in particular, some of the recent cases raised in China.”

In repressive regimes where the government does not want people to have the ability to speak freely, Palfrey said, the government blocks political speech on the Internet, usually requiring Internet service providers (ISPs) to install “censorware” to enforce the country’s censorship laws.

CHINA CITED AS “SERIOUS AREA OF CONCERN”

In China, which blocks the downloading of politically unacceptable information, ISPs are required to “police” their clients in places like Internet cafes.

“We will continue to press our concerns with the government of China,” Shiner said.  “We think this is a serious area of concern and one that we plan to engage in robustly.”

Different governments have their own reasons for filtering the Internet, but protecting both national security and community-accepted standards of decency frequently are cited. But sometimes the purpose is to curtail or censor free speech.

In Sweden, Internet freedom is complicated by the fact that the Swedish Constitution protects free speech but also specifies protection against invasion of privacy through computer databases. In many countries in the Middle East, Central Asia and East Asia, according to Palfrey, the state determines what kinds of Web sites people should not be permitted to access, and then arranges for those Web sites to be blocked.

“Free information empowers people and literally transforms nations,” Dobriansky said at the briefing. “The Internet especially can be a liberating force.  Topics once politically taboo can become freely discussed and people can communicate anonymously.  We must ensure it does not become a tool of repression.”

At the individual level in the United States, parental controls available for home filtering have become sophisticated over the years and pose few free speech problems here, according to J. Beckwith “Becky” Burr, a partner at Wilmer Hale, a law firm in Washington. Burr was the chief National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) official in the 1990s responsible for the development and implementation of U.S. policy on Internet governance and privacy.

In a Washington File interview, Burr said most people would agree that such “user-empowering” technology is important for families. “There is another debate about whether those same kinds of tools should be imposed on public institutions -- libraries have been very active in defending the right of library users to access any legal content and to protect the privacy of users.”

No international laws or treaties protect freedom of speech or even freedom of association by restricting Internet filtering around the world. A number of countries have rules related to filtering, however. In Australia, ISPs are required to block sites that violate Australian law if the sites are within the jurisdiction of the Australian government.

UNIVERSAL STANDARDS FOR FREE SPEECH ON THE INTERNET?

Human rights and other organizations argue that there are standards that every government should meet for human rights and free speech on the Internet, however such standards have not been universally accepted.

"The core principles of human rights recognize the ability of individuals to express their opinion," Shiner said.  "We don't feel that expressing opinion is a criminal activity."

Dobriansky said the task force also would work to "explore ways to address the growing concern over repressive governments' co-opting the Internet to serve their purposes."

Task force members include: Shiner; Dobriansky; Barry Lowenkron, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor; E. Anthony Wayne, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs; Ambassador David Gross, U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy; Jeffrey Krilla, deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor; Mark Lagon, deputy assistant secretary of state for international organizations; Judith Siegel, deputy assistant secretary of state for international information programs; and Matthew Waxman, deputy director of Secretary Rice's policy planning staff.

A transcript of the press briefing on global Internet freedom is available on the State Department Web site.