Clinton on Internet Freedom

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton: Remarks on Internet Freedom, “On their own, new technologies do not take sides in the struggle for freedom and progress, but the United States does. We stand for a single internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas. And we recognize that the world’s information infrastructure will become what we and others make of it. Now, this challenge may be new, but our responsibility to help ensure the free exchange of ideas goes back to the birth of our republic. The words of the First Amendment to our Constitution are carved in 50 tons of Tennessee marble on the front of this building. And every generation of Americans has worked to protect the values etched in that stone.”
Good to see the Secretary of State looks to the internet as a tool that can reflect both democratic and totalitarian views and how the US has the imperative to promote democracy through technology.
Susan Crawford, Leadership and persuasion: Internet freedom, “Secretary Clinton’s major address today on internet freedom made the connection between humanity and technology. We’ve been waiting a long time for our political leaders to have the courage to express thoughts like this, to have a vision about the role of the internet in human history, and today the day arrived.”
David Weinberger, Hillary Clinton’s Internet policy speech: “It’s thrilling that a Secretary of State would claim ‘freedom to connect’ as a basic human right. That’s a very big stake in the ground. Likewise, it’s sort of amazing that the State Department is funding the development of tools to help users circumvent government restrictions on access. On the negative side, it’s distressing (but not surprising) that the Secretary of State should come out against anonymity so we can track down copyright infringers. Of course, in response to a question she said that we have to strike a balance so that the anonymity of dissenters is protected even as the anonymity of file sharers is betrayed. I just don’t know how you do that.”