Google and U.S. vs. Chinese Censorship

Jan. 22, 2010 -- Two cheers for Google and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Last week we saw Google publicly complain about China's growing censorship of the Internet -- and worse, cyber-attacks on Google's search engine that were, in all likelihood, backed by the Chinese government. The search engine giant went so far as to threaten to leave the Chinese market if these concerns weren't addressed.

Wednesday, Clinton, in a speech carried on the State Department Web site, declared that unrestricted access to the Internet would become a top priority for the administration – and directed sharp criticism at a number of countries around the world, notably Egypt and its recent arrest of 30 bloggers, for the recent spike in Internet censorship around the world.

But she gave special emphasis to China, now with the world's largest number of Web users, calling on that government "to conduct a thorough review of the cyber intrusions that led Google to make its announcement. And we also look for that investigation and its results to be transparent."

Secretary Clinton built her case on what might be called the "Three Internet Freedoms":

1. The right of all peoples to have access to an uncensored Internet.

2. The right of individuals to exercise free speech on the Internet.

3. The right of businesses and other organizations to have access to uncensored information on the Internet in order to compete fairly.

Pretty impressive stuff, actually, and one showing a level of understanding about technology that one rarely encounters inside the Beltway. Kudos to Clinton for stepping up, in an era of kowtowing to dictators, for human freedom and (in the case of those Egyptian bloggers) liberty.