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| Hillary Clinton at Freedom Online (Photo: RNW/Willemien Groot) |
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Dutch
Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal has pledged six million euros towards internet
freedom projects. Speaking in The Hague at the international Freedom Online
conference, Rosenthal said on Thursday that it was unacceptable that countries
are increasingly blocking websites, obstructing and manipulating the publishing
of online information, and prosecuting and imprisoning bloggers.
' Great
initiative'
- Syrian
blogger 'Khaled', who withholds his name for fear of his family's safety,
praised the Dutch support for bloggers in dictatorially governed countries.
But, he said, it must be clear how the money is being used, and by whom.
- 'I think it's a great initiative. Especially as we saw the impact of social media today. Because social media turned every citizen into a journalist, I think it is a great initiative if the funds were allocated in a correct way. For me it would be creating a dedicated platform for human rights and for the protection of citizens who are bloggers, media citizens or journalists. A platform especially designed for bloggers and serving human rights.'
Foreign
Minister Rosenthal said,
"For
that matter the Dutch government is allocating one million euro to support
projects providing backup internet solutions and mesh networks and rapid
response mechanisms to bloggers and others in repressive environments. Over the
next four years five million euros from our Human Rights Fund will go towards
projects promoting internet freedom. Targeted countries include for instance
Zimbabwe, Syria and Iran."
At the
conference Rosenthal pleaded for an international Coalitioin of Countries, a
forum to gather and discuss information about breaches of internet freedom.
This should involve social organisations, technology companies and individual
citizens.
Business
US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at the conference that she is worried
about the growth of dictatorial regimes' grip on the internet, and about the
blockades they impose. Ms Clinton said that a partitioning of cyberspace into
separate government-controlled national internet systems would be disastrous
for internet freedom.
Secretary
Clinton said she supported a ban on sales of "internet bugging
devices" to dictatorial regimes, and would impose sanctions to enforce the
ban. But businesses have a duty in this too: they should consider whether their
technology could be used for the wrong ends. Ms Clinton said,
"Sometimes
companies say to us at the State Department : tell us what to do and we’ll do
it. The fact is, you can’t wait for instructions. In the 21 century smart
companies have to react before they find themselves in the cross-hairs of
controversy."
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Uri
Rosenthal at Freedom Online
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