Senator Durbin Investigates Global Internet Freedom

May 20, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC – United States Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) chaired a hearing today on global internet freedom and corporate responsibility. The hearing examined the role of U.S. internet companies in the suppression of freedom of speech and press in certain countries.

"Freedom of expression is a fundamental right guaranteed to all people and the advent of the internet has allowed billions of people to exercise this right more fully," Durbin said. "But many confront censorship and jail time for expressing themselves online. U.S. technology companies face difficult challenges when dealing with repressive governments, but they have a moral obligation to protect freedom of expression."

American internet companies now operate in many countries where the internet is censored or where governments use the internet as a tool to repress their citizens. The result of these efforts is not only the suppression of freedom of speech, but also too often the persecution and imprisonment of those who violate a state’s strict internet regulations.

U.S. companies are faced with demands that they filter the content that they provide, or worse, that they turn over to the government personally identifiable information about users.

In a much-publicized case last year, Chinese dissident Shi Tao was convicted of leaking state secrets and imprisoned for ten years for forwarding an email to an NGO outside China. Crucial to his conviction was information, including the IP address from which the email was sent, that was provided to the Chinese authorities by Yahoo!.

Google received significant public criticism when it decided to launch Google.cn, a China-specific search site that removes results to conform with China’s censorship policies.

Human rights groups have accused Cisco of providing networking equipment that forms the backbone of the Great Firewall of China and is used by other repressive countries to block websites, filter content, and monitor users. Cisco was singled out at today’s hearing after the Subcommittee was provided with a Cisco PowerPoint presentation which discusses Chinese internet monitoring, and identifies "Cisco Opportunities" for marketing their products to the Chinese government.

All three companies testified at today’s hearing along with representative from Human Rights Watch and the Global Internet Freedom Consortium.

Not all the news is negative, however. Durbin pointed to Cuba as an example where students use flash drives, digital cameras, and clandestine internet connections to post blog entries and download information. Yoani Sanchez, a Cuban blogger, poses as a tourist at internet cafes to make posts on her blog. She was recently named one of Time Magazine’s most influential people.

The Global Internet Freedom Consortium has developed technology that has allowed millions of internet users to break through firewalls and avoid censorship.

Source: Senator Dick Durbin