US Secretary Hillary Clinton Discusses Internet Freedom

The Hague, Netherlands December 8 – Hillary Clinton discussed the importance of Internet freedom in her opening remarks at the Freedom Online conference co-hosted by Google, Inc. and the Dutch foreign minister.

In her speech, Clinton identifies the Internet as an area more and more connected with basic humans rights concerns. “As people increasingly turn to the Internet to conduct important aspects of their lives, we have to make sure that human rights are as respected online as offline.”

Online rights are a serious concern in a number of countries today. Clinton brought up a few instances of online infringement – In the past six months, Syrian, Iranian, and Russian bloggers and online activists have been arrested, imprisoned, or killed for expressing views and organizing citizens.

Thesse issues should be important to all of us, she said, not only because we have a responsibility to support human rights and fundamental freedoms, but also because benefits of the network grow tremendously as the number of users grow.

“[T]he more people that are online and contributing ideas, the more valuable the entire network becomes to all the other users. In this way, all users, through the billions of individual choices we make about what information to seek or share, fuel innovation, enliven public debates, quench a thirst for knowledge, and connect people in ways that distance and cost made impossible just a generation ago.”

Perpetuating a free and inclusive Internet, Clinton suggested, requires participation from multiple parties. In particular, she called for high tech companies to exercise judgment in marketing to governments that might use their products to stymie rights of citizens. Sanctions are one part of the equation, but private companies are also integral in addressing Internet freedoms.

To ensure freedom and interoperability in the future, Clinton underlined the importance of preserving the “current multi-stakeholder approach, which includes governments, the private sector, and citizens, and supports the free flow of information, in a single network.”

Commitment to global participation is a top priority for various Internet activities – Clinton’s language echoed some of the policies and procedures of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the organization responsible for the Internet namespace, and dedicated to “keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable.”

Activities of organizations, individuals, and governments all have an impact on the future of the Internet, according to Clinton, and this should impact how we act online. For gTLD operators coming out of ICANN’s generic Top-Level Domain program, this means careful consideration of the way domain operations will affect Internet users and bring additional value to the Internet. Maintaining operations that cater to needs of the Internet user and global citizen are paramount for such an important resource, which will affect future generations of users.