What began as a quiet post on Google’s official blog has ballooned into a full fledged international tempest, with the U.S. and China trading barbs about the role of the government in regulating the Internet.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday condemned cyber attacks and called for an Internet where all have equal access to knowledge and ideas. “Countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of Internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century,” she said.
After years of censoring Internet searches for the Chinese government, Google’s patience with Beijing abruptly came to an end last week. The trigger for Google’s announcement that it will stop most censorship of searches from China and may halt its business there was a sophisticated series of E-mail hacks based in China and targeting companies and human-rights activists. Some search results such as politically sensitive topics and pornography will continue to be censored as negotiations proceed with officials from the Chinese government, according to a Google official.
The decision has prompted serious examination in Washington, where for years lawmakers and civil liberties groups have decried both Chinese hackers and Google’s policy of abetting communist censors in Beijing. The incident touches on several resonant issues for lawmakers, including censorship, electronic espionage, intellectual property, and human rights. The White House, which was briefed about the cyberattack before the public announcement, said that it backs the “right to a free Internet. Full Story
