Web Access Is New Clinton Doctrine

[demoleft]

Source: wsj

The U.S. plans to make unrestricted access to the Internet a top foreign-policy priority, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to announce Thursday.

The announcement, which has been scheduled for weeks, comes in the wake of accusations last week that Chinese hackers penetrated Google Inc.'s computer networks. The attack, which also targeted Chinese dissidents, is the kind of issue Mrs. Clinton aims to address, said Alec Ross, a senior adviser.
...
Mrs. Clinton also hopes to diminish the "honor" beatings and killings of women in the Middle East by family members who discover they are using social media on the Internet, such as Facebook or Twitter, he said.

Mrs. Clinton sees Internet freedom as critical to America's longstanding promotion of democracy abroad, Mr. Ross added. She aims to shrink the proportion of the global population, now 30%, who live in countries that censor the Internet, he said.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703405704575015461404882830.html

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howard dean has been praising the internet and its strategic democratic virtue for years.
good initiative.

[Jamastiene]

1. Web Access should be worldwide and with better realtime language translation.

If people of the world could talk to each other and compare notes, we would have a better world.

This is a good move.

[demoleft]

4. totally agreed. n/t

[aSpeckofDust]

2. Hurray, more world police.

While I agree the internet is a great and wonderful thing for free speech and civil rights, we have no right to tell other countries how to behave. When we have senators currently footing a bill that will in all terms lead to our own internet being censored, we shouldn't go out preaching like we're some shining example of democracy. We're not.

[demoleft]

3. as the senators do, you are free to criticize it, to organize rallies against it. on the internet.

that's the internet.

the west and US is also this - DU and more.
try to ask a chinese or an iranian how does it feel there, before shooting against what we have.

[aSpeckofDust]

5. Never said they were better.

Also didn't say Mccain couldn't propose it, just that we shouldn't preach to the rest of the world. It's that level of arrogance that makes other countries hate us.

[demoleft]

6. ok. but it looks that even when US takes a good initiative...

...it must be slammed for some reason or another.
it's getting fashion (not referring to you in particular).

this is a good initiative, in my opinion.
ciao to you.

[onehandle]

7. Good plan. Seizing the servers of Free Republic would help too.

I kid. I kid.

Kinda.