US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has repeated her view that the world’s governments should respect Internet freedom, telling the Brasilia Open Government Summit that the world is dividing into “open” and “closed” societies characterized by their attitude towards net freedom. It’s a laudable sentiment, but as they say, “We know you love freedom, we just wish you’d share.” After all, America is one of the world’s leading exporters of Internet censorship and surveillance laws (in the form of its intervention into copyright laws, as well as instigating unaccountable, secret copyright treaty negotiations like ACTA and TPP. They’re also the world’s leading exporter of Internet surveillance and censorship technology, thanks first to the US national requirement that telcoms companies buy equipment that allows for direct police surveillance, and the aggressive sale of this surveillance and control technology to the world’s dictatorship by US firms.
Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Open Government Partnership in Brasilia, she said countries could only become more secure and peaceful if they were open. “In the 21st century, the US is convinced that one of the most significant divisions between nations will be not between east or west, nor over religion, so much as between open and closed societies,” she said.
”We believe those governments that hide from public view and dismiss ideas of openness and the aspirations of their people for greater freedom will find it increasingly difficult to create a secure society.”
It’s particularly galling that Secretary Clinton made these remarks even as the US Congress is poised to pass CISPA, which establishes a national US regime of censorship and warrantless surveillance.
Open or closed society is key dividing line of 21st century, says Hillary Clinton
(Image: Clinton Rally 90, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from kakissel’s photostream)