Sunday, April 10, 2011

Clinton slams rising trend of Internet censorship

04/08/11
By Gautham Nagesh
The Hill

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the recent wave of foreign governments restricting or censoring Internet content one of the most disturbing trends of 2010 for human rights activists.

"More than 40 governments now restrict the internet through various means. Some censored websites for political reasons. And in a number of countries, democracy and human rights activists and independent bloggers found their emails hacked or their computers infected with spyware that reported back on their every keystroke," Clinton said Friday upon the release of the State Department's annual report on human rights.

Foggy Bottom has been vocal in its criticism of foreign governments that restrict access to the Internet, particularly in recent months, as a wave of political protests across North Africa and the Middle East has prompted some governments to crack down on Internet access in order to hamper organizers.


In addition, there have been reports recently of political bloggers being arrested in Bahrain and China.

"Digital activists have been tortured so they would reveal their passwords and implicate their colleagues," Clinton said. "In Burma and in Cuba, government policies preempted online dissent by keeping most ordinary people from accessing the internet at all."

The report highlights the role played by social media and other technologies during recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

"Much has been said and written about the effects of these connective technologies in allowing Egyptians and Tunisians to mobilize in the weeks and months before demonstrations actually began," the report states.

"While it is the courage of the people themselves that led the way and was the driving force, the amplifying impact of these new technologies, coupled with the power of television stations and the Internet to broadcast videos obtained by citizens using these mobile phones, cannot be denied."

China, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam are also highlighted for controlling the content their citizens can access on the Internet.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's about Thai use cluster bomb on Cambodia ????

Can she have comment on that ?????

How much do the US company make from selling cluster bomb to Thailand ?????

Can KI investigate on that ????

Anonymous said...

Using cluster bombs and other bombs are OK as long as it accomplish the end goal of One World Governance. Restricting the use of internet to overthrow tyrants is not OK because this is the best tool they know will work well for what they want to accomplish.

But the US government is probably monitoring internet activities in the US for possible uprising against this administration. US government could anything wrong, trust me?

Anonymous said...

KAMPUCHEA KROM AT A GLANCE

Kampuchea Krom is composed of 68,965 square kilometers, 21 provinces and municipalities, two large islands - Koh Tral and Koh Tralach, 171 districts, 1,368 communes, 14,778 villages, more than 13 million Khmers, more than 567 Buddhist pagodas and more than 20,000 Theravada Buddhist monks.

99% of populations are Theravada Buddhists.

The Khmer kings, governments, regimes and citizens have never relinquish (give up) this part of their country to foreigners.

Kampuchea Krom has been under an ongoing colonial control since her division from motherland, Cambodia.

June 4, 1949 is the date that the Khmer Kampuchea Krom citizens grieve. The Khmer Kampuchea Krom people have organized Buddhist Service annually to honor the fallen Khmer Buddhist monks and heroes, who sacrificed their lives for Kampuchea Krom and Theravada Buddhism.

Colonial France divided, ceded and transferred Kampuchea Krom to colonial Vietnam on this date. The freedom of Khmer Kampuchea Krom has been mostly stripped by the Vietnamese ruling regimes and governments since. The French colonial administration committed injustice upon the more than 13 million Khmers of this beautiful fertile land.

Justice remains elusive for Cambodia, Kampuchea Krom and her citizens.

And...The struggle to regain freedom and human rights by the Khmers in Kampuchea Krom continues as long as injustice commits by the ruling Vietnamese regime(s) has not produced a fruitful result.

Koh Tral (Tral Island)
in Vietnamese - Phu Quoc island
circa 1939 Vietnamese encroached and conquered

Koh Tral Island has an area of 567 square kilometers; about 62 kilometers long and between 3 kilometers and 28 kilometers wide. The island physically is located closest to Cambodia's Kep seaside city. Visitors can see Koh Tral Island from the coastline of Kep. It is about a 30-minute motorized boat ride.

By Smart Khmer Girl, Ms. Rattana Keo

Anonymous said...

I don't know who you are Ms. Rattana Keo but I really appreciate your patriotism to Khmers. In Cambodia under Hun Sen regime, Khmer kids don't know anything about Koh Tral and Real Khmer History because CPP fully cooperates with Viet to brain washes Khmer kids after 1979 until present’s day.
The teachers at Cambodia can’t tell Khmer kids the true about their true history because they are being blackmail by the Hun Sen government. (“You want to be missing” that is the phrase CPP Viet spies’ tactic using every day at Cambodia school)
I would like Ki media educate Khmer people more about their own true history because majority of Khmer kids educated from 1979 till present day are big missing link to Cambodia real history.
We Khmers around the world must not accept the way CPP government brain wash Khmer kids today.

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