
© J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks with reporters about Egypt and protests in Iran following her meeting with Speaker of the House John Boehner, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Feb. 14, 2011.
The United States stands with cyber dissidents and democracy activists from the Middle East to China and beyond, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday.
She pledged to expand the Obama administration's efforts to foil Internet repression in autocratic states.
In an impassioned speech on Internet freedom, Clinton said the administration would spend $25 million this year on initiatives designed to protect bloggers and help them get around curbs like the Great Firewall of China, the gagging of social media sites in Iran, Cuba, Syria, Vietnam and Myanmar as well as Egypt's recent unsuccessful attempt to thwart anti-government protests by simply pulling the plug on online communication.
She also said the State Department, which last week launched Twitter feeds in Arabic and Farsi to connect with populations throughout the Arab world and Iran, would broaden the reach of its online mini-appeals for human rights and democracy by creating accounts cater to audiences in China, Russia and India in their native languages.
Clinton challenged authoritarian leaders and regimes to embrace online freedom and the demands of cyber dissidents or risk being toppled by tides of unrest, similar to what has happened in Egypt and Tunisia to longtime presidents Hosni Mubarak and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Comment: The Underwear Bomber - Crushing Freedom With Phony Arab Terrorism
Underwear Bomber Redux - Was Mutallab An Israeli "Secret Weapon"?
Haskell Blows Whistle on Underwear Bomber, Government Op