US Pushes Internet Freedom on Social Media

As Egyptian authorities struggled to quash anti-government uprisings yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on the longtime US ally to unblock social networking sites that have been used to organize protests, such as those operated by Facebook and Twitter.

By urging Egypt’s government “not to prevent peaceful protests or block communications, including on social media,” Sec Clinton in Washington renewed her call for freedom of expression and assembly online, and fueled debate over how to promote those goals without undermining other US interests. Clinton’s defense of social networking is “a very delicate balancing act,” because of the longstanding US relationship with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said Ethan Zuckerman, a senior researcher at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. “At the same time, we’re starting to see evidence of an anti-authoritarian revolution in the region, and she doesn't want to be on the wrong side of that either. The safe stance is to be pro-free speech,” he said.