Secretaries Rice and Miliband Discuss Internet and Democracy at Google
May 29th, 2008 — idteamThe Internet and Democracy Project’s Josh Goldstein, who is interning at Google this summer, sent us a link to a discussion hosted by Google with Secretary of State Rice and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
According to Secretary Rice, “the Internet is possibly one of the greatest tools for democratization and individual freedom that we’ve ever seen.”
That’s one of the more Utopian statements we have heard about the Internet in a while, but she did also raise concerns about filtering. She also mentioned the digital divide in places like Cuba which she says have decided to allow more computers into the country, but not necessarily computers connected to the Internet. British Foreign Secretary Miliband stated that the communications revolution allows for people to connect but also can fuel the drive for social justice. He also said that Iranian bloggers make him optimistic about Iran since people there are asserting their rights and trying to be part of a global debate. As our report shows, however, the democrats are not the only ones using the Iranian blogosphere to promote their agendas.
In a question from moderator David Drummond about censorship, no doubt with recent requests by Senator Lieberman to restrict speech on YouTube in the back of his mind, both Rice and Miliband encouraged erring on the side of allowing more free speech instead of censorship.
You can see the whole talk here.
Click Here
May 29th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Ideology aside, David Miliband is certainly a much better blogger than anyone at the State Department.
May 30th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I wasn’t able to access Miliband’s blog. Maybe it’s being blocked by the US after your comment.
Bruce