Last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a second major foreign policy speech on internet freedom on February 15, 2011 at George Washington University. U.S. Secretary of State announced that Internet freedoms is at the front and center of U.S. foreign policy, citing recent developments in Egypt and Iran as examples of how communications and new technologies can lead to peaceful political transformation.

Clinton’s remarks are the second time she has emphasized that Internet policy has a central part of the U.S. foreign policy platform. The first announcement came last year when Secretary Clinton called on the global community to protect freedom of expression, association, and assembly in the online world. Taken together, Secretary Clinton names these rights “freedom to connect”, claiming that by protecting these rights in the digital era, people preserve the promise and the possibility of the Internet as a platform for ideas, innovation, connection, and economic growth.

As follow-on to Secretary Clinton’s speech, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour Daniel Baer, speaks to African journalists to discuss the themes addressed during Secretary Clinton’s speech on Internet freedom when she reaffirmed US support for a free and open internet underscored the importance of safeguarding both liberty and security, transparency and confidentiality, and freedom of expression and tolerance.

In a question and answer session, Mr Baer had this to say:

Q: In the State’s departments view of developing countries, what are the main threats to internet freedom in your opinion? Could it be the lack of access or the lack of actual regulation of the internet?
A: How we understand access is an important part of the internet freedom conversation. We see access as a parallel and equally important agenda to the internet freedom agenda laid out because for people to enjoy what comes with the internet, then they have to have access. Within access are a series of complexities: Africa has wide interconnection infrastructure incapabilities that need to be addressed by the governments’ continent wide. The US is doing everything it can to help governments respond to the changes that come with internet developments.

Q: When you speak of a non-regulated and free internet, how would you reconcile the US reaction to Wikileaks?
A. My personal view of concern towards the Wikileaks case is largely to do with breach of security, meaning confidential documents were carried out of a secure government building and amplified. An exposure that isn’t in the public interest, that jeopardizes the lives of individuals and governments, is not to be supported.
We support freedom of association. However, should the freedom imply a breach of individual’s rights, then we condemn. Governments have a legitimate need for confidentiality. People depend on that to trust the government to act on their behalf. We question where that line should be drawn when security is breached, human rights is breached, and the right to privacy.

When it comes to government control, our focus is to help people have alternative continuation plans in case of drastic measures of internet control in other countries. Governments should be aware of the risks involved in being online and are able to protect themselves from risks. Governments also need to uphold people’s rights to association.

Q. Where do you draw the line between internet freedom and national security?
A. We hope that we do not have to draw a line, but have measures for both. Personal privacy, freedom of association and legitimate security concerns has been a conversation that has dominated policy talks and we need not shy away from either concern. We have made progress this year as Secretary Clinton tackles these issues in-depth in her speech. We see many governments using security as an excuse to internet freedom. We hope to put policies and measures in place that will avail both.

The United States reports that good progress has been made on its promise to defend the openness of the Internet and other connection technologies:

• The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor issued over $5 million in grants in 2010 to support access to information and secure communications on the Internet and mobile devices.
• the Secretary is establishing the Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues and has named Mr. Christopher Painter as its head. On cyber-security and other issues, the new office will coordinate work across the Department and with other agencies.
• The United States is proud to serve as host of UNESCO World Press Freedom Day on May 1 – 3, “21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers,” which will include Internet freedom themes.
• In September 2010, the Secretary launched the mWomen initiative – a public-private partnership led by the Global Women’s Initiative designed to close the global gender gap in mobile phone adoption.
• Last year, the State Department launched Civil Society 2.0 to build the technical capacity of civil society organizations to accomplish their missions through the use of connection technologies. Civil Society 2.0 seeks to match these organizations with technology tools and tech-savvy volunteers to help raise digital literacy, strengthen the information and communications networks of NGOs, and amplify the impact of civil society movements.
• As part of the Civil Society 2.0 program, the United States, through the State Department, has held several Tech@State meetings and a TechCamp in Santiago, Chile, on topics ranging from the use of technology in the aftermath of natural disasters to mobile money to blogger training. The Department also partnered to launch the first Apps4Africa competition with local partners in the region challenging applicants to use digital technology to connect to their communities and develop innovative solutions to shared problems.

Critics of the US government have claimed that the US supports and respects internet freedom, free flow of information and free speech, as long as it is in their favour. Citing examples like the US Justice Department pressing the court to require Twitter to turn over private information about the use of its services by three WikiLeaks supporters or going after US citizen’s cell phones, computer activity and other personal data if they are suspected to breach "national security".

In his closing remarks, Mr Baer admits that conversations on controls on access of information and internet freedom will continue dominating talks on policy makers.