FREEDOM ONLINE:THE HAGUE – The European Union will outline a strategy on Monday to support activists living under repressive governments who are using technology to organise, mobilise and exercise their rights, European Commissioner Neelie Kroes said yesterday.
Echoing remarks made on Thursday by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on internet restrictions in Russia, Syria and China, Kroes said the Arab Spring had been a wake-up call about the relationship between technology and human rights.
The use of social networking websites during this year’s uprisings in the Arab world helped bring down authoritarian governments in Egypt and Tunisia and prompted counter-attacks by governments against the internet.
In Russia, prominent anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny was jailed this week for 15 days after taking part in anti-government protests over ballot-stuffing and other irregularities in last Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
Ms Kroes, responsible for the EU’s digital policy, told a Dutch conference on internet freedom she had been inspired by meetings with activists fighting for democracy in their countries.
“I am committed to doing whatever I can to support their cause,” Ms Kroes said. “On Monday we will be announcing further details about how we can take this forward.”
Ms Kroes and others said the internet and telecommunications technology should be used to support human rights, both on and offline, and not be used against them.
She is expected to present a “No-Disconnect” strategy on Monday in Brussels, which will outline what is needed to help cyber activists bypass restrictions on their freedom to communicate, including the tools and technology needed to shield them from indiscriminate surveillance, according to Ryan Heath, a spokesman for Ms Kroes. “I want the EU to help develop and distribute these tools,” Ms Kroes told the conference yesterday.
Dutch foreign minister Uri Rosenthal, whose government helped sponsor the internet freedom conference, said his government has set up a fund to help provide backup “mesh network” support for online activists when their telecommunications and internet networks go down.
Ms Kroes also urged technology companies to be transparent about equipment they were selling to governments who might use it to repress their citizens.
“If technology is used by certain repressive governments to identify innocent citizens and put their life or freedom in danger, we ought to know,” she said.