U.S. to unveil Internet policy next week

WASHINGTON, USA: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will announce a technology policy next week to help citizens in other countries gain access to an uncensored Internet, a Clinton adviser told Reuters.

Alec Ross, Clinton's senior advisor for innovation, said in an interview that Clinton will unveil a tech policy initiative on January 21. He provided few details except to say it would focus on "Internet freedom."

Last week Clinton dined with tech heavyweights such as Google Inc chief executive Eric Schmidt, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Microsoft Corp research chief Craig Mundie, and Cisco Systems Inc executive vice president Sue Bostrom.

Ross who attended the dinner along with Clinton deputies James Steinberg and Jack Lew, and policy planning director Anne-Marie Slaughter, declined to detail what was discussed at the dinner.

"If you think about Internet freedom from the Caucasus to China to Iran to Cuba and elsewhere, people do not have universal access to an uncensored Internet," Ross said.

"Our policies on Internet freedom in part are a response to the fact there are countries around the world that systematically stifle their citizens' access to information."

In its 2008 human rights report, the State Department said China increased censorship and manipulation of the press and the Internet during major events.

Iran limited Internet speed and technology, making it more difficult to download Internet material or to circumvent government restrictions to access blocked websites, according to the State Department.