Dateline November 6, 2007 from China

Center for Democracy and Technology news brief. This is a great site for Save the Internet information. This could happen in America, if we let our guard down. We cannot allow government nabobs, hiding behind government regulations, to limit our access to information and Internet resources. Stand up and be counted.

For a brief period last week, the Chinese government hijacked foreign search engines. Chinese Internet users trying to search on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft were redirected . . . . . to the Chinese search engine Baidu. Democratic governments understand the connection between human rights and Internet freedom. They have been quick to condemn the Internet crackdown in Burma and China and the lack of Internet freedom in much of the world.

But at the same time, democratic countries are themselves increasingly turning to content blocking and online surveillance to address terrorism and other perceived dangers at home. In doing so, they are in danger of sacrificing their moral authority to ensure that the global Internet moves toward greater freedom.

Recently, the European Union justice commissioner signaled plans to introduce a package of anti-terrorism proposals that will require member countries to block Internet sites that provide information about bomb-making.

In Germany, there is an uproar about a proposal to give the government powers to spy virtually, using e-mails infected with spy ware.