Prophetic Intelligence Briefings
U.S. Secretary of State Gives Speech About the Internet · January 27, 2010
On Thursday, January 21, 2009 United States Secretary of State Hilary Clinton spoke about internet freedom. In the speech she supported religious freedom on the internet and stated that there are countries that are trying to limit religious expression as well as persecute those that do. Secretary Clinton spoke at Newseum in Washington, DC. Yet, there were remarks that were rather ominous.
“In the last year,” said Secretary Clinton, “we’ve seen a spike in threats to the free flow of information. China, Tunisia, and Uzbekistan have stepped up their censorship of the internet. In Vietnam, access to popular social networking sites has suddenly disappeared. And last Friday in Egypt, 30 bloggers and activists were detained.
“But the internet” continued Clinton, “is a network that magnifies the power and potential of all others. And that’s why we believe it’s critical that its users are assured certain basic freedoms. Freedom of expression is first among them. This freedom is no longer defined solely by whether citizens can go into the town square and criticize their government without fear of retribution. Blogs, emails, social networks, and text messages have opened up new forums for exchanging ideas, and created new targets for censorship.
Using the Berlin wall as an example, Clinton said, “virtual walls are cropping up in place of visible walls…Some countries have erected electronic barriers that prevent their people from accessing portions of the world’s networks. They’ve expunged words, names, and phrases from search engine results. They have violated the privacy of citizens who engage in non-violent political speech. These actions contravene the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which tells us that all people have the right ‘to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.’ With the spread of these restrictive practices, a new information curtain is descending across much of the world. And beyond this partition, viral videos and blog posts are becoming the samizdat of our day.
But Clinton also delineated the limited to freedom of expression. “Now, all societies recognize that free expression has its limits,” she said. “We do not tolerate those who incite others to violence, such as the agents of al-Qaida who are, at this moment, using the internet to promote the mass murder of innocent people across the world. And hate speech that targets individuals on the basis of their race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation is reprehensible. It is an unfortunate fact that these issues are both growing challenges that the international community must confront together.
Though most of what Secretary Clinton said about restrictions to expression are true, her remarks pointed to a future, yet unacknowledged prophetic development that will eventually effect God’s true commandment keepers. Note carefully her words about hate speech “that targets individuals on the basis of their race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation… Note that hate speech includes religion. Violence in the name of religion or on any other basis mentioned is inappropriate. But if hate speech laws in Canada or Sweden are any insight into the future of the definition of hate speech, there will be problems for those who teach the Bible doctrines about false systems of worship and authoritarian religious rulers, or immoral lifestyles. If in the future, hate speech definitions are expanded to include criticisms of other faiths, those who teach the Bible prophecies will face persecution under laws that today seem innocuous enough.
Clinton spoke directly of freedom to worship according to one’s conscience. “The freedom of expression may be the most obvious freedom to face challenges with the spread of new technologies, but it is not the only one. The freedom of worship usually involves the rights of individuals to commune or not commune with their Creator… But the freedom of worship also speaks to the universal right to come together with those who share your values and vision for humanity. In our history, those gatherings often took place in churches, synagogues, mosques and temples. Today, they may also take place on line.”
Later in the speech, Clinton added to the sense of limits to expression which has implications for future limitations on religious expression in particular. “Just as terrorists have taken advantage of the openness of our societies to carry out their plots, violent extremists use the internet to radicalize and intimidate. As we work to advance freedoms, we must also work against those who use communication networks as tools of disruption and fear.” Is it possible that one day those that teach the truth about the beast of Revelation or other Bible declarations of evil and sin, will be accused of misusing the internet to promote their own religious bigotry?
Clinton gave some recent examples of government persecution of those that use the internet to promote their religion. “Some nations, however, have co-opted the internet as a tool to target and silence people of faith. Last year, for example, in Saudi Arabia, a man spent months in prison for blogging about Christianity. And a Harvard study found that the Saudi Government blocked many web pages about Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and even Islam. Countries including Vietnam and China employed similar tactics to restrict access to religious information. Now, just as these technologies must not be used to punish peaceful political speech, they must also not be used to persecute or silence religious minorities…” While these issues today seem to be limited to genuine extremists or authoritarian governments, laws usually expand over time to include those doing the right thing, but who offend others, not by violence, but by their testimony.
Speaking of the ecumenical uses of the internet Clinton said: “The internet can help bridge divides between people of different faiths. As the President said in Cairo, freedom of religion is central to the ability of people to live together. And as we look for ways to expand dialogue, the internet holds out such tremendous promise.
While there are many good points made in the speech concerning liberty, there are also some areas to watch in the future concerning hate speech online and in other forums.
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