Netherlands and France call for confrontation of internet censorship

The Netherlands and France are calling for international guidelines on the export of internet censorship technology by private companies to world governments.

Dutch Foreign Minister, Maxime Verhagen, with specific reference to the internet censorship activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran against anti-government websites, told a meeting of companies from 20 different countries in Paris that “concrete measures must be taken to ensure that the internet remains a universal forum.”

Dutch media reports that the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner also told the gathering: “We must support cyber dissidents just as we have supported political dissidents.”

In addition to representatives from different countries, officials from Google and Microsoft attended the meeting in Paris. The concerns expressed about internet censorship were mainly focused on Iran and China.

The Dutch Foreign Minister declared that censorship of websites and social networking sites is a “violation of human rights.”

The Netherlands and France are planning a meeting at the ministry level in October in order to flesh out guidelines for the sale of technology that could be used to suppress democracy.

Shirin Ebadi, Iranian Nobel Peace laureate has accused Siemens and Nokia of providing the Islamic Republic with technology to track internet exchanges. Human rights analysts have contended that Iran has used this technology to arrest numerous dissidents.