USA: Cracking authoritarian regimes with the Internet
The U.S. aims to use the Internet to pressure authoritarian regimes into allowing greater freedom of expression. The Treasury Department in Washington has authorized U.S. companies to export software and provide access to web services such as instant messaging, chat rooms, email, and social networks in Iran, Cuba, and Sudan.
The aim is to promote the free exchange of information in these countries. The move will make it "easier for people in these countries to use the Internet to communicate with each other and with the world", said US Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin on Monday. According to a report in the New York Times, US software and internet companies such as Microsoft and Yahoo have so far not offered these services in such countries for fear of violating US government sanctions. However, there has been growing political pressure, including from Congress, to lift the restrictions after internet services such as Facebook and Twitter became central means of communication for the opposition during the post-election protests in Iran.
