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16 November 2009

Societies Free of Internet Censorship Are Stronger, Obama Says

President Obama greets students after speaking at a town hall-style event at the Museum of Science and Technology in Shanghai.

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — The free flow of information on the Internet builds a stronger society, encourages creativity and helps people around the world participate in the political process and hold their governments accountable, President Obama told Chinese students in Shanghai November 16.

Speaking at a town hall meeting ahead of meetings with Chinese leaders in Beijing, Obama said he is “a big believer” in technology and openness and a “big supporter of noncensorship” even though it means that he finds himself the subject of constant criticism. In the United States, “the fact that we have free Internet or unrestricted Internet access is a source of strength,” and the president said open Internet use should be encouraged.

“I have a lot of critics in the United States who can say all kinds of things about me. I actually think that that makes our democracy stronger and it makes me a better leader, because it forces me to hear opinions that I don’t want to hear,” Obama said. “It forces me to examine what I’m doing on a day-to-day basis, to see am I really doing the very best that I could be doing for the people of the United States.”

There is a price to openness, since extremists can also use the technology to mobilize, but “I think that the good outweighs the bad so much that it’s better to maintain that openness,” he said.

The more freely information is allowed to flow online, including through services like Twitter, “the stronger the society becomes,” he said. “Because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable. They can begin to think for themselves. That generates new ideas. It encourages creativity,” not only in politics and government, but also in business.

Uncensored Internet use also “helps to draw the world together,” Obama said, mentioning that it gives his 11- and 8-year-old daughters “enormous power” to explore and learn about the world from their own rooms. That type of power also promotes understanding between peoples throughout the world, he said.

The White House transcript of Obama’s remarks is available on America.gov.