The Foreign Service Journal, March 2010

M A R C H 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 11 global cybersecurity” and outlined a strategy for working with repressive regimes on the topic ( www.state.gov ) . Clinton referred to the president’s ap- pointment of a cyberspace policy coor- dinator, and the ongoing work of the State Department’s Global Internet Freedom Task Force, established in 2006, as well as initiatives at the United Nations and in other multilateral fora to put cybersecurity on the world’s agenda. National Intelligence Director Eric Blair underlined the pervasive threat to critical computerized infrastructure in testimony to the Senate Select Com- mittee on Intelligence in early Febru- ary, emphasizing that both government and private industry networks are al- ready “under persistent and subtle as- sault.” Among unclassified sources, the Center for Strategic and Interna- tional Studies’ running compilation of cyberattack incidents, “Cyber Events Since 2006,” is an eye-opener ( www. csis.org ) . To examine the issues, no less than three sets of hearings have been sched- uled: one by the Congressional-Execu- tive Commission on China, which monitors human rights and the devel- opment of commercial law in the PRC; one by the Senate Judiciary Subcom- mittee on Human Rights and the Law (“Technology Companies’ Business Practices in Internet-restricting Coun- tries”); and one by the House Foreign Affairs Committee (“The Google Predicament: Transforming U.S. Cy- berspace Policy to AdvanceDemocracy, Security and Trade”). Earlier, with an endorsement from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., called on Jan 14 for lawmakers to take up his “Global On- line Freedom Act” — legislation that has been stalled in Congress for several years. Meanwhile, Google has joined the National Security Agency in efforts to further analyze the cyberattacks from within China aimed at gaining access to the Gmail accounts of human rights activists that prompted the latest standoff with Beijing. The company is attempting to negotiate a resolution to the impasse as the stakes in China are large and complex. Beijing’s re- treat in October on its “Green Dam” plan for mandatory built-in surveil- lance on all PCs sold in the country gives hope for progress (see “Story Not Available in China;” November Cybernotes). ■ This edition of Cybernotes was com- piled by Senior Editor Susan Brady Maitra. C Y B E R N O T E S J ust as steel can be used to build hospitals or machine guns, or nuclear power can either energize a city or destroy it, modern information networks and the technologies they support can be harnessed for good or for ill. The same networks that help organize movements for freedom also enable al-Qaida to spew hatred and incite violence against the innocent. And technologies with the potential to open up access to government and promote transparency can also be hijacked by governments to crush dissent and deny human rights. — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking on Internet freedom at The Newseum, Washington, D.C., Jan. 21, www.state.gov/secretary/rm/ 2010/01/135519.htm