US announces $30m fund to break state web censorship
The land of the free is to take a leading role in re-establishing the internet as a free and open domain with the launch of a fighting fund to break the blocking technology employed by repressive regimes such as China and Iran.
$30m has been set aside to fund new technology which can unblock censored sites for users, part of a wider drive to attribute greater clout to cyberspace in foreign affairs.
Michael Poser, US assistant secretary of state for human rights, said: “We're responding with new tools. This is a cat-and-mouse game. We're trying to stay one step ahead of the cat.”
The Pentagon is currently working on a new international strategy for cyberspace which will place the sector on equal footing with traditional battlegrounds such as land, sea and air.
China will be the main target of the technology drive as the state becomes increasingly assertive with their rising economic clout. The countries 1bn populace are currently unable to access Twitter or Facebook and references to the ‘Arab Spring’ uprising are heavily censored.