Google calls on governments to increase information flow

16.11.2010

"Closed systems are antithetical to the Internet's success and will significantly disable its potential to support trade and innovation going forward.

However, governments around the world were restricting, censoring, and disrupting the free flow of online information in record numbers, according to the company.

"More than 40 governments now engage in broad-scale restriction of online information, a tenfold increase from just a decade ago," the document reads.

"Today more governments are incorporating surveillance tools into their Internet infrastructure; blocking online services in their entirety; imposing new, secretive regulations; and requiring onerous licensing regimes that often discriminate against foreign companies.

"These actions unnecessarily restrict trade, and left unchecked, they will almost certainly get worse."