IndustrySergey Brin Clarifies Open Web, Apple, Facebook Comments

Sergey Brin Clarifies Open Web, Apple, Facebook Comments

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has repeated warnings that the greatest threat to Internet freedom is government censorship focused on crushing political dissent, and warned that attacks against online piracy are “misguided and dangerous”.

Sergey BrinGoogle co-founder Sergey Brin has repeated warnings that the greatest threat to Internet freedom is government censorship focused on crushing political dissent, and warned that attacks against online piracy are “misguided and dangerous”.

Brin’s comments were made from his Google+ profile, and were in reaction to what he called “distorted” secondary coverage of comments he made earlier this week, in which he seemed to indicate that governments, Apple, and Facebook all pose threats to an “open” Internet.

While castigating censorious regimes, Brin also warned Western democracies faced making similar mistakes if they continue to pursue a war against online piracy.

“Countries such as the US have come close to adopting very similar [web filtering] techniques in order to combat piracy and other vices. I believe these efforts have been misguided and dangerous,” he wrote.

Brin also stressed that his original comments in promoting an open web were not intended as an attack on the walled gardens of Apple and Facebook.

“I have much admiration for two of the companies we discussed – Apple and Facebook. I have always admired Apple’s products,” he explained. “Likewise, Facebook has helped to connect hundreds of millions of people, has been a key tool for political expression and has been instrumental to the Arab Spring.”

He continued: “Regardless of how you feel about digital ecosystems or about Google, please do not take the free and open internet for granted from government intervention. To the extent that free flow of information threatens the powerful, those in power will seek to suppress it.”

This article was originally published on V3.

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