By SIOBHAN GORMAN
The U.S. plans to make unrestricted access to the Internet a top foreign-policy priority, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to announce Thursday.
The announcement, which has been scheduled for weeks, comes in the wake of accusations last week that Chinese hackers penetrated Google Inc.'s computer networks. The attack, which also targeted Chinese dissidents, is the kind of issue Mrs. Clinton aims to address, said Alec Ross, a senior adviser.
The growing role of the Internet in foreign policy became clear last year during protests in Iran after allegations of election fraud. The government tried to crack down on protesters' Internet communications, but they circumvented digital blockades to send out video and Twitter messages about violence against demonstrators.
In one new initiative, the State Department plans to offer financial support to grass-roots movements that promote Internet freedom, Mr. Ross said.
Mrs. Clinton also hopes to diminish the "honor" beatings and killings of women in the Middle East by family members who discover they are using social media on the Internet, such as Facebook or Twitter, he said.
Mrs. Clinton sees Internet freedom as critical to America's longstanding promotion of democracy abroad, Mr. Ross added. She aims to shrink the proportion of the global population, now 30%, who live in countries that censor the Internet, he said.
"When we sit across the table from governments and talk about what matters to us, this is now on the table," Mr Ross said.
Other initiatives will include State Department funding for pilot technology programs to promote goals like government transparency, Mr. Ross said. One example could be providing funding for a Web site that allows citizens to rate aspects of their government—much like restaurant reviews are posted on the Internet—to publicize experiences such as bribery.
The initiatives build on ad hoc decisions made last year during the Iranian protests, such as the State Department's decision to ask Twitter to delay a planned upgrade at the time to ensure protesters could continue to get their message out.
They also mirror policies State has been advocating at the United Nations, where it has been fending off Russian and Chinese efforts to restrict access to information on the Internet on the grounds of national sovereignty, according to people familiar with the talks.
In recent months, both Russia and China have signaled a willingness to negotiate on cybersecurity. In November, a top-level Russian delegation met with U.S. officials about cybersecurity for the first time. Russian officials have also been trying to link up U.S. and Russian academics to study how the laws of war and international law might apply in cyberspace.
Last month, representatives from a think tank associated with Chinese security services met with U.S. cybersecurity experts to diffuse tensions over U.S. allegations of spying.
The State Department has also organized delegations of U.S. executives for trips to Baghdad and Mexico City to share thoughts on how new technologies could be best used in rebuilding the Iraqi government and fighting drug violence. "I've never experienced such government involvement before" in promoting technology internationally, said Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder and chairman.
Mrs. Clinton's elevation of Internet freedom could signal an important foreign policy shift, said Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, an annual conference on technology and policy. "This signals a critical shift in moving U.S. foreign policy from a 20th century world view to a 21st century reality," he said.
Advocacy groups supporting Iranian dissidents cheered the new initiatives. "It's a very significant development," said Brett Solomon, executive director of AccessNow.org, a group that has helped dissidents get videos and communications past Iranian Internet barricades. "It underlies the power of new technology to shift the political agenda."
Write to Siobhan Gorman at siobhan.gorman@wsj.com
