“Trade officials and policymakers should be deeply concerned about the impact of Internet information restrictions on economic growth and trade interests,” Google said in a policy paper.<\/p>\n
“And, they should be ready to use current trade rules and negotiating forums to reduce this threat.”<\/p>\n
Google, which was involved in a spat with China this year over censorship and cyberattacks, said “more than 40 governments now engage in broad-scale restriction of online information, a tenfold increase from just a decade ago.”<\/p>\n
“The transformative economic benefits of the Internet are under threat, as increasing numbers of governments move to impose onerous limits on information flow,” the Internet search and advertising giant said.<\/p>\n
“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,” it said.<\/p>\n
“These actions unnecessarily restrict trade, and left unchecked, they will almost certainly get worse,” Google warned.<\/p>\n
Google said governments should honor World Trade Organization obligations “and develop new international rules that provide enhanced protection against these trade barriers of the 21st century.”<\/p>\n
“Governments in the United States, the EU and elsewhere have a variety of existing trade agreements — principally the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) — that can and should be applied where appropriate to combat restriction and disruption of information delivered by the Internet,” it said.<\/p>\n
Google compared government blocking of an Internet service “to a customs official stopping all goods from a particular company at the border.”<\/p>\n
“Censorship on the Internet poses a significant economic threat to companies seeking a level playing field as they establish markets overseas,” Google said.<\/p>\n
“When a foreign government blocks or technically interferes with a website, it has either barred or undercut that business’ access to the market,” it said.<\/p>\n
“In China, for instance, numerous US Internet services have been kept out or severely restricted, while Chinese versions of the same services have been permitted to operate,” Google said.<\/p>\n
“Governments including China and Vietnam censor both services and content at international telecommunications network gateways, and subject Internet traffic coming from outside the country to special filtering regimes,” Google said.<\/p>\n
It cited China’s periodic shutdowns of Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and Foursquare and said Vietnam has blocked Facebook since last year.<\/p>\n