<nettime> US State Department Denies Attempt to Embargo Internet Access in Yugoslavia

["felipe rodriquez" <felipe@xs4all.nl>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Barry Steinhardt [mailto:Barrys@aclu.org]
Sent: Saturday, May 15, 1999 6:51 AM
To: gilc-plan@gilc.org
Subject: US State Department Denies Attempt to Embargo Internet Access
in Yugoslavia



The US State Department is denying that the embargo on Yugoslavia includes
Internet access.

This is from today's State Department Press Briefing.

Thanks to Ari Schwartz at CDT who posted it on another list.

The "Rubin" in the transcript is James Rubin the State Department
spokesperson.


Barry



>¶ RUBIN: It is no longer going to be muddy when I'm finished with you.
> >¶ QUESTION: Good. Good. And I may have a follow up depending on what your
> >answer is.
> >¶ RUBIN: We are aware of press reports that the executive order passed two
> >weeks ago limits Internet access to the population of the Federal Republic
> >of Yugoslavia, and there is no truth to allegations that we are attempting
> >to cut off the flow of information to Serbia.
> >¶ While the executive order proscribes commerce with the Federal Republic
> >of Yugoslavia -- that is proscribes -- in a range of areas, information
and
> >access to information are exempted from such sanctions. In fact, full and
> >open access to the Internet can only help the Serbian people know the ugly
> >truth about the atrocities and crimes against humanity being perpetrated
in
> >Kosovo by the Milosevic regime.
> >¶ The Serbian people deserve to access independent and objective
> >information, whether by the Internet or other media. We encourage the
people
> >of Serbia to use the Internet and other open media to challenge the
> >misinformation they are receiving from the Milosevic press within the
> >Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
> >
> >



--------------------------------------------------------------
Barry Steinhardt		125 Broad Street
Associate Director		New York,NY 10004
ACLU					212 549 -2508 (v)
Barrys@aclu.org		212 549-2656 (f)


http://www.aclu.org

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