Full transcipt: Mark Toner's press conference

Washington: Mark Toner, Deputy Spokesperson, United States Department of State, held a press briefing where he spoke about the Indian government's recent attempt to regulate content on the internet.

Here's the transcript of the presser held on December 7, 2011.

Mark Toner: Welcome, everyone.  Welcome to the State Department.  I do see a lot of new faces in the back, and I don't know where you're from, but I welcome you to the briefing room.  I'm sorry that I'm not prepared to welcome you formally.  
Yeah. Go ahead, Lalit.

Question: What is the position of the United States Government or the State Department on efforts by two Asian democracies - India and South Korea - to monitor or regulate posting of contents on popular internet websites like Facebook, Google?

Mark Toner: You've - I'm not aware of the - South Korean, you said? 

No, I'm not aware of that.  But I can say that --

Question:  India.

Mark Toner:  -- in terms of India, we do have a working group on information and communication technology between the U.S. and India, and it's part of our overall Strategic Dialogue.  And of course we - within that working group - do talk about issues on information technology, discuss approaches our governments can take to create investment, for example, and regulatory environments that maximize the development of these sectors.

I think your question is more to a broader question of internet freedom.  The - our position's clear and Secretary Clinton's called on the global community to protect freedoms of expression, association, and assembly in the online world as we do in the regular world, and we uphold those beliefs.  And I don't want to get out too far in front; she's actually going to be talking about internet expression and - freedom of expression, internet freedom tomorrow in an address in The Hague. So I don't want to preempt that speech.

Question: I'm asking this question because the two U.S. - they are two U.S. companies are involved in this, Facebook and Google, which have decided not to go with what Indian Government is saying, and you're having talks with Indian Government on this.  Who - what's your stand?  Do you support Indian Government's stand to monitor and regulate what kind of content needs to be posted in the website of Facebook?  Or do you stand by Facebook and Google?

Mark Toner: I think I just tried to express the fact that we stand on the side of freedom of expression on the internet.

Question: Well, in this specific discussion with India, has this come up?  Are you --

Mark Toner: I'm not sure. Let me check on whether it's come up, either in that working group or in our regular bilateral conversations. 

Question: And what do you think of the idea?

Mark Toner: That?

Question: To regulate it.

Mark Toner: To regulate content?

Question: Yeah.

Mark Toner: I mean, again, I think - I don't want to get out - the Secretary's going to have a major speech on internet freedom tomorrow in The Hague.

Question: I know, but she will speak and it will be covered.  But this is today, not tomorrow.  This is Washington, not The Hague.  There are questions being asked now.

Mark Toner: What I can say now is that we believe that freedom of expression applies equally to the internet as it does in the real world.  So we would support --

Question: That's fine.  Does the real world include India?

Mark Toner: Precisely.  It includes --

Question: Okay.  So in other words, can you say something specifically about this proposed regulation that --

Mark Toner: Well again, I mean, what I would say is not necessarily specific to India.  It's broader than that, which is that --

Question: You're being asked about India, though, Mark. 

Mark Toner: But I'm talking about a broader principle.

Question: I understand that, but this is a concern, this specific proposal in India --

Mark Toner: And I would say we would - and I will say we are concerned about any effort to curtail freedom of expression on the internet.

Question: All right.  And do you expect the Secretary to raise this tomorrow? This specific --

Mark Toner: Again, I - she's going to talk broadly about internet freedom.  I just don't want to --

Question: Mark?  On the same --

Mark Toner:  Yeah, go ahead.  Sorry.

Goyal. Doesn't matter.

Question: The - Kapil Sibal, India's minister of communication and information technology - he's putting forward a framework to prevent content which is offensive to religious communities and other groups.  So this is a particular specific thing they are doing.  So what is your reaction to that?

Mark Toner:  Again, I think I just tried to address that, about - in more, broadly speaking about internet freedoms.  I'm not going to go any further and talk about the specific legislation.

Yeah. Go ahead, Goyal.

Question: Just following yesterday, on this as far as cyber and internet freedom is concerned, Bob Schieffer of the CBS - he had a special function at CSIS, and what they discussed was the panel including Bob Schieffer --

Mark Toner: Goyal, can I just say you are - really make the rounds on the - in the think tank community here.  It's very impressive, actually.  And I don't mean that --

Question: Thank you.  It's a --

Mark Toner: I mean that positively.  You're always bringing those discussions into the briefing room, which I appreciate. 

Question: That's what Bob Schieffer said.

Mark Toner:  (Laughter). 

Question: Great question, I had yesterday. 

Mark Toner: Go ahead, I'm sorry.

Question: What they were talking about is that, including of course, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee also had last time - there's a big problem as far as internet cyber - it's a big problem, counterfeit and cyber security is concerned in the U.S., especially coming from China.  So where do we stand now, just to follow that?

Mark Toner: Well, again, I'm not sure exactly - I mean, you're asking about cyber security writ large.  And I mean, it's obviously a concern.  It's something that we're working proactively on with countries around the world.  We have an office about - that - here within the State Department that addresses issues of cyber security and cyber security policy.  And we would agree that it's something that certainly needs more international cohesion on and coordination.

Yeah, Andy.

Question: Just a quick one on the same subject.

Mark Toner: Yeah, go ahead.

Question: In the question and answer with Matt, the whole statement got fractured.  So what is --

Mark Toner: That often happens in my experiences with Matt.

Question: What is the U.S. stand on this particular move by India? 

Mark Toner: Again, I don't want to get into the details of this legislation.

Question: No, whatever you want to say.  Can you just say --

Mark Toner: I would just say our position on internet freedom is clear.  We call on the global community to protect freedom of expression, association, and assembly in the - on the - in the online world as we would in the real world.  The same principles apply.