RORY LEADS PUSH FOR GLOBAL FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET

Rory, who is a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, used his position in the committee to lead a push for internet freedom within the international community.

Speaking at a public evidence session looking into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s human rights work in 2012, Rory highlighted the importance of internet freedom across the globe and pushed for international investment, along with diplomatic efforts to try and prevent the blocking and jamming of news internet pages as well as social media sights.

Rory has long been committed to ensuring the delivery of superfast broadband to the most rural parts of his constituency believing everyone who wants access to a broadband service should get it as soon as possible. These principles were echoed as he spoke for the need for the international community to push for internet freedom internationally, and ways to prevent the blocking and jamming of specific websites in certain countries.

Rory said: “Access and freedom of information on the internet is a human right and should be available for people across the globe. I think it’s important that along with putting diplomatic pressure on those countries who seek to censor their citizen’s access to certain internet sites, we also need to join together with others and invest in finding technology to get around the blocking and jamming of websites. We should collaborate more energetically with the US and EU states to invest in technology that can get around state censorship on the web.”