It is unwise to make assumptions about the liberating potential of the Internet in China or in other repressive regimes, argues this discussion paper.

In late January 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – who two months before had stood at the Berlin Gate with other world leaders to celebrate the the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – gave a 45-minute speech on "Internet Freedom." She spelled out how one single, free and open global Internet is an essential prerequisite for freedom and democracy in the twenty-first Century. "A new information curtain is descending across much of the world," she warned. "And beyond this partition, viral videos and blog posts are becoming the samizdat of our day."

But can we assume that Chinese authoritarianism will crumble as easily and rapidly as the Iron Curtain crumbled two decades ago? This paper examines why it is unwise to make such an assumption about the Internet in China or in other repressive regimes, and discusses some of the difficult issues of government policy and corporate responsibility that must be tackled in order to ensure that the Internet and mobile technologies can fulfill their potential for liberation and empowerment.