Funds to break China 'firewall'

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    Date: 
    24 February 2010

    WASHINGTON - A COALITION of human rights campaigners on Tuesday urged the US government to fund efforts to circumvent Internet censorship in China and other nations.

    Congress approved US$30 million (S$42 million) in the 2010 budget to combat cyber censorship in China, Iran and elsewhere. But lawmakers have voiced concern that the funding since 2008 has been used ineffectively.

    In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, rights advocates - most from China - urged that money go to the Global Internet Freedom (GIF) Consortium, originally set up to evade China's Internet 'firewall'.