Recent public statements by Steve Ballmer, the chief executive officer of Microsoft, and Bill Gates, the company's chairman and co-founder, appear to contradict the company's official statement of opposition to such censorship and minimize or even support online censorship in China.

In a groundbreaking speech at the Newseum on Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reset U.S. policy on Internet freedom, emphasizing the vital need for governments, companies and technology providers to ensure that the World Wide Web is a force for human rights. Of course, the real test will come in how the Obama administration puts the new policy into practice.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's speech on internet freedom today, in which she said the US will devote the "diplomatic, economic, and technological resources necessary" to press for internet freedom, could have broad implications for human rights online, Human Rights Watch said.

Human rights protections in China faced significant setbacks in 2009 as the Chinese government, emboldened by increasingly weak international criticism of its rights record, pursued politically-motivated attacks against dissidents, human rights defenders, and civil society advocates.

As one would expect from so eloquent a leader, Barack Obama has brought a marked improvement in presidential rhetoric on human rights compared with his predecessor. The challenge facing his administration is translating that rhetoric into policy and practice.

The announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Health that they intend to improve medical care in drug detention centers is an important acknowledgment of a problem; but the solution is wrong. Rather than improve conditions within drug detention centers, these centers should be shut down. In their place, China should develop and expand voluntary, community-based outpatient treatment programs that respect human rights and are consistent with international standards.

Google’s unprecedented announcement today that it will not accept censorship of its search engine in China is an important step to protect human rights online.

Chinese authorities are incarcerating drug users in compulsory drug detention centers that deny them access to treatment for drug dependency and put them at risk of physical abuse and unpaid forced labor.