<div><p> The United States has given notice it will not back away from an Internet freedom push that has raised hackles in China amid a dispute between Beijing and Web giant Google over cyberattacks.</p><p>"We are aware that China has a different position with respect to restricting information," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Monday.</p><p>"We think this is inconsistent with the information environment and prerequisites of the 21st century," Crowley told reporters.</p><p>"So we will continue to promote the free flow of information, unfettered access to information, the ability to have virtual freedom of association.</p><p>"These are all, we believe, fundamental tenets of the environment that we live in, and we will not back away from advocating that this should be something that all countries should promote," Crowley said.</p><p>The spokesman recalled that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a major policy speech on Internet freedom last week in which she talked about "being able to surf the Internet without restrictions."</p><p>Beijing lashed out at Clinton's speech on Friday, saying it was "harmful" to Sino-US relations, which are already dogged by trade and currency issues and US arms sales to Taiwan, and a Chinese spokesman on Monday denied any state involvement in the cyberattacks which Google said originated in China.</p><p>The Internet giant has said that following the cyberattacks on the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists it is no longer willing to censor Web search results in China even it that means it has to leave the country. Related article: China rights group under cyberattack</p><p>Google has not yet stopped censoring search results on google.cn, but Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said last week it would happen soon.</p><p>A spokesman for China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Monday that the "accusation that the Chinese government participated in (any) cyberattack, either in an explicit or inexplicit way, is groundless and aims to denigrate China."</p><p>"China's policy on Internet safety is transparent and consistent," the spokesman told state news agency Xinhua, saying the country with the world's largest online community was itself the "biggest victim" of hacking.</p><p>The Global Times -- an English-language newspaper run by People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's mouthpiece -- said the United States itself was a major source of hack attacks.</p><p>"The US is the first country to launch cyber warfare," it said.</p><p>"'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.' The golden rule should apply even online," the paper said -- a point made by Xinhua in an editorial calling the US "hypocritical" for criticizing others on hacking.</p><p>The Global Times also hit out at what it called "Washington's continuous resort to double standards" and said Western criticism of China's Internet policies came "either out of ignorance of the facts, or a Cold War mentality."</p><p>In another interview on Xinhua, a spokesman for China's State Council, or cabinet, said Beijing's efforts to remove harmful content from the Internet were legitimate and should be free from "unjustifiable interference."</p><p>Meanwhile, the websites of at least five organizations dealing with Chinese human rights and dissident issues were hacked in recent days, one of the groups said Monday.</p><p>Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a network of domestic and overseas China activists, released a statement saying attacks on its website began Saturday afternoon and continued for about 14 hours.</p><p>It said others reporting cyberattacks included the human rights-related news and information sites Canyu, Rights and Livelihood Watch, and New Century News, as well as the Independent Chinese Pen, a writer's group.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=67794454&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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