Last week a State Department official responded to the NY Times article on the “Internet Suitcases,” defending the main goal of the U.S.’s investment on the innovative technology as upholding the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights.

The Times article cited that the U.S. government is investing in individualized mesh networks, which are networks connected through individual nodes that do not have to rely on a central server to capture and disseminate information.

It was contested that this type of technology is ideal, and being provided by the U.S., for dissidents living in oppressive regimes to subvert censorship and avoid Internet shutdowns.

Acknowledging this, the official maintains, “…to fight against regimes is not the main aim, but rather, leveraging modern communication to uphold the freedom of expression of opinion is.”

Arguably, governments that respect the rights of civil society have nothing to fear in freedom of speech and opinion, further, they have no reason to fear freedom of the Internet.

The official admits that the Internet is not a one-size-fits-all solution and recent grants have been given to developing technology itself along with raining, and have been used on mobile innovation, citing mobile causing a, “pocket phenomenon.”

According to the official, “…the need is not one particular piece of technology or one silver bullet. The need is to be responsive to the ongoing challenges of people who are trying to call out the problems in their societies and give voice to their own future.”

The official referenced a Sudanese blogger writing about a YouTube video of a ballot box being stuffed, commenting that the National Election Commission would not investigate any evidence that was posted on the Internet. Instead, he/she cited, people posting the video were the ones being targeted and investigated.

In cases like these, the official recounted, it is the State Department’s obligation to help aid these freedoms by re-crafting the current model.

“And it hasn’t worked for Mubarak, and it hasn’t worked for Qadhafi, and it’s unlikely to work for Asad, and there are others who eventually will have to deal with either the stark choice of giving people the space to have a role in crafting their own futures or the lack of sustainability of their present model,” the official stated.

However, when asked by reporters which countries or groups this type of technology was being developed for, the official deferred questions about China, only stating that the Great Chinese Firewall and their type of censorship is a “different kind of freedom threat.”

…our goal is to make sure that we are doing what we can to amplify the voices and create the space for free expression and freedom of association and assembly online regardless of who the group is

The State Department’s recent statements are in light of the recent U.N. report declaring Internet access as a basic human right. The mesh networking innovation has the potential to leapfrog connectivity barriers and deliver freedom of expression to the oppressed.