A top US government official believes that the internet is under fierce attack by authoritarian governments worldwide, and that the situation is rapidly deteriorating. "Today we face a series of challenges at the intersection of human rights, connected technologies, business, and government. It's a busy intersection – and a lot of people want to put up traffic lights," said US Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner, speaking at the Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference...While the so-called "Arab Spring" may have proved the power of the internet to inform and unite repressed populations...Posner believes that it also awakened repressive governments to the need to more tightly control communication among their citizens. "The result has been more censorship, more surveillance, and more restrictions," Posner said..."They are exerting over-broad state control over content, users, and over companies," he said, "and they're trying to change national and international legal standards to legitimize it all."...The private sector has a reponsibility to defend personal freedom, Posner said...