Internet at Liberty 2012: Promoting Progress and Freedom

Internet at Liberty 2012: Promoting Progress and Freedom

Following the highly successful Internet at Liberty 2010, activists and experts from around the world will converge at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on May 23-24 to explore the most pressing dilemmas and exciting opportunities around free expression in the digital age.

The Internet as a global, free, and open resource, is constantly developing. Over the past year we have seen how the Internet can shift power, broaden scope, and accelerate political and economic change. Simultaneously, governments and multinational companies shape what is possible online. Today, more than any time in history, technological and political forces are colliding to draw lines about how the Internet functions.

Internet at Liberty 2012, sponsored by Google, will bring together over 300 global activists and representatives of academic centers, corporations, governments, the media and NGOs from more than 30 countries. The conference will explore creative ways to expand the free flow of information online.

According to Bob Boorstin, Director of Public Policy at Google:

The future of free expression is uncertain. According to the Open Net Initiative, more than 620 million Internet users—31% of the world’s total Internet users—live in countries where there is substantial or pervasive filtering of online content. And when free expression is in jeopardy, so are reporters; as the Committee to Protect Journalists found, nearly half of all the writers, editors, and photojournalists imprisoned around the world are online journalists.

Dictatorships and authoritarian regimes are the worst offenders, but democracies around the world are also questioning whether the Internet requires monitoring and supervision. 2012 is a crucial year. As governments are trying to draw the right lines, we are bringing the most challenging and important debates to you via Internet at Liberty 2012.

You can participate virtually in the conference by watching the conference livestream on Youtube, or by tweeting your questions and comments to @InternetLiberty and using the hashtag #InternetLiberty.

Scribbles from the Den will blogging and tweeting directly from the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

Click here for a detailed conference agenda.

Source: Google

Comments

[Edmund Njoh]

It has revolutionized communications and social networking, creating a zone which was so international,people communicate, share data and work through the internet all day.Whether Dictatorships or authoritarian regimes like it or not internet plays a great role in removing the borders on nations, and assisting in the process of globalization.

[Cisco]

Excellent post and wonderful blog, I really like this type of interesting articles keep it up.