USAGM

Event

Securing Internet Freedom – Forging a New Policy Framework

June 30, 2021

The U.S. Agency for Global Media and the National Democratic Institute invite you to join a virtual discussion on

“Securing Internet Freedom – Forging a New Policy Framework”

Authoritarian controls on internet access have increased at an unprecedented pace in the past two years, particularly under claims of preventing disinformation during the coronavirus pandemic. As more governments seek to restrict information, democracies must evaluate the impacts of these controls and develop effective policy responses.

Our panelists will examine the scope of global internet restrictions, current strategies and technology being pursued to circumvent them, and the prospects of policy solutions to mitigate the threats to free expression and government accountability.

USAGM’s Media for Democracy Forum brings together media experts, practitioners, opinion leaders, and policymakers to explore current trends in global media and their impact on democracy, as well as to identify solutions to the biggest threats facing free media.

Event Information

June 30, 2021, 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Online

For more information, please contact USAGM Public Affairs at (202) 203-4400 or by e-mail at pubaff@usagm.gov.

Panelists

Eileen Donahoe is the Executive Director of the Global Digital Policy Incubator (GDPI) at Stanford University. GDPI is a global multistakeholder collaboration hub for development of norms, policies that reinforce human rights and democratic values in digitized society. She served as US Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva during the Obama Administration. Later, she joined Human Rights Watch as Director of Global Affairs with special focus on digital rights, cybersecurity and internet governance. Earlier in her career, she was a technology litigator at Fenwick & West in Silicon Valley. She is a member of the National Endowment for Democracy Board of Directors; the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity; Freedom Online Coalition Advisory Network; Dartmouth College Board of Trustees, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Education: BA, Dartmouth; J.D., Stanford Law School; MA East Asian Studies, Stanford; M.T.S., Harvard; and Ph.D., Ethics & Social Theory, GTU Cooperative Program with UC Berkeley.
Adrian Shahbaz is the Director for Technology and Democracy at Freedom House, where he heads the organization's research and policy on human rights in the digital age. He is a lead author for Freedom on the Net, an annual report on global internet freedom, as well as the founder of Election Watch for the Digital Age, a data-driven initiative tracking the risk of censorship, disinformation, and violence ahead of national elections.
Nat Kretchun is the Vice President for Programs at the Open Technology Fund. He brings to OTF over a decade of experience on communication dynamics, information controls and technology in authoritarian contexts.He previously served as a Senior Associate Director at InterMedia, where he managed research projects with a focus on digital technologies and hard-to-access populations. He has conducted studies ranging from large-scale nationally representative surveys of China to qualitative examinations of digital communication patterns among Uyghur populations. He has also done extensive research with North Korean defectors and travelers and is the primary author of A Quiet Opening: North Koreans in a Changing Media Environment and its follow-up, Compromising Connectivity: Information Dynamics Between the State and Society in a Digitizing North Korea.
Alexandra Reeve Givens is CDT’s President & CEO, and an advocate for using technology to increase equality, amplify voices, and promote human rights. At CDT, Alex leads a diverse team that is putting democracy and individual rights at the center of the digital revolution. Prior to joining CDT, Alex served as the founding Executive Director of the Institute for Technology Law & Policy at Georgetown Law, where she set the Institute’s research agenda, and directed its public convenings, curricular activities, strategic development, and stakeholder engagement. While at Georgetown, Alex also taught the two foundation seminars for Georgetown Law’s Tech Law Scholars Program, inviting law students to develop a concentration in technology law and policy, and was a founding leader of the university’s Initiative on Tech & Society. Alex previously served as Chief Counsel for IP and Antitrust on the Senate Judiciary Committee. She developed legislative and oversight strategy on matters including patent reform, federal trade secrets legislation, net neutrality, First Amendment issues surrounding online speech, access to medicines, and oversight of mergers and antitrust policy. Alex began her career as a litigator at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City, and taught for five years as an adjunct professor at Columbia University School of Law. Alex serves on the Board of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and is a mayoral appointee on D.C.’s Innovation and Technology Inclusion Council. She holds a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. You can find her on Twitter and LinkedIn.
MODERATOR
CLOSING REMARKS
Shawn Powers
Chief Strategy Officer, U.S. Agency for Global Media

United States Agency for Global Media

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Securing Internet Freedom – Forging a New Policy Framework

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