Panel: Content Where Speech Isn’t Free
Lebkowsky / Nerad / Zuckerman / Faris / Amanullah / Tesanovic (translator from serbia)
Lebkowsky: Speech isn’t free in many places, not just the ones you typically think of. Even this country, haven’t you had a moment where you were kind of looking over your shoulder wondering if you should write something? Maybe because of an employer, customer or mom or dad reading it. Freedom has a relatively loose definition… How do you define it? Every day you need to figure what you’re free to blog. Broader issue than just where free speech isn’t allowed.
Faris: Involved with OpenNet Inititiative. At one time it was hoped the Internet would be an open place, an open frontier not subject to national soverienty. That idea is pretty much dead. Check out opennet.net. Rules of censorship have changed and will continue to evolve. They’ll continue to change, creating opportunities and dangers.
Zuckerman: Watches citizen media. Check freedomhouse.org. (photo of freedom map). In many areas moderate oppression results in huge independent citizen media. Look at Iran: Press shut down, use of blogging exploded. In some cases some bloggers have their entries smuggled out of jails on paper and then posted by a friend or family member. States respond by blocking sites, blocking tools, registering bloggers and threatening safety. Pakistan has blocked Blogger, for example. Bahrain forces registration of blogs. Ways to fight back: Mirror sites, bring attention countries that are blocking and sites that are blocked. We must fight for free speech for everyone, whether they’re pro-democratic or not.
Nerad: Exec. director of Tor project. Applied for 501c3. Produces suite of software which can be used by those who want to circumvent firewalls and protect identity