Kathleen Reen, vice president for Asia and New Media programs at Internews, delivered the Feb. 9 Liberation Technology Seminar on the topic of "Strategies and Support for a Global Open Internet." Internews is an international non-profit organization, which pushes the boundaries of independent journalism, empowering media and providing uncensored news and information worldwide. The organization works with independent media outlets to make tools from the bleeding edge of human rights activism more widely available.

In her talk, Reen stressed that the problem of digital safety has become mainstream. Issues of Internet security, including malware and phishing expeditions, have infiltrated civil society. In response, Internews has created tech leaderships to teach the basics of safe computing, and to encourage awareness and participation. Internews has teamed up with ad agencies to make security tools available in countries experiencing heavy Internet censorship. Reen's talk highlighted the importance of investing in development platforms and data integrity to keep these tools effective and safe.

Reen then turned to the American experience of the Internet. The question of how much the U.S. government will continue to control the Internet is hotly debated. Alternative theories for Internet governance have been submitted to the U.N., some advocating for separate, nationally led Internets. Reen called attention to the extreme vulnerability of the American experience of the Internet, including the ability to earn livelihood online and to access uncensored data. Reen encouraged the audience to engage in these critical discussions to think twice about aspects of the American Internet experience that are unique and in peril.

Rebecca MacKinnon, the Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, delivered the inaugural lecture for the Liberation Technology Seminar Series on Jan. 12 on the topic of Internet freedom and governance. She discussed her new book, Consent of the Networked, where she argues the need to go beyond the issue of whether internet is a positive or a negative force for democracy, and for focusing on regulating technology in constructive ways.

Recognizing that the Internet is a multi-stakeholder environment, she argued for pragmatic engagement with a variety of players including governments and large intermediary services. MacKinnon encourages the “network” to assert their rights in cyberspace both by seeking to redefine the legal space and through constructive engagement with private players who own the space in which a large volume of public discourse takes place today. In the process, she took us through recent debates on Internet governance globally and discussed examples of how the space is being shaped actively by governments around the world with enormous consequences for democracy.