Should the U.S. support Internet freedom through technology?
by Alex Howard The foreign policy priorities enumerated by the State Department, from Secretary of State Clinton to senior innovation advisor Alec J. Ross to case officers abroad, now include supporting Internet freedom around the world. As always with big ideas, the devil is in the details. “The issue for governments is that the same technology used for Internet freedom can be used for porn, copyright or terrorism,” said Andrew McLaughlin, deputy chief technology officer at the White House, at Privacy Camp in Washington, D.C. this spring. Implementation of Net freedom is where the opinion of researchers, academics and public intellectuals diverge. Earlier today, Radar featured the perspective of Ross on integrating technology into State Department operation, including its role in supporting Internet freedom policy. After the jump, find different perspectives on that policy, including specific ideas for which technologies it might make sense to fund. “Circumvention does nothing to help
