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| Online activists in parts of the world face huge hurdles |
The
European Union has unveiled a strategy called 'No-Disconnect' to help online
activists living under oppressive regimes get their message out without fear of
state surveillance.
Called the
"No-Disconnect" strategy, the new European Union plan announced
Monday aims to enable Internet activists operating under oppressive regimes to
communicate safely and anonymously outside the reach of governments. However,
European officials yet to precisely explain how these tools will be created,
distributed, or evaluated.
Neelie
Kroes, the EU's digital affairs commissioner outlined the four-part "No-Disconnect"
plan in a speech on Monday in Brussels.
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| Kroes said online freedom is closely linked to democracy |
The new
strategy includes developing technology to enhance privacy, teaching activists
how to use it, developing on-the-ground intelligence to monitor the level of
surveillance and censorship and promoting cooperation between governments, the
private sector and activists.
"I
want the EU to help develop and distribute those tools, in a framework that
ensures the legitimacy of our action," Kroes said.
Kroes said
the tools need to be simple and ready to use so they can be deployed quickly by
activists with minimal technical knowledge and training.
The tools
should also be readily accessible, she said, not just from computers, but from
mobile phones, social networks, and micro-blogging services, like Twitter.
Many
Internet experts believe social networking websites played a role in fomenting
the revolutions of the Arab Spring this year, helping topple authoritarian
regimes in Egypt and Tunisia.
"The
Arab Spring was a wake-up call for all of us," Kroes said at the Freedom
Online conference held last week, in The Hague, the Netherlands.
"[This
is] a reminder that democracy is not just a rich world luxury – but something
which people hope and struggle for everywhere," she added. "And a
reminder that, across the world, information and communications technology can
support freedom of speech and enable the peaceful transition to
democracy."
Mesh
network on the way
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| Egyptian blogger Wael Ghonim was a prominent activist during the uprising |
The EU's
push to support online freedom follows similar initiatives by the United States
earlier this year to fund and develop alternate digital communications networks
to help dissidents bypass state-controlled censorship.
Separately,
the Dutch government has pledged one million euros ($1.3 million) to develop
"mesh network" technology that can use devices like cellphones or
personal computers to create a backup system to disseminate information in the
event governments shut down Internet and mobile phone service. Iran, Syria and
Zimbabwe are reported to be target countries.
Walking a
fine line
Though details
of the EU digital freedom strategy remain sketchy, Internet rights advocates
have welcomed it as a step in the right direction.
"I'm
glad the European Union is taking a stance on Internet freedom. It helps
highlight just how important the issue is," said Markus Beckedahl, editor
of a popular German-language blog that focuses on digital issues, in an
interview with Deutsche Welle.
But at the
same time, he added, the EU is trying to walk a fine line: on the one hand it's
helping activists in repressive nations help bypass state-controlled
censorship.
On the
other EU member nations impose curbs on online speech within its own borders
when it comes to downloading music, blocking websites to fight child
pornography or gathering information on its citizens to combat terrorism.
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| Internet activists say western governments also block web content |
"It's
very hard to lecture a country like China about censoring Internet content when
governments in Europe too are blocking access to certain things," echoed
Joe McNamee, head of European Digital Rights, a Brussels-based Internet
advocacy organization. "This is the trickiest challenge for the EU – it
simply has to be consistent to be credible."
Activists
have also criticized the United States for its "Stop Online Piracy
Act" proposed by Congress, which would require American telecommunications
companies to block access to foreign-based websites that infringe American
copyright.
Western
tech firms complicit in Internet monitoring
Others
point out that any EU efforts to champion Internet freedom are undermined by
the fact that western companies export surveillance technology to authoritarian
governments. WikiLeaks recently began publishing extensive internal documents
from companies around the globe that engage in these types of surveillance.
Stephan
Urbach of Telecomix, a decentralized network of Internet freedom activists,
said his group had discovered earlier this year that the Syrian government was
using web filters developed by US technology company Blue Coat Systems. In
another instance, a Munich company reportedly sold Internet monitoring
technology to the Egyptian government.
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| Stephen Urbach and his colleagues at Telecomix have tried to help activists stay online |
"This
is a real problem," Urbach told Deutsche Welle. "The Western world sells
this kind of monitoring hardware all across the Middle East."
Both the
European Union and the US have in recent days urged technology companies to be
transparent about equipment they sell to government who might use it to repress
their citizens.
"I think
it is high time for the industry to decide where they stand, and what they are
going to do. If not as a moral issue, then as an issue of corporate
reputation," Kroes said. "Being known for selling despots the tools
of their repression is, to say the least, bad PR."
Helping
existing activists
Though the
EU hasn't said how much it intends to invest in its "No Disconnect"
strategy, experts say any funds must be targeted carefully.
Beckedahl
suggested that the 27-nation bloc should help finance groups such as Telecomix,
which famously offered slow, but functional, dial-up Internet access to
circumvent state blockages of broadband networks during the uprising in Egypt.
"If
the EU is serious about supporting Internet freedom it should fund civil rights
groups, open source software and groups that already do good work on the ground
and are well-connected with activists in other countries so that they can
improve their initiatives," he said.
Author: Sonia Phalnikar
Editor: Cyrus Farivar
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