Breaking the Cycle of Internet Repression

[Commentary] To break the cycle of repression we must look more closely at the tools protesters and reporters use and ask whether they further the cause of freedom  --  or just make speakers more vulnerable.

These tools fall under four categories:

1. Devices: We must support policies that defend everyone's right to record while adopting better technologies and applications to protect devices from shutdown and surveillance.
2. Applications: To be more accountable and transparent to users, these platforms must allow a full public view of every decision to block content. And these sites should invite feedback from users as a check against abuses.
3. Networks: To protect networks we need laws that right the imbalance between privacy and national security. And we must restore Net Neutrality to give users full control of their online experience.
4. Audiences: Technology has turned reporting into a two-way conversation between journalists and the their audiences. While audiences -- or what journalism scholar Jay Rosen calls "the people formerly known as 'the audience'" -- aren't technically tools, they do play a very important role in this new-media feedback loop. And the loop works best only when everyone can participate via open and secure networks.

[Karr is Senior Director of Strategy, Free Press]