Protect the Free and Open Internet

The incoming US administration will face unprecedented challenges to internet freedom, and without strong leadership by the world’s major democracies, internet users can expect that their freedom of expression and access to information will continue to decline, even as they suffer from increasingly aggressive attacks by a range of state and non-state actors. Our newly elected officials will need to act swiftly and decisively to protect a free and open internet.

Several months prior to the election, a team at New America’s Open Technology Institute began to develop a set of recommendations for the 45th presidential administration to preserve and advance the cause of internet freedom—regardless of the final outcome. Drawing upon these recommendations which we have seen to resonate across the domestic political spectrum, we have released a paper that we hope can serve as a useful policy reference and roadmap, containing concrete policy steps that will enable the new administration to assert global leadership in advancing global internet freedom.