The State Department Has $30 Million to Spend on Internet Freedom

The State Department might not be very happy about WikiLeaks (and its publication of hundreds of thousands of confidential diplomatic communications), but that’s not making it put the brakes on its quest to foster Internet freedom around the world. Foggy Bottom has just asked to hear from organizations that are interested in receiving government funds to “foster freedom of expression and the free flow of information on the Internet and other connection technologies.” The agency has $30 million to spend on such programs and is planning on making grants to the tune of $500,000 to $8 million. The “Request for Statements of Interest” is specifically looking for projects and services that counter censorship and enable Internet users to get around firewalls and filters in "acutely hostile Internet environments"; provide secure mobile communications; train users in "digital safety"; and support “digital activists” and build the technology capacities of civil society organizations in the Middle East and Iran. It will also support Internet public policy work, emergency funding for netizens “under threat because of their web-based activism,” and centers that track censorship and online dialogue in those same “hostile Internet environments.”