Today’s dissidents have more ways than ever to exchange information, organize resistance, and share their message with the outside world. At the same time, the same advances in technology also enable repressive governments not only to meet these efforts, but themselves to become more efficient at censorship, identifying dissenters and quashing expressions of dissent in the press, on the Internet or in the streets. The Conference’s two goals were to bring dissidents together to share best practices and learn from one another, and to learn ourselves what we in America and other democracies can do to aid the work of dissidents – in particular, to help them protect and enhance their high-tech tools and counter the technological counter-assaults from government and terror groups. The fascinating practical discussions among the dissidents were framed by presentations from many U.S. experts which put their struggle in context, and reported on the use of cyber tools by repressive regimes.

Christopher Walker and Robert Guerra from Freedom House presented their new research, just released today, about how authoritarian governments such as those in China, Iran and Russia are pursuing media and information strategies that are increasingly sophisticated – and are in the habit of sharing their expertise with one another. China, for example, has been at the forefront of a growing trend toward “outsourcing” censorship and surveillance to private companies – ISPs, cybercafés, and mobile phone providers. These governments are at the forefront of a kind of globalization of authoritarianism. The Berkman Center’s Ethan Zuckerman and Hal Roberts discussed their work on how “circumvention technology” can work to evade online censorship. David Keyes, the director of the private organization CyberDissidents.org contributed his insights to the problem as well. Several speakers from past and present U.S. Administrations and from the U.S. State Department, all of whom had or still have direct responsibility for supporting democracy and good governance abroad.

The luncheon keynote was Dr. Jeffrey Gedmin, who is President and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. We also heard from Daniel Baer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; Jennifer L. Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House, who worked at USAID as Director of the Center for Democracy and Governance during both Clinton Administrations; Steve Hadley, who served in the Administrations of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush (as National Security Advisor to the President); and three others who served in President Bush’s Administration: Goli Ameri, now a member of Freedom House’s board who was Assistant Secretary of State; Kristen Silverberg, who was U.S. Ambassador to the E.U., and of course Jim Glassman, who was Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy.

The message was clear – Americans and American Administrations from before the fall of the Berlin Wall to today have made a difference to those who are struggling for human freedom. This support must and will continue – but we need to be aware of changing circumstances. While the desire for human freedom in the face of oppression is an absolute, the means to achieve freedom and how those who desire it join hands with others is constantly changing and developing. The desire for freedom can be also described as an intellectual and political discipline, as Dr. Peter Ackerman spoke of it at the conference: a technique that can be learned, improved and perfected. But like any discipline that can be learned, its practitioners need to keep abreast of new developments and new tools that change the techniques and methods.

The Conference on Cyber Dissidents was a first step, an investigation, toward the ultimate goal of developing a plan of action that can be used by many – nonviolent dissidents themselves, of course, but also by those in our government, in non-profits, and even by such companies with technological prowess and a sense of human citizenship as Google and Facebook, to ensure that the cyber tools that empower freedom of expression and communication are kept free of interference from the enemies of freedom.

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