A Global Dialogue on the Future of Freedom of Expression Online

Over the last week of June 27-28, diverse groups of citizen bloggers, civil society organizations, and free speech activists from around the world gathered in Budapest, Hungary for the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit. A yearly summit, this year's Global Voices summit focused on the theme of “Citizen Media and Citizenhood, and explored fundamental issues surrounding the actual, and potential role of citizen media producers in the public life of the countries they live in." For more information see http://summit08.globalvoicesonline.org/about/

In creating a truly global dialogue on the universal challenges facing bloggers worldwide, and the future of freedom of expression online, bloggers from countries as diverse as Belarus, Morocco, Mauritania, Singapore, Colombia, China, Kenya, Pakistan, India, Egypt, Bangladesh Tunisia, and Tajikistan to name a few, gathered together to share ideas, debate the issues of human rights online, and share stories on living with daily Internet censorship.

For instance, Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fatah of http://www.manalaa.net/ highlighted how Egyptian authorities use the legal system in Egypt to limit freedom of speech. A blogger from Pakistan Dr. Awab Alvi of http://dbtb.org/ shared stories on the attempts by Pakistani authorities to silence bloggers in Pakistan by blocking the popular site www.blogspot.com Blogger Andrei Abozau http://fromlu.net/eng.html from Belarus also spoke on how the authorities efforts to control the Internet in Belarus has led to a degradation of liberty and freedom of expression. These are just a few examples of the issues discussed, and the challenges facing bloggers, and civil society groups.

While the examples above hint at a bleak future for a free and open Internet, and freedom of expression online, this author is quietly confident that the future of freedom of expression online is not a lost cause, and that the fight is far from over.

The gathering in Budapest of bloggers, civil society organizations, and free speech activists from around the world, and the sheer diversity of countries they represent is a promising sign of a vibrant global civil society that is not only concerned with meeting the challenges facing freedom of expression online, but ready to engage the issues head on.

Creating a global dialogue is just the first step.