About the Author: David Kennedy is a Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva.

At the front lines of the fight for freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are human rights defenders, who often depend on the internet to communicate with fellow activists and to report on human rights violations to the international community. For the third year in a row, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva brought together human rights activists from different parts of the world to meet with fellow activists, U.S. and international government leaders, and members of civil society and the private sector. Since 2011, the Internet Freedom Fellows program has convened human rights activists from across the globe to Geneva, Washington and Silicon… more »

About the Authors: Ambassador Philip L. Verveer serves as U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy at the U.S. Department of State, Lawrence E. Strickling serves as Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and Julius Genachowski serves as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

On the eve of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), we believe that it is the right time to reaffirm the U.S. government’s commitment to the multi-stakeholder model as the appropriate process… more »

On March 22 and 23, 2012, the third Director General-level meeting of the U.S.-Japan Policy Cooperation Dialogue on the Internet Economy was held in Tokyo. Hajime Tonegawa, Director General of the Global ICT Strategy Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), and officials representing MIC, the IT Policy Office, the National Information Security Center, the Consumer Affairs Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry participated in the dialogue from Japan. Ambassador Philip Verveer and officials representing the U.S. Department of State, the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security participated in the dialogue from the United States. In addition, representatives from both U.S. and Japanese industry participated in some of the discussions. MORE

About the Author: Chris Painter serves as Coordinator for Cyber Issues at the Department of State.

I’m very excited to be en route to Nairobi for the East Africa Workshop on Cyberspace Security from Monday to Wednesday next week. Terrific government, academic, and private sector experts from the United States and East Africa will be leading workshop discussions over three days. Our co-host, the Government of Kenya, has been a great partner in the lead-up to this conference, and I especially want to thank Minister Poghisio and Permanent Secretary Ndemo for their leadership.

Cyberspace security is a foreign policy priority for the United States. As Secretary Clinton mentioned at the recent release of President Obama’s International Strategy for Cyberspace, the Internet is a global network, and we believe that each country must have the means to protect its digital infrastructure. In addition, the United States seeks to build close partnerships with countries who share… more »

About the Author: Luke Forgerson serves as DipNote’s Managing Editor, and Laura Rodriguez is the Editor of the USAID Impact Blog.

As Secretary Clinton returns from Africa, here in Washington D.C. the State Department has been hosting some of the world’s best known and most influential bloggers, including several headliners from Africa. The bloggers are part of a larger international group of online journalists and activists from Egypt, Tunisia, Uganda, Bahrain, Burma, China and at least a dozen other countries. They have already met with Secretary Clinton’s Senior Advisor for Innovation, Alec Ross, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Daniel Baer. Also on tap are discussions with government and independent U.S. bloggers and several groups working on promoting freedom of expression on the Internet.

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