Focus AreasJonathan Peizer
Chief Technology Officer, Information Program
Tel: 1-212-548-0642
Email: jpeizer@sorosny.org
Vera Franz
Program Manager
Tel: +44-207-0310-219
Email: vfranz@osieurope.org
The Internet and Information Policy Program seeks to address a number of relevant issues in the sector, even while they continue to evolve. The program’s current focus includes sponsoring initiatives that monitor Internet censorship, surveillance, and filtering. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, the policy implications of such activity have become more prevalent and problematic globally. Changes in Internet policy and technology in the current environment are often made quietly and in the name of global security. However, their full impact on civil liberties, human rights, and the free flow of information on the Internet are not well documented or understood. The program’s objective is to make these issues transparent so that societies have the information to make informed decisions on the appropriate balance of national security and civil liberties as they relate to the Internet.
The program is also involved in nurturing local Internet policy expertise in the developing world. It further assists in the development of regional and global efforts that bring these experts together. The strategy is to create an effective counterbalance to decrees or laws developed in isolation, without the appropriate expertise to guide their initiation and development or to monitor their effect. For this strategy to work there must be expertise on the national, regional, and global level. In addition to building local developing-world Internet-policy expertise, the initiative is also trying to foster a stronger pan-European Internet advocacy movement. The program has a special focus on assisting European Union accession countries with Internet policy issues that arise during the accession process.
Aside from looking outside traditional geography of support, the Internet and Information Policy Program is also trying to support nontraditional actors. It is important for researchers, journalists, and librarians, among other constituents, to be sensitized to issues of Internet policy that affect their sectors. The program is reaching out to co-operate with other OSI initiatives in order to promote Internet Policy in these various sectors. The program already has a very good co-operative relationship with two of the other major foundations focusing on issues of Internet policy, the Markle Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
Additionally, the program is trying to address Internet policy issues related to very specific issues and technologies that have concrete effect. These include the process of developing technology standards, intellectual property, open source, and wireless technologies.
