Internet at Liberty 2010: NDItech goes to Budapest

For the past 3 days I’ve been in Budapest at the Google/CEU ‘Internet at Liberty 2010’ conference, learning from and talking to some very clever people working along the spectrum of everything from Net Neutrality to bloggers rights. There are about 400 people here; geeks, activists, policy wonks and academics, all of whom make it their life’s work – some at greater risk than other than others – to explore and advance the cause of freedom on the net. That’s a pretty ambiguous construction – ‘the cause of freedom on the net’. Were we here to talk about keeping the internet free; topics such as net neutrality and Lessig’s famous dictum that ‘code is law’? Or is the conversation intended to look at the role of the net in propagating rights-based freedoms, such as those of speech and assembly? This ambiguity was both deliberate and manifest; it encouraged the sort of panel introspection and free-ranging dinner and hallway debates that make being a geek so much fun. At the same time, the cumulative response was also that of some criticism – were our discussions focused enough to result in actionable goals? Would the talk of freedom result in the outcomes of increased liberties? Bob Boorstin, hosting for Google, posed the question to the crowd of whether they were more or less optimistic following the days’ events. The results were decidedly mixed; Evgeny Morozov, the internet’s eternal Cassandra, was less hopeful than ever, given the extraordinary range of challenges faced. Others, like Walid al-Saqaf, were positive about the opportunities, noting the extraordinary growth in internet penetration in countries like his native Yemen. This is just a quick wrap-up – NDI and Google are hosting a MENA bloggers panel tomorrow, and the participants and facilitators are off to explore the Danube by boat. In the meanwhile, you can take a look at the Berkman Center’s Jillian York’s excellent panel summaries here, here, here, here, here, and here. I’ll be back later with some observations and reflections, and a round-up of good posts from bloggers more eloquent than myself.