The US Trade Representative Katherine Tai spoke at the Atlantic Council earlier this week. I was a keen audience member because Tai has recently walked back lines drawn by the US in the WTO's e-commerce negotiations, which I've written about previously. A core quote from her

There was a flurry of activity this week in Geneva with the annual WSIS Forum of the ITU officially kicking off the WSIS+20 review with a high level event, with the fourth annual AI Summit for Good tacked on, too. Two working meetings were also hosted for members of

I really enjoyed this conversation with colleagues in which I got to go into some of the specific threats to human rights in the current technical landscape. Video formats are fun, and so is reaching out to a new audience: And on the theme of non-English contexts I also spoke

Everyone should read the newly published annual report on internet shutdowns in 2023. In "SHRINKING DEMOCRACY, GROWING VIOLENCE," the #KeepItOn coalition led by Access Now reports on the latest trends in shutdowns, which are only growing in number and duration: * Shutdowns continue to shroud grave human rights abuses

It's Friday– go play a video game You can role play as a Russian internet censor if you download and play Road to Chebernet on the App Store or on Android. Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe! All My Open Tabs * It was a pleasure to contribute

In 2014 the internet governance landscape featured zero-rated internet services, post-Snowden distrust in five-eyes governments' ability to steward the internet, and the IANA transition from US government to ICANN community control. Among these was an affirmation of global South leadership and that multistakeholder process and protocols thrive outside of

The annual Real World Crypto conference took place in Toronto recently. I was sad to miss it and if you are, too, I put together a short list of talks from their stellar agenda that you can now watch online: * Better privacy tracking of unwanted Apple Airtags https://www.youtube.

Center for Democracy and Technology hosted a working group on tech standards and human rights We brought in an array of civil society experts to talk about what they’re doing to build the field of public interest technologists shaping standards and internet governance processes. Public interest technologists play a

Last week I attended an event convened by Jigsaw on AI and the Public Square. It was an incredible agenda led by implementers and activists who are embracing democracy in all of its flaws, while also doing something about the at-scale effects of the rather disputatious online experience. Two papers

This week's newsletter catches you up on the last three months in internet standards. The Star Monitor is a cooperative effort between Global Partners Digital and the Center for Democracy and Technology. Its aim is to help civil society organisations track discussions at internet standards bodies on a