Get Involved

After reading the book, are you interested in getting involved with the growing global movement for Internet freedom and digital rights?

Below is a list of organizations and initiatives that you can get involved with, follow, or support. Some are mentioned in the book. They are listed by country or region, and type (for countries/regions with more than 5-6 listings). The current list is skewed heavily toward English-speaking organizations but we hope to add more organizations from more countries. Please feel free to suggest others in the comments section.

For even more resources including media and research be sure to check out this page by Stephan Geens and this page by Digital Rights Watch.

Global Organizations  (Country-specific lists below)

Activism

• Access – “a new global movement for digital freedom.”
• Association for Progressive Communications – An organization and network of working toward a vision: “All people have easy and affordable access to a free and open internet to improve their lives and create a more just world.“
• Avaaz.org – “the campaigning community bringing people-powered politics to decision-making worldwide
• Digital Democracy – “Empowering marginalized communities to use technology to fight for their human rights”
• MobileActive – “connects people, organizations, and resources using mobile technology for social change.”
• Movements.org – “a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying, connecting, and supporting grassroots digital activists from around the world.”
• Tactical Technology Collective – “an international NGO working to enable the effective use of information for progressive social change.”
• Global Voices Advocacy – “a project of Global Voices Online. We seek to build a global anti-censorship network of bloggers and online activists throughout the developing world that is dedicated to protecting freedom of expression and free access to information online.”
• The Public Voice – “A coalition established in 1996 by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) to promote public participation in decisions concerning the future of the Internet. “

Internet governance and standards

• Internet Society – Organization formed “to promote the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world.”
• ICANN – coordinates the Domain Name System (DNS), Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domain name system management, and root server system management functions. Participate online in ICANN’s At-Large Community on policy development, the ICANN Non Commercial User Constituency and ICANN Non Commercial Stakeholder Group.
• The Internet Engineering Task Force – The IETF’s mission is “to make the Internet work better by producing high quality, relevant technical documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet.”
• W3C – “an international community that develops open standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web.”
• Internet Governance Project – “an alliance of academics that puts expertise into practical action in the fields of global governance, Internet policy, and information and communication technology.”
• Internet Rights & Principles Coalition –  “a Dynamic Coalition that has set out to make Rights on the Internet and their related duties, specified from the point of view of individual users, a central theme of the Internet Governance debate held in the IGF context.”
• World Wide Web Consortium – “an international community where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards.”

Corporate Accountability

• Global Network Initiative – “Protecting and Advancing Freedom of Expression and Privacy in Information and Communications Technologies”

Government Transparency

• Open Government Partnership – “a global effort to make governments better.”
• Transparency & Accountability Initiative – “empowering citizens to hold their governing institutions to account.”

Technology Projects

• The Crypto Project – “an organization designed to assist and encourage anonymity and encryption research, development, and use.”
• Choke Point Project – an organization that maps the nodes of Internet control in service of the global citizenry.
• FreedomBox – “building software for smart devices whose engineered purpose is to work together to facilitate free communication among people, safely and securely, beyond the ambition of the strongest power to penetrate.”
• The Serval Project – “Communicate anywhere, anytime.”
• Open Mesh Project – “developing the best open source technologies, while simultaneously partnering with existing technologies, to create a private, citizen-owned communications infrastructure.  “
• Mozilla Drumbeat “a global community of innovators… building a more awesome web and world.”
• Telecomix – “a sociocyphernetic telecommunist cluster of internet and data loving bots and people, always striving to protect and improve the internet and defend the free flow of data. Telecomix, just like the Internet, knows no borders technological or territorial.”
• Reboot –  “Helps improve the services, programs and investments of socially minded institutions. Working with a diverse range of public and private sector clients, we design and develop solutions in three primary areas: governance, international development, and civic media.”

Free Expression and Independent Media

• Article 19 – An organization focused on freedom of expression and information that “provides legal knowledge and representation to those who require it, gather information and share our knowledge.”
• Center for International Media Assistance – “dedicated to improving U.S. efforts to promote independent media in developing countries around the world.”
• Committee to Protect Journalists – An organization dedicated to promoting press freedom worldwide by defending the rights of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal.
• Index on Censorship – “The voice of free expression”
• Reporters Without Borders – Investigates, exposes and supports censorship of the press around the globe.

United States

Activism

• Fight for the Future – “a non-profit that helped to organize the historic strike against the web censorship bills SOPA and PIPA (see sopastrike.com and americancensorship.org) and continues to organize against threats to our basic rights and freedoms on the internet.”
• Students for Free Culture – “a diverse, non-partisan group of students and young people who are working to get their peers involved in the free culture movement”
• Save the Internet – “a project of Free Press, fights on behalf of millions of everyday people who have banded together to protect Internet freedom.”
• SumOfUs – “a new world-wide movement for a better global economy.”
• Do Tank – “Ideas for democratic action”
• Detroit Digital Justice Coalition – “comprised of people and organizations in Detroit who believe that communication is a fundamental human right. We are securing that right through activities that are grounded in the digital justice principles of: access, participation, common ownership, and healthy communities.”
• May First/People Link – “an organization that redefines the concept of “Internet Hosting Service” in a collective, progressive and collaborative way.”

Policy Advocacy on Net Freedom, Civil Rights, Privacy

• Electronic Frontier Foundation – “Defending your rights in the digital world”
• Electronic Privacy Information Center – “A public interest research center in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values.”
• Center for Democracy and Technology – “A nonprofit public policy organization and the leading Internet freedom organization working at the critical edge of policy innovation.”
• Public Knowledge –  “Fighting for your digital rights in Washington”
• Digital Due Process – “Modernizing surveillance laws for the Internet age.”
• Open Technology Initiative, New America Foundation –  “The Internet was built on open source technology. We aim to keep it that way.” (Note: OTI’s work spans all areas listed below.)

Accountability, Transparency, Openness

• Sunlight Foundation – “uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable.”
• Civic Commons – “Sharing technology for the public good”
• Code for America – “Helping governments work better for everyone with the people and the power of the web”

Research

• The Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University – a research center that seeks to “explore and understand cyberspace; to study its development, dynamics, norms, and standards; and to assess the need or lack thereof for laws and sanctions.”
• Center on Democracy, Development & the Rule of Law, Stanford University – “engages in research, training, and teaching, and organizes intellectual and policy dialogues aimed at increasing public understanding of economic and political development.”
• Center for Internet and Society, Stanford University – “a leader in the study of the law and policy around the Internet and other emerging technologies.”
• Center for Information Technology Policy, Princeton University – “a nexus of expertise in technology, engineering, public policy, and the social sciences” that seeks to “address digital technologies as they interact with society.”
• Information Society Project at Yale Law School – “an intellectual center addressing the implications of the Internet and new information technologies for law and society, guided by the values of democracy, development, and civil liberties.”
• Center for Strategic and International Studies – “Analyzing how technological change can transform the way countries interrelate, whether by increasing wealth and improving living standards or by creating new political, economic, and security questions that challenge existing governmental institutions.”

Media Reform, Citizen Journalism, Civic Media

• Nieman Lab – “pushing to the future of journalism”
• MIT Center for Civic Media – “creates and deploys technical and social tools that fill the information needs of communities.”
• Knight Foundation – “supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts.”
• Free Press – ” a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, quality journalism and universal access to communications.”

Canada

• Citizen Lab – “an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs,at the University of Toronto, Canada focusing on advanced research and development at the intersection of digital media, global security, and human rights.”
• Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic – “The clinic aims to fill voids in public policy debates on technology law issues, ensure balance in policy and law-making processes, and provide legal assistance to under-represented organizations and individuals on matters involving the intersection of law and technology; and to provide a high quality and rewarding clinical legal education experience to students of law.”
• OpenMedia.ca – “a grassroots organization that safeguards the possibilities of the open and affordable Internet.”

European Union

•  European Digital Rights Initiative (EDRi) – A network of European privacy and civil rights organizations who “have joined forces to defend civil rights in the information society.”

United Kingdom

• Oxford Internet Institute – ” An academic centre for the study of the societal implications of the Internet.”
• Open Rights Group –  “Protecting your rights in the digital age”
• Index on Censorship – Organization that seeks to promote freedom of expression through raising awareness and providing support to governments, media and art organizations.
• Open Knowledge Foundation – “build tools and communities to to promote open knowledge around the world.”

France

• La Quadrature du Net –  “Internet & Libertés”

Germany

• Institut Fur Internet Und Geschellschaft – Research center that aims “to understand the Internet better in society and to enable all groups to participate in the digital, networked future.”
• Netzpolitik.org – “A blog and a political platform for freedom and openness in the digital age.”

• Chaos Computer Club – Europe’s oldest hacker club and host of the annual Chaos Communications Congress.
• Digitale Gesellschaft – “Digital Society” organization campaigning for “digital civil rights.”

Sweden

• Cybernorms.net – “A research group within the field of Sociology of Law that aims to explore norm structures (social and legal) that appear in the wake of the changing information technology.”
• The Pirate Party – Swedish political party that “wants to fundamentally reform copyright law, get rid of the patent system, and ensure that citizens’ rights to privacy are respected.”

Netherlands

• Bits of Freedom –  a Dutch “digital rights organization, focusing on privacy and communications freedom in the digital age.”

Finland

• Electronic Frontier Finland – “set up to protect citizens’ electronic rights. These include the right to censor non-communication, reasonable access to digital content, buying, and the freedom to develop and publish transparent computer programs.”

Italy

• Nexa Center for Internet and Society – “Studying the Internet, exploring its potential & experimenting new ideas”

Hungary

• Center for Communication Studies, Central European University – “A research center…dedicated to advancing media and communication scholarship and policy and the democratic potential of the media.”

Poland

• Modern Poland Foundation – “a non-profit working in the field of Open Educational Resources and promoting idea of free and unrestricted access to knowledge.”

• Panoptykon Fundacion – The Foundation’s aim is to “protect human rights, in particular the right to privacy, in the clash with modern technology used for surveillance purposes.”

Russia

• RosPil – Anti-corruption blog styled after Wikileaks

Spain

• Asociacion de Internautas – A movement to promote public interests “against large telecommunications companies, providers, computer companies and, of course, before any competent authority in this matter.”

Ukraine

• Internet Initiatives – “a non-government organization designed to encourage development of the Internet and new media in Ukraine and to help other NGOs to use these technologies efficiently.”

• International Renaissance Foundation – The Foundation “is dedicated to building and maintaining the infrastructure and institutions necessary for an open society in Ukraine.”