In China, Vietnam, Russia and several former Soviet states, the dominant social networks are run by local companies whose relationship with the government actually constrains the empowering potential of social networks. Rebecca MacKinnon Read Quote
As it turns out, American-made technology had helped Mubarak and his security state collect, compile, and parse vast amounts of data about everyday citizens. Rebecca MacKinnon Read Quote
Despite the Obama administration’s proclaimed commitment to global Internet freedom, the executive branch is not transparent about the types and capabilities of surveillance technologies it is sourcing and purchasing – or about what other governments are purchasing the same technology. Rebecca MacKinnon Read Quote
Normalization of U.S.-China relations in 1979, combined with economic reforms and opening, transformed the Chinese people’s lives. Rebecca MacKinnon Read Quote
One-way monologues through the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia don’t have much street cred with China’s Internet generation, to be honest. Rebecca MacKinnon Read Quote
The Internet is empowering everybody. It’s empowering Democrats. It’s empowering dictators. It’s empowering criminals. It’s empowering people who are doing really wonderful and creative things. Rebecca MacKinnon Read Quote
Negative views of Pakistan expressed by prominent members of the global business community are taken more seriously by government functionaries than are appeals by human rights groups. Rebecca MacKinnon Read Quote
As in Pakistan, Tunisian and Egyptian human rights activists are concerned that any censorship mechanisms, once put in place, will inevitably be abused for political purposes no matter what censorship proponents claim to the contrary. Rebecca MacKinnon Read Quote
