US envoy leads Internet Freedom Day observance

MANILA, Philippines - “Good afternoon, Mr. Ambassador, I’m a Facebook friend.”

With this peculiar greeting the tone was set for a casual gathering in a private balcony overlooking the Manila Bay at the US embassy in Manila last week to celebrate Internet Freedom Day worldwide.

To mark the event, US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. invited select media practitioners, bloggers, guests and others who are listed as friends of the US embassy’s Facebook page for the observance of Internet Freedom Day.

“In the last few weeks we have seen the power of the Internet and how it can accelerate things in all parts of the globe. We believe in the freedom of speech, one of the most precious amendments in our Bill of Rights,” said Thomas.

“Internet freedom is important. It’s a global phenomenon that brings down barriers. It is something that the young have taught the ‘viejos’ (old men) like me,” he added.

Talks immediately veered to the embassy’s participation in popular social networking services like Facebook to reach out to more Filipinos.

As of this writing, 24,421 people have clicked on the “Like” button to signify their interest or appreciation of the embassy’s Facebook page.

Thomas said they now have hundreds of “FB friends,” majority of them Filipinos who he said have taught him a lot about the Philippines.

“The Philippines is one of the largest Facebook users in the world and I learned a lot from my Facebook friends about this country than what I could ever teach them about the United States,” he said.

The embassy’s Facebook account gets a lot of inquiries regarding visa applications, but Thomas said it is also a useful tool for them to share or inform the people about the embassy’s public activities.

Freedom to connect

The international celebration of Internet Freedom Day was led by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who reconfirmed the US commitment to global Internet freedom in an address at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

During the same occasion last year, Clinton identified defending free, open and interconnected Internet as a US foreign policy priority and underscored the State Department’s role in advancing Internet freedom as an aspect of the universal rights of freedom of expression and the free flow of information.

The Secretary called on the global community to protect freedom of expression, association, and assembly in the online world.

Taken together, these rights comprise what Secretary Clinton has called the “freedom to connect.” By protecting these rights in the digital era, she said the promise and the possibility of the Internet as a platform for ideas, innovation, connection, and economic growth are preserved.

Examples of the State Department’s efforts to promote online freedom of expression are the USAbilAraby and USAdarFArsi.

The USAbilAraby is a US government account that tweets in Arabic and had a retweet reach of 570,000 people just days after its launch.

The USAdarFArsi tweets had a reach of 288,000 within hours. The US government considers the retweets - positive and negative - as great equalizers as everyone engages in discussions as equals.

After all, no tweet can be more than 140 characters, whether you are the US Secretary of State, a protester in Tahrir Square, or someone who wants to be heard in the streets of Tehran, officials said.

Last year, the US State Department launched Civil Society 2.0 to build the technical capacity of civil society organizations to accomplish their missions through the use of connection technologies.

Civil Society 2.0 seeks to match these organizations with technology tools and tech-savvy volunteers to help raise digital literacy, strengthen the information and communications networks of NGOs, and amplify the impact of civil society movements.

But not everyone loves the Internet. Internet Freedom Day was celebrated this year while repressive regimes around the world deny the rights that the Internet enable and even imprisoned journalists and activists who opposed their laws that restrict online discourse and access to information.

According to embassy officials, the US State Department has already formed a NetFreedom Taskforce to coordinate policies and serve as an outreach body for Internet freedom.

Also, Secretary Clinton is reportedly establishing the Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues which will issue up to $30 million in funding grants to increase open access to the Internet, support digital activists, and push back against Internet repression wherever it occurs.

The USAID, meanwhile, has a program to bring much-needed digital safety capacity-building to local media and civil society organizations around the world.

The State Department, embassy officials said, will also continue to advance Internet freedom as an economic issue in multilateral forums and will continue to advocate for openness on the Internet in bilateral relationships.

Meanwhile, back in the Mucci Balcony at the US embassy, Thomas warmly issued an invitation to all Filipinos to join his office’s Facebook page and be among their growing circle of Facebook friends. “Seriously, join us,” he said.