Thread by @rmack

I've been watching the livestream of the launch of the Declaration for the Future of the Internet. whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/… Here are my personal thoughts as someone who has been pushing for democracies to align their words vs deeds for a long time.🧵1/12

In 2020 on the 10th anniv. of Sec. State Clinton's "Internet freedom" speech I called for a comprehensive and positive vision of the internet that strengthens human rights and democracy - starting at home. consentofthenetworked.com/2020/01/26/reb… 2/12

I am glad to see that the text of the new Declaration for the Future of the Internet contains language that looks familiar. whitehouse.gov/wp-content/upl… 3/12

It is good to see this group of governments reaffirming and updating their commitments and inviting all of us to hold them accountable to these commitments. We certainly plan to do so. 4/12

In a session at the IGF I suggested that we need a sort of AA-style self-help group of democracies who should to help each other do better at protecting human rights online. 5/12

Authoritarian attacks on internet freedom and openness are deplorable but as Freedom House shows democracies haven't done so hot lately. freedomhouse.org/report/freedom… 6/12

There is also lack of consensus of how to protect human rights online. The UK government representative pointed to their proposed online harms bill and related Canadian and Australian bills. At Wikimedia we think they will do more harm than good. freedomhouse.org/report/freedom… 7/12

Many of these same governments made similar commitments to protect human rights online over a decade ago. Here is a speech I gave 5 years later raising concerns about failure to lead by example. consentofthenetworked.com/2016/10/17/rem… 8/12

Here are remarks I made to the FOC in 2013 shortly after the Snowden revelations came out. Pervasive surveillance that lacks sufficient transparency and public accountability was and remains a problem in democracies. 9/12 consentofthenetworked.com/2013/06/17/fre…

Thus I could not be more proud to have recently joined an organization that sued the NSA. 10/12 wikimediafoundation.org/news/category/…

Of course, a big difference between the signatories of today's declaration and authoritarian countries, is that it's possible to use the internet to criticize these governments for failing to protect our human rights, without being censored or worse.. 11/12

Thus I personally commend the governments who have signed today's Declaration for the Future of the Internet. It offers everyone across civil society a renewed and concrete opportunity to hold them to their commitments. We have much work to do. 12/12

LINK CORRECTION: Unfortunately I used the wrong link in tweet #7 of this thread. Here is the correct one: medium.com/wikimedia-poli…

Meanwhile.. forbes.com/sites/emmawool…