全球智库信息集成服务系统

• In closed societies, where the dissemination of suppressed information is critical for the creation of a rhetorical space beyond the control of the state, efforts should concentrate on circumventing censorship and facilitating access to types of SDM capable of generating high-quality content, especially blogs and collaborative projects.

• Where the mobilisation of civil society is needed to challenge irresponsive and reform-adverse governments, social networks and content communities should be the focus of attention.

However, digital activists would have to be trained in the safe use of such platforms to evade government surveillance and persecution.

Experience shows that social media assistance stands a better chance of succeeding if it adopts a country- and issue-oriented approach. Non-state donors with close ties to local actors, such as political foundations, church organizations and domestic non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in developing countries, are more likely than state-owned donor agencies to develop programmes that relate to existing networking structures and to enjoy credibility and legitimacy in the communities of the recipient countries.

Direct government action to promote Internet freedom should concentrate on domestic tasks. Many of the tools used by authoritarian governments to monitor and silence digital dissent are engineered and distributed by US and European companies. Hence, export restrictions on censoring and filtering software should not be viewed as avoidable obstacles, but rather as a fundamental investment in democracy promotion.

Furthermore, the development of proper policy incentives will be essential if companies are to be convinced to consider user protection as a central part of their business mission. It is not a given that SDM service providers should expand business at the cost of their users’ privacy.