Increasingly, corporate executives who don’t speak Japanese are coming into Japan. Unlike their predecessors, they expect their employees to be able to communicate in English. – Rebecca MacKinnon
We have to start thinking of ourselves as citizens of the Internet, not just passive users. I don’t see how we can bring about change in our digital lives if we don’t take responsibility. – Rebecca MacKinnon
If high-tech companies are serious about doing the right thing, they can join together and lobby for more transparency and accountability in the way in which Chinese officialdom deals with Internet services. – Rebecca MacKinnon
To have a .cn domain, you have to be a registered business. You have to prove your site is legal. – Rebecca MacKinnon
I think one of the problems I think with a lot of people in high school is that people don’t think of the Internet as a real place or a place that has physical consequences in the physical world. This happens with adults who ought to know better, too. – Rebecca MacKinnon
Political activists in Hong Kong and Taiwan use Facebook as their primary tool to mobilize support for their causes and activities. – Rebecca MacKinnon
The sovereigns of the Internet are acting like they have a divine right to govern. – Rebecca MacKinnon
The erosion of privacy rights under the Fourth Amendment, written to protect us against unreasonable search and seizure, began in earnest under President George W. Bush. – Rebecca MacKinnon
I get the impression that most Chinese entrepreneurs are so focussed on doing what they need to do to succeed in the Chinese market – which is a big enough challenge even for the established players – that nobody is thinking much about the longer run or the bigger global picture. – Rebecca MacKinnon
Shibuya is a trendy part of Tokyo where young people come to meet and have a good time. – Rebecca MacKinnon
While American intellectual property deserves protection, that protection must be won and defended in a manner that does not stifle innovation, erode due process under the law, and weaken the protection of political and civil rights on the Internet. – Rebecca MacKinnon
Speech within the kingdom of Amazonia – run by its sovereign Jeff Bezos and his board of directors with help from the wise counsel and judgment of the company’s executives – is not protected in the same way that speech is constitutionally protected in America’s public spaces. – Rebecca MacKinnon
I am well aware of the facts presented by numerous security experts on the many ways in which the United States’ digital networks have come under siege by cybercriminals and under daily assault by hackers in league with various foreign governments. – Rebecca MacKinnon
On March 5, 2011, protesters stormed the Egyptian state security headquarters. In real time, activists shared their discoveries on Twitter as they moved through a building that had until recently been one of the Mubarak regime’s largest torture facilities. – Rebecca MacKinnon
When Tim Berners-Lee invented the computer code that led to the creation of the World Wide Web in 1990, he did not try to patent or charge fees for the use of his technology. – Rebecca MacKinnon
I haven’t heard of any cases of anti-American blog posts being censored or bloggers encountering consequences for anti-American speech on the web in China. – Rebecca MacKinnon
In Britain, a ‘block list’ of harmful Web sites, used by all the major Internet Service Providers, is maintained by a private foundation with little transparency and no judicial or government oversight of the list. – Rebecca MacKinnon
Any new legal measures, or cooperative arrangements between government and companies meant to keep people from organizing violence or criminal actions, must not be carried out in ways that erode due process, rule of law and the protection of innocent citizens’ political and civil rights. – Rebecca MacKinnon
Thanks to the Internet in general and social media in particular, the Chinese people now have a mechanism to hold authorities accountable for wrongdoing – at least sometimes – without any actual political or legal reforms having taken place. Major political power struggles and scandals are no longer kept within elite circles. – Rebecca MacKinnon
Only about 10 percent of India’s population uses the web, making it unlikely that Internet freedom will be a decisive ballot-box issue anytime soon. – Rebecca MacKinnon
Social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter should be urged to adhere to business practices that maximize the safety of activists using their platforms. – Rebecca MacKinnon
There are many cases of activists having their Facebook pages and accounts deactivated at critical times, when they are right in the middle of a campaign or organising a demonstration. – Rebecca MacKinnon
Congress may not get the Internet, but the Internet doesn’t get Congress, either. – Rebecca MacKinnon
Democratic institutions are based on a reality of human nature: that those with power, however benign or even noble their intentions, will do what they can to keep it. – Rebecca MacKinnon
There is a broad movement that has been holding companies accountable on human rights for a long time. – Rebecca MacKinnon
QQ is not secure. You might as well be sharing your information with the Public Security Bureau. – Rebecca MacKinnon