On 21 October, Dennis Broeders will join the panel "The Battle for the Spirit of the Internet: Democratic Norms vs. Digital Authoritarianism", together with panelists Lindsay Gorman (Senior Policy Advisor - Technology Strategy, The White House), Fergus Hanson (Director, International Cyber Policy Centre, Australian Strategic Policy Institute), Thorsten Wetzling (Project Director, Stiftung Neue Verantwortung), Chitra Subramaniam (Founder, CSD Consulting), and Saikat Datta (Co-Founder, DeepStrat) as moderator.

The internet was once a bastion of unfettered free speech. Further, a narrative existed that internet penetration in authoritarian countries would lead to the export of democratic values. However, in recent years, a global trend has been emerging of authoritarian countries harnessing the power of the internet to curb civil liberties, dissent and free speech. Further, the so-called “authoritarian model” of the internet is being exported to developing nations under authoritarian regimes, giving them access to powerful surveillance and censorship tools. What challenges does the rise of this authoritarian form of the internet pose for democracies?

The CyFy 2021 conference "The Big Pause: Reclaiming our Tech Futures" will take place from 19-22 October 2021. More information can be found here.