Joint Request for Statements of Interest: Internet Freedom Programs. Note: The deadline for this Request for Proposals has passed. Department of State Public Notice Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Request for Proposals: Democracy, Human Rights, and Rule of Law in the Near East Region. The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) announces a Request for Proposals from organizations interested in submitting proposals for projects that promote democracy, human rights, and rule of law in the Near East region.
PLEASE NOTE: DRL strongly urges applicants to access immediately www.grants.gov in order to obtain a username and password. It may take two full weeks to register with www.grants.gov. DRL invites organizations to submit proposals outlining program concepts and capacity to manage projects targeting the following issues: Empowerment and Protection of Persons with Disabilities in the Near East. Faxed, couriered, or emailed documents will not be accepted at any time. An organization may submit no more than one [1] proposal. Public Diplomacy 2.0: Where the U.S. Government Meets "New Media. U.S. Diplomacy in the Age of Facebook and Twitter - Brookings In. The current revolution in communications technologies and the emergence of new media platforms are transforming the practice of American foreign policy.
Today’s diplomats are seeking ways to exploit new tools such as social media, short message service (SMS), and other mobile applications on the more than 4.6 billion mobile phones in use around the world. To respond to this changing environment, the U.S. State Department, under the leadership of Secretary Hillary Clinton, is exploring new avenues in 21st century statecraft, seeking to maximize the potential of these technologies in service of America’s diplomatic and development goals. On December 17, the Brookings Institution hosted Alec Ross, the secretary of state’s senior advisor for innovation, for a discussion of these new tools of diplomacy. Before joining the State Department, Ross served as convener for technology, media and telecommunications policy for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Public Diplomacy 2.0 (pd20) Twitter vs. Terror - By Richard Lugar.
During the turmoil that followed Iran's disputed 2009 presidential election, thousands of opposition supporters and other protesters communicated and organized through Twitter. So important was this social networking site to supporting the pro-democracy "green movement" that the U.S. State Department contacted corporate representatives of Twitter to ask them to delay a routine maintenance shutdown of the microblogging site. In the strife-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo, U.S. officials are working with radio and cell-phone operators to reach isolated militia fighters with messages from former combatants now urging them to put down their arms and return to civilian life. In Pakistan, the State Department paid for 24 million text messages as a way to help support a new mobile-phone-based social network, Humari Awaz, or "Our Voice.
" Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has championed the use of communications technology in diplomacy and development. The applications vary widely. Diplomacy in the Age of Facebook and Twitter: An Address on. MR. PICCONE: Good morning, everyone. Thanks for coming on this chilly morning to Brookings. My name is Ted Piccone, I’m a senior fellow and deputy director of the Foreign Policy Program here. And we’re very pleased to bring you all together for what I think will be a very interesting discussion about U.S. diplomacy in the age of Facebook and Twitter, and what it means for 21st century statecraft.
U.S. foreign policy goals are largely enduring and consistent from administration to administration, but the operating environment is changing rapidly. And to help us look at that issue, we’re very pleased to have Alec Ross with us, senior advisor for innovation at the U.S. Alec will give us a presentation from the podium and then will engage in a conversation that I’ll moderate, and I’ll ask Kristin Lord to start off with a set of questions. Kristin Lord is a fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies -- I’m sorry, this is interesting. MR. I do want to be clear about one thing, though. (Applause) MR. Why Are Internet Rights Becoming Part Of U.S. Foreign Policy? - The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has sharply criticized Beijing’s policy of censoring access to the Internet and pursuing Chinese dissidents who try to use it as a tool for social change.
In a speech on Internet freedom on January 21, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that “countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of Internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century. " The immediate reason for Clinton’s remarks was the quarrel between Beijing and Google, the U.S. company which operates one of the largest Internet search engines. Google has threatened to withdraw from the Chinese market because of Beijing’s hacking the accounts of human rights activists who use its e-mail service, Gmail. Google also says it is “no longer willing to continue censoring” Chinese users’ search results for subjects such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, which Beijing considers taboo.
Antigovernment Networks. U.S. Deploys Tech Firms to Win Syrian Allies.