1 Liberation Technology in Authoritarian Regimes October 11‐12, 2010 Bechtel Conference Center, Encina Hall, Stanford University Conference Attendees’ Bios Esra’a Al Shafei, MideastYouth.com Esra'a Al Shafei is the founder and Executive Director of MideastYouth.com, a grassroots, indigenous digital network that leverages the power of new media to facilitate the struggle against oppression in the Middle East and North Africa. She is a recipient of the Berkman Award from Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society for "outstanding contributions to the internet and its impact on society," and is currently a TED Fellow and an Echoing Green Fellow. Most recently, her project won a ThinkSocial Award for serving as a "powerful model for how social media can be used to address global problems." Walid Al‐Saqaf, Yemen Portal Walid AL‐SAQAF is a Yemeni activist, software engineer and scholar concerned with studying Internet censorship around the world, but with a special focus on the Middle East. During 1999‐ 2005, he held the position of publisher and editor‐in‐chief of Yemen Times, which was founded by his father in 1990 and since 2009, he has been a PhD candidate at Örebro University in Sweden, where he also teaches online investigative journalism. In 2010, he won a TED fellowship and the Democracy award of Örebro University for his research and activism in promoting access to information and for fighting cyber censorship. Among his notable works is Yemen Portal (https://yemenportal.net), which is a news aggregator focused on content on Yemen and alkasir (https://alkasir.com), a unique censorship circumvention software solution that allows Internet users around the world to access websites blocked by regimes. Hicham Ben Abdallah, Stanford University Hicham Ben Abdallah is a visiting scholar at Stanford’s Center for Democracy, Development and Rule of Law with an interest in the politics of the transition from authoritarianism to democracy. He has written extensively on that and related subjects pertaining to the Arab world in journals such as Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, Politique Internationale, and Al‐Hyat. He has also lectured in 2 numerous universities and think tanks in North America and Europe. His work for the advancement of peace and conflict resolution has brought him to Kosovo as a special Assistant to Bernard Kouchner, and to Nigeria and Palestine as an election observer with the Carter Center. He is also an entrepreneur with interests in agriculture, real estate, and renewable energies. His company, Al Tayyar Energy, has a number of clean energy projects in Asia and Europe. His latest project is the development of an eco‐city in Morocco. Bob Boorstin, Google, Inc. Bob Boorstin is a Director of Public Policy in the Washington D.C. office of Google, where he focuses on global promotion of online free expression. Mr. Boorstin previously worked for the Center for American Progress, where he founded the national security programs, and served in the Clinton administration for seven years. He began his professional life as a journalist and has also worked in public opinion research and political communications. Daniel Calingaert, Freedom House Daniel Calingaert oversees Freedom House's civil society and media programs worldwide. He is a frequent contributor to policy and media discussions on democracy issues, including internet freedom, elections, authoritarian regimes, and government policy to support democracy. He previously was Professorial Lecturer at American University, Associate Director of American University's Center for Democracy and Election Management, and Associate Director of the Commission on Federal Election Reform. Dr. Calingaert has served as Director for Asia and as Deputy Director for Eastern Europe at the International Republican Institute, where he designed and managed a wide range of programs to promote democracy. Dr. Calingaert began his career as a researcher at the RAND Corporation and later directed programs of the Civic Education Project to reform social science education at universities across Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Farhad Cavard, EHESS Farhad Khosrokhavar is professor at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France. His main fields of study are contemporary Iran and Islam, in particular its radical forms in Europe and the Middle East. He was a Yale Visiting Scholar in Winter 2008 and a Harvard Visiting Scholar in Winter 2009. His latest books are: Muslims in Prison : a comparative perspective between Great Britain and France (with James Beckford and Danièle Joly), Palgrave, London, 2005; Suicide Bombers, The New Martyrs of Allah (translation from French), Pluto Press, 2005; Quand Al Qaeda Parle: témoignages derrière les barreaux, Grasset, Paris, 2006. Inside Jihadism (Yale Cultural Sociology Series), Paradigm Publishers, 2009; Etre jeune dans le pays des ayatollahs (in cooperation with Amir Nikpey), Robert Laffont Publishers, Paris, 2009. Samlanchith Chanthavong, National Endowment for Democracy Sam Chanthavong is the program officer for multiregional and global programs at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). She manages grants to civil society organizations implementing 3 projects in a variety of areas, including human rights, women's empowerment, and independent media development. Sam has also been conducting research at the NED on the role of information and communication technology in fostering and strengthening democracy. Prior to joining the NED in 2006, she worked in the Asia division of the American Bar Association’s rule of law initiative. She holds an MA in international affairs from American University. Premish Chandran, Malaysiakini.com Pramesh Chandran is the co‐founder and Chief Executive Officer of Malaysiakini.com, an independent news media organization in Malaysia. He leads the technology and business sections of Malaysiakini. He also leads the Southeast Asia Centre for E‐media, a non‐profit division of Malaysiakini that aims to assist online media in the region. Malaysiakini has been recognized through various awards and accolades, including from the International Press Institute, Reporters Sans Frontiers, Committee to Protect Journalists, Asiaweek and Businessweek. Pramesh has previously worked as a journalist and a labor researcher. He holds a degree in Physics and a Masters degree in International Studies. Dorothy Chou, Google, Inc. Dorothy Chou is a Policy Analyst at Google, where she focuses primarily on global content and free expression issues. Joshua Cohen, Stanford University Joshua Cohen is a political theorist, trained in philosophy. He has written extensively on issues of democratic theory, particularly on deliberative democracy and its implications for issues of personal liberty, freedom of expression, electoral finance, and new forms of associative and direct‐ democratic participation. More recently, he has been writing on issues of global justice, including the foundations of human rights, distributive fairness, and supra‐national democratic governance, and is co‐coordinator, with MIT's Richard Locke, of the Just Supply Chains project. Professor Cohen comes to Stanford University from MIT where he was a professor of philosophy and political science, and chair of both departments. He has also been, since 1991, editor of Boston Review. Ron Deibert, University of Toronto Ron Deibert is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Citizen at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto. The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary research and development hothouse working at the intersection of the Internet, global security, and human rights. He is a co‐founder and a principal investigator of the OpenNet Initiative and Information Warfare Monitor projects. Deibert was one of the founders and (former) VP of global policy and outreach for Psiphon Inc. and a founder of SecDev.cyber. Deibert has published numerous articles, chapters, and three books on issues related technology, media, and world politics. 4 Larry Diamond, Stanford University Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and FSI; a professor of political science and sociology, by courtesy; and director of CDDRL. He is a specialist on democratic development and regime change and on U.S. foreign policy affecting democracy abroad. His research examines comparative trends in the quality and stability of democracy in developing countries and post‐ communist states, and public opinion in new democracies. During 2002‐2003, he has served as consultant to the U.S. Agency for International Development and is also a Senior Consultant for the International Forum for Democratic Studies of the National Endowment for Democracy. During the first three months of 2004, Diamond served as a senior adviser on governance to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and he has also advised and lectured to the World Bank, the United Nations, the State Department, and other governmental and nongovernmental agencies dealing with governance and development. His latest book, The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World (Times Books, 2008), explores the sources of global democratic progress and stress and the prospects for future democratic expansion. Troy Etulian, USAID In his current role as a World Learning Democracy Fellow, Troy Etulain serves as a technical advisor for media development programs with a specific focus on rural areas. He provides training to media managers in these locations