The question of whether trade policy could promote Internet freedom was the topic of a conference CCIA co-sponsored with George Washington University this week. CCIA's Matt Schruers moderate a panel on the EU and human rights and Dan O'Connor moderated one on strategies to bolster Internet freedom and online trade.
Early in the afternoon, Congress happened to pass a measure that would monitor Internet freedom in Russia as part of legislation to approve Permanent Normal Trade Relations for the Russian Federation.
Ben Scott, who is a fellow at New America and a German think tank, spoke to the group from Berlin via Skype, and said the problem is countries don't seem to be consistent with their own policies versus international polices or with the connection between the free flow of information online and trade and economic development.
Matthew Perault of Facebook agreed there seemed to be a disconnect, saying if countries really understood the economic benefit of the Internet, why would they implement restrictions online?
Caitlin Brousseau of eBay said that while many policymakers know they are impacting Internet companies with their online restrictions, they do not have as much understanding about all the small online sellers that are impacted by their policies.
