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Media access to the Madrid Summit

Ethan Zuckerman · 14:55

Martín Varsavsky, our host at the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security, has been handling some awkward questions about media access to the summit. Over thirteen hundred journalists were invited to the summit, but none are admitted to the main conference hall. Instead, they're set up in the hotel across the street, where attendees, who are so inclined, can visit and give an interview.

Martín's not thrilled - it hardly seems consonant with democratic principles that the press isn't admitted to this gathering. Unfortunately, the Spanish secret service felt like they couldn't provide adequate security for world leaders if they had to admit these journalists.

In an odd twist, a few dozen bloggers - conference attendees - are blogging the conference. So, in that spirit, here's a videoblog of Martín talking about the situation.

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Internet, Democracy & Terrorism

Rebecca MacKinnon · 04:21

Ethan Z and I (among others) are Madrid now, at the Safe Democracy conference, where people from around the world have gathered to discuss how you fight terrorism without destroying democracy. See some news coverage here, here and here. Joi Ito has organized a workshop focusing on internet issues. As one participant just asked: How do you save the internet without destroying it? How do you continue to protect privacy and political dissent? Joi points out that anonymity must be defended, despite the belief of some that all internet users should be identifiable. Others are talking about the delicate balance between privacy and security concerns. How do you find the right balance?

There's a lively IRC chat on freenode at: #madridopendemo.

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