Ten years ago, the field of digital rights celebrated the democratization of information. It has now come to fear it. Its original values of free speech, open inquiry, independence, and civil liberties have been overturned in pursuit of safety-ism, censorship, and paternalism.

Instead top-down solutions are proposed, masked in a range of seeming virtues – from combating “disinformation” and “bias”, to stopping “hate speech”, and protecting “public health.” Unfortunately, we feel that one the biggest threats and drivers of censorship and digital authoritarianism is our own sector.

In May 2024, liber-net hosted a convening of advocates, NGO workers, journalists, media-makers, academics and researchers who dissent from the new norms towards censorship in the digital rights, open technology, or Internet freedom fields. Each participant had current or previous involvement in these spaces; they already intimately understand this sector, and therefore have the capacity to advocate for a return to the norms of free speech and civil liberties.

At this three-day, four-night event, held outside of Barcelona, Spain, we began to build a new, independent, and values-driven space beyond tribalism or political affinity and rigid ideologies. Ultimately, our goal is to develop new charters, new ways of doing things, new relations, and new networks.