China’s efforts to restrict internet access and freedom has created what has been called a “great firewall” for Chinese internet users. It’s also created a conundrum for global technologies companies seeking to invest in China — as highlighted in the recent uproar over Google’s Project Dragonfly. The Dragonfly incident is a reminder that China’s censorship and internet surveillance policies have global implications. As China further expands the reach of its domestic cyber regime, it’s worth asking what impact these policies could have abroad. Are other countries modeling their own cyber regimes after China? And how will China’s approach to online privacy and internet freedom influence global cyber norms and internet freedom?

The Asia Society Policy Institute is pleased to host Tiffany Li, a Fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project and head of the Wikimedia/Yale Law School Initiative on Intermediaries and Information, for a discussion of these and other issues at the next installment of ASPI’s AsiaX speaker series. Tiffany will draw on her background as a technology attorney and legal scholar to explore how Chinese internet and privacy law could impact global internet norms and what can be done to protect free speech online.

This is the sixth session of the Asia Society Policy Institute's  AsiaX  speaker series and networking event for Asia policy professionals and young executives.  AsiaX is focused on bringing fresh ideas from up-and-coming Asian innovators and experts to the Washington D.C. policy debate. These private events bring together young leaders from across the government, business, and policy communities to discuss emerging trends and issues that are re-shaping Asia and the U.S. role in the region.

Speakers

Tiffany Li leads the Wikimedia/Yale Law School Initiative on Intermediaries and  Information, a project of Yale Law School’s Information Society Project. As a Fellow at ISP, Li focuses on online speech, access to knowledge, and the impact of technology on global communications. Her recent publications include a cultural exploration of Chinese privacy law and an analysis of the Right to be Forgotten as applied to artificial intelligence and machine learning. Li is a Transatlantic Digital Debates Fellow (Global Public Policy Institute/New America Foundation), a Fellow of Information Privacy (International Association of Privacy Professionals), and an Affiliate Scholar at Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy. Prior, Li was in-house counsel for General Assembly, a global technology education company. She was also a Fellow and founding member of the Internet Law and Policy Foundry.

Lindsey W. Ford is the Director of Political-Security Affairs for the Asia Society Policy Institute, as well as ASPI’s inaugural Richard Holbrooke Fellow and Deputy Director of the Washington D.C. Office. Prior to joining ASPI, she served in a variety of roles at the U.S. Department of Defense, including, most recently, as the Senior Adviser to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs. Ford has previously worked as a researcher for the Center for a New American Security, and as a consultant to organizations including the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the Congressional Research Service.