Project Liberty to convene global leaders at inaugural Summit on the Future of the Internet, with POLITICO and The Onion as exclusive media partners

As the nation transitions into a new presidential administration following the U.S. elections, Project Liberty will bring together top leaders to lay out a concrete technology and policy blueprint for fixing the internet over the next four years.

 POLITICO will serve as a media partner to examine how government, the private sector, and civil society can work together to put people back in control of their digital lives. The Onion, America's Finest News Source, will present a one-of-a-kind banquet that promises to solve the internet, through dinner.

Confirmed speakers during the two-day program include multidisciplinary media personalities, elected officials, technologists, and activists, as well as notable members of civil society such as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Joseph Lubin, Katherine Maher, Jaron Lanier, Ro Khanna, and Nancy Mace

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 21-22, Project Liberty–a non-partisan organization founded by civic entrepreneur Frank McCourt to enable people to take back control of their digital lives by reclaiming a voice, choice, and stake in a better internet–will host its first-ever Summit on the Future of the Internet in Washington, D.C. The first day's programming will be hosted by Project Liberty Institute at Georgetown University's newly inaugurated McCourt School of Public Policy just steps from the U.S. Capitol.

The Summit will bring together leaders from the highest levels of technology, policy, finance, and civil society to chart the future of the internet. Additionally, they will explore new legal, technical, and economic models to support a digital future built on the foundations of transparency, opportunity, and accountability.

The Summit will feature a series of panel discussions, fireside chats, roundtables, and keynote remarks focused on three key tracks–technology, economy, and democracy:

• Building better technology infrastructure that empowers people with control over their data, social graphs, and content; simplifies and streamlines the user experience; ensures stronger data security; and protects our democracy and our most vulnerable citizens–young people–online.
  
  
• Leveraging the economic opportunities of the web by identifying the failings of our current system and aligning on opportunities for new value creation, transparent algorithms, data portability, and interoperability tools that help empower creators and communities, guided in part by the findings of Project Liberty Institute's recently established Fair Data Economy Task Force.
  
  
• Defining and shaping a policy blueprint for the next administration to better align tech and economics with our nation's democratic values.

The two-day program will be emceed by futurist Sinead Bovell and Tomicah Tillemann, President of Project Liberty, and will feature more than 50 speakers, including: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Actor, Director, and Entrepreneur; Joseph Lubin, Founder, ConsenSys; Katherine Maher, CEO & President, National Public Radio (NPR); Ro Khanna, United States House Representative for the 17th District of California; Nancy Mace, United States House Representative for the 1st District of South Carolina; Zach Justice, Social Media Content Creator; Jaron Lanier, Office of the Chief Technical Officer Prime Unifying Scientist, Microsoft; Vint Cerf, VP & Chief Internet Evangelist, Google; Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Global Policy, Circle; Melissa Fleming, UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications; Zia Khan, Chief Innovation Officer, The Rockefeller Foundation; Raffi Krakorian, Chief Technology Officer & Managing Director, Emerson Collective; Kevin Mayer, Former CEO of TikTok; Dan Porterfield, President & CEO, Aspen Institute; Mark Surman, President, Mozilla; Audrey Tang, Cyber Ambassador-at-Large & Former Minister of Digital Affairs, Taiwan; and many more.

"This Summit reflects the growing consensus that it's time to upgrade the internet to protect people's digital rights; foster a safe environment for children, families, and democracy; and create broader access to the economic value each of us generates online," said Frank McCourt, Founder of Project Liberty. "It has been five decades since the birth of the internet. Big Tech's business model built on using personal data to extract value and manipulate behavior has run its course. That's why Project Liberty is building technology and a movement to tackle this challenge. And why we need to deliver solutions before AI further exacerbates what we all know is a broken model."

Throughout the two-day summit program, POLITICO will serve as the exclusive media partner for the Summit for the Future of the Internet, lending its award-winning thought leadership and editorial expertise to helm several conversations with the brightest minds leading the charge for meaningful changes to our digital infrastructure. Further, The Onion–America's Finest News Source–will bring a one-of-a-kind satirical experience to the Summit's opening dinner.

"POLITICO provides critical analysis and context around the most important issues we face," said Goli Sheikholeslami, CEO of POLITICO Media Group. "At such a pivotal moment, we are thrilled to convene the crucial conversations on the policies that will shape our digital future and the world."

"The Onion is honored to join this event that aims to provide better answers for protecting our liberties, our children, and our democracy on the internet," said Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion. "It is our journalistic imperative to loudly and uniformly reject those ideals in the spirit of hearing both sides, while subtly implying the only responsible solution is to step on the throats of the poor and infirm."

The Summit will kick off on Thursday, November 21, at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy and continues through Friday, November 22. A full itinerary and event details are available on the Summit of the Future of the Internet's website. Participation is by invitation only.

Project Liberty's Summit is set to define the future of the internet. Apply for press credentials by contacting Anna Feagan at [email protected] to cover these crucial conversations and join the leaders driving change. Additionally, for those who are unable to attend in person, select mainstage sessions will be available via a live stream on politico.com.

ABOUT PROJECT LIBERTY

Project Liberty is leading the movement to give people back control of their lives in the digital age by ensuring they have a voice, choice, and stake in a better internet. Started in 2019 and publicly launched in 2021 by civic entrepreneur Frank McCourt and supported by a $500-million commitment, Project Liberty includes the work of the Project Liberty Institute—a 501(c)(3) with an international partner network that includes Georgetown University, Stanford University, ETH in Zurich, and other leading academic institutions and civic organizations—and a technological team that is focused on developing the next generation of digital infrastructure. Project Liberty's activities include the release of the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), which is stewarded by the Institute and available as a public utility to serve as the bedrock of a more equitable web and support a new era of innovation that empowers people over platforms and serves the common good.

SOURCE Project Liberty