i2Coalition Moderates Surveillance Panel at HostingCon

Dawson, Snead discuss NSA surveillance and customer privacy

Austin, TX – Christian Dawson, Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2Coalition) Co-Founder and Board Chair, today moderated a panel at HostingCon in Austin, Texas entitled The NSA Government Surveillance & You. Dawson was joined on the panel by i2Coalition co-founder and Public Policy Working Group Chair David Snead, Elliot Noss, President and CEO of i2Coalition member company Tucows, Gregory Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology and Jamie Tomasello of CloudFlare. The panel, hosted by HostingCon, discussed the potential impact of the National Security Agency’s information gathering program on the global competitiveness of the United States’ Internet infrastructure industry.

“This country faces a delicate balance every day between security and an open Internet,” said Dawson. “Those of us who work in the Internet infrastructure industry find ourselves at the center of this challenge on a regular basis. Recent news stories create uncertainty and doubt in the minds of many of our customers, especially as we compete on the global stage. The i2Coalition believes that there must be greater transparency about U.S. government access to online data. While we must continue to respect the need for accurate intelligence to safeguard our nation’s security, we also need the opportunity for an open, robust discussion of how to do so while respecting personal privacy and Internet freedom, which is why we support efforts to declassify the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court’s order related to the National Security Agency’s information gathering program.”

The leading voice of the Internet infrastructure industry, i2Coalition strongly supports efforts at the state and federal level to bring privacy laws up to date with all forms of electronic communication to preserve rights guaranteed by the fourth amendment.