Context: Why is this project important?
Access to information and communication technology (ICT) is widely seen as a driver of economic growth, social empowerment and citizen engagement. Although this is true in many instances, the proliferation of ICTs is not always synonymous with increased transparency, freedom of speech or access to information. Digital censorship and surveillance - notably with respect to the Internet and mobile phones - are growing around the world, both in scale and sophistication.

Drawing on arguments such as "securing intellectual property rights," "protecting national security," "preserving cultural norms and religious values," or "shielding children from pornography and exploitation," several states and corporations have installed extensive filtering practices to control certain uses of digital media. Since many such practices are designed to curb transparency, there is limited understanding of the issue and scarce evidence to consider their influence on the information society

The Project: How does this initiative address the development problem?

The OpenNet Initiative - Asia (ONI-Asia) is a networked project that seeks to understand the technical and social aspects of digital C&S across different countries in South and Southeast Asia, and to promote more transparent, participatory and democratic policies and practices. Building on ONI's previous work examining technical and field research methods of filtering, particularly in Central Asia, this regional initiative aims to extend the model of collaborative research, policy engagement, and capacity development to all of Asia. The network comprises a collection of research projects that will explore diverse social, cultural, political and technical aspects of digital censorship and surveillance. Moreover, this project will break new ground in the areas of mobile censorship and surveillance, an area not heavily focused on by researchers, as well as build a better understanding of the issues related to gender, sexuality and the culture of censorship in Asian countries.

Objectives:
The ONI-Asia Project aims to build a body of evidence on digital censorship and surveillance (C&S) in Asia and to promote more transparent, participatory and democratic digital C&S policies and practices. ONI-Asia will work at three levels to achieve the general objective, notably:

1. To fund research activities by researchers based in Asia to build a body of evidence that provides a regional comparative basis in the field of digital censorship and surveillance;
2. To engage policy-makers and civil society organisations to reflect and act upon the evidence produced by dissemination activities at relevant virtual and face-to-face public policy forums; and
3. To establish and nurture a self-sustaining community of practitioners, including both researchers and policy advocates, which will provide an organic venue for professionals of the field to collaborate during and beyond the project duration.

Development Impact
The partnership with IFAD through this project also complements ICT4D program priorities, in particular the The country- and regionally- focused research activities in this project are expected to contribute toward a stronger and more nuanced understanding of digital censorship in a variety of government and corporate level policies and practices. Moreover, the findings will contribute to the knowledge base and discussion material that will sustain the network of academics, policy-makers and civil society groups involved in the longer-term ONI-Asia network. The balanced approach of building research capacity, policy engagement and exchange of ideas and expertise among the community of practice provides a mix of incentives and avenues to fortify individual and collective goals and objectives. In addition, the project also has strong policy bent to it as it some of the research proposals examine various policy environments, legal frameworks and enforcement practices.

Outputs & Website
All publications and materials related to this project will be made available on its website still under construction.