Participants included Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center on Internet and Society at Harvard Law School; Shanthi Kalathil, a consultant at the World Bank's Communication for Governance and Accountability Program; Aboubakr Jamai, a fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government; and Xiao Qiang of the China Internet Project at the University of California, Berkeley.

By engaging in the new information society, "netizens" are contributing to the free flow of information and participating in the democratic process, which is a vital prerequisite to an open society, the foundation said in a description of the event posted on its Web site. The group pointed out that authoritarian governments are increasing efforts censor content and citizens’ access to information while investing in greater surveillance efforts.