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Juan Ortiz Freuler is an Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center, where he explores how information infrastructures are being re-networked as a result of geopolitical tensions and the impact that this has on the sustainability and evolution of our ecosystems of knowledge.

Juan is also a co-initiator of the non-aligned tech movement, an associate at JustLabs and a member of the Tierra Común network of researchers. Between 2017 and 2020 Juan was a Senior Policy Fellow at the Web Foundation, where he managed research projects on government and corporate use of algorithms, and supported the advocacy efforts for an open web by the organization's founders. Before moving to the US, Juan developed and executed research and advocacy projects at several non-profit organizations in Argentina and Mexico. A graduate from the Di Tella Law School in Buenos Aires, Juan also holds Masters degrees in both Public Policy and Social Science of the Internet from the University of Oxford, and is pursuing a PhD in Communication at Annenberg USC.


News

Emerging Digital Issues from the Global South Working Group
Oct 1, 2019

Think South: Reimagining the Internet

Raising voices of our global community through poetry, indigenous art, and short pieces


Community

Global Media and China

The weaponization of private corporate infrastructure: Internet fragmentation and coercive diplomacy in the 21st century

"The weaponization of corporate internet infrastructure by the U.S. government marks a new era of internet governance and is one of the key drivers of what is often discussed…

Nov 12, 2022
Euractiv

Building a sustainable path towards planetary system of knowledge

Juan Ortiz Freuler writes about the risks facing the global internet and information ecosystem. 

Jun 28, 2022
OpenGlobalRights

Datafication & the Future of Human Rights Practice

Juan Ortiz Freuler explores how datafication could impact human rights practice.

Jan 21, 2022
OpenGlobalRights

What a datafied worldview means for human rights

Juan Ortiz Freuler sketches the challenges of datafication for human rights.

Nov 22, 2021
Tech Won't Save Us

The Global South Holds a Better Future of Tech

Juan Ortiz Freuler joins “Tech Won’t Save Us” podcast

Jul 18, 2020
Open Democracy

The case for a digital non-aligned movement

The world wide web is on a crash course that could lead to permanent fragmentation, argues Juan Ortiz Freuler

Jun 27, 2020
Medium

Three reflections on decentralization

The co-chairs of the Re-decentralization of the Web Reading Group at BKC share their thoughts on decentralization and a reading list from the year

Jul 3, 2019
Wired

Bridging the Internet’s Digital Divide

There are thousands of different tongues spoken around the world, but most of the content on the web is only available in a select few, primarily English.

Jun 13, 2019

The Technology 202: Facebook's messaging plans spark privacy, antitrust concerns around the world

Facebook’s plans to stitch together its three main messaging services have put the social network back in the glare of regulators around the world

Jan 29, 2019
Chatham House

Is the Web Neutral?

Three Views on the Structure of the Internet

Does the web produce particular outcomes because of how it is built, or does it merely reflect society?

Oct 29, 2018
Common Dreams

Facebook Will Fail to Solve #FakeNews

Zuckerberg needs to step back for his company to succeed

"Facebook’s responsibilities go beyond those of any other digital platform, and yet people seem to believe it fails to cope with these responsibilities"

Aug 28, 2018
Open Democracy

The Cambridge Analytica scandal is a drop of water trickling down the visible top of an iceberg

Focus on decentralizing power

Most reporters covering the Cambridge Analytica story are missing out on the big picture. The scale of the operation was only possible because Facebook has too much data about too…

Mar 20, 2018
Open Democracy

The present and future of a centralized internet

Understanding the risks future technology and intermediaries might pose to the internet as a tool for social change.

Mar 13, 2018
Open Democracy

Who’s to blame? The internet on the defendant's bench

Seeking to unravel what is behind a change in public sentiment towards the internet, this series begins with intersecting dimensions in what is lazily often presented as ‘The…

Dec 6, 2017
Medium

Is artificial intelligence a ticket to Borges’ Babylon?

A thought experiment under construction

How to think about A.I. through the lens of Jorge Luis Borges’ “The Lottery in Babylon”

Nov 8, 2017

Events

Oct 12, 2018 @ 9:00 AM

Special Event: Big Data, Meager Returns?

A collaborative workshop on Fairness, Sustainability and Data for the Global South

A workshop on automation's promise and challenge for a different future, and the better governance models needed to include the understanding of data as a public asset.