The Democratic Principles for an Open Internet have been primarily designed for citizens and civil society organizations in fragile and emerging democracies, who are new to the digital rights space, are beginning to engage more regularly online, and who may be more likely to encounter deliberate internet disruptions as a result of government interference. We hope this guide will help activists working for democracy in an internet age and connect them in global peer networks to exchange best practices.

Political campaigns need to protect themselves from hacking and often don’t know where to start. The good news is that there are a few fundamentals that can dramatically reduce the likelihood and impact of cybersecurity incidents.

Las campañas políticas deben protegerse de la piratería informática, o hacking, y muchas veces no saben por dónde comenzar. La buena noticia es que hay algunos fundamentos que pueden reducir drásticamente la probabilidad y el impacto de incidentes de seguridad digital.

Definitions and terminology matter. For the policy-makers, technology companies, politicians, journalists, librarians, educators, academics, and civil society organisations all wrestling with the challenges posed by information disorder, agreeing to a shared vocabulary is essential.

In November 2017, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs released “The Cybersecurity Campaign Playbook” for campaign professionals. In February 2018, it released a set of three U.S. elections playbooks designed to be used together by U.S.-based election administrators: “The State and Local Election Cybersecurity Playbook,” The Election Cyber Incident Communications Coordination Guide,” and “The Election Incident Communications Plan Template.”