Bureau of DRL: Online Censorship Measurement to Support Internet Freedom, Deadline: 22 September 2016

Bureau of DRL: Online Censorship Measurement to Support Internet Freedom, 

Deadline: 22 September 2016

The United States Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) is seeking applications from eligible organisations for the program entitled

“Online Censorship Measurement to Support Internet Freedom” with an aim to promote fundamental freedoms, human rights, and the free flow of information online by supporting civil society to research online censorship and Internet freedom.

The research should be made publically available to better inform the development and deployment of anti-censorship technologies, digital safety interventions, and policy advocacy efforts to enable the Internet freedom community to respond to evolving threats.

Funding Information

• Subject to the availability of funding, DRL anticipates having approximately $1,500,000 available to support one to two successful applications.
• The period of performance should be between 18 and 32 months.

Proposal Attributes

• The ability to measure censorship from a variety of vantage points – including but not limited to consumer wireline and mobile networks, interconnection points, and BGP routes. The resulting data should provide an accurate picture of what real-world users are experiencing at any given moment.
• Granularity to the level of major in-country networks, but the capacity to summarize,flag,and map censorship events at the national or regional level.
• Disaggregated measurement of the different network interference techniques occurring at different layers of the network stack, and at different logical locations in the network.
• Awareness of existing measurement efforts, and integration where appropriate and to the greatest extent possible.
• Sensitivity to privacy, safety, and ethical considerations, while nevertheless achieving effective large-scale measurement.
• Use of both direct measurement techniques and indirect techniques such as reflection, backscatter, and DNS examination. Integration of creative new or known techniques.
• A highly usable public interface for laypersons, as well as full and unconstrained public access to all data in a structured format (while incorporating privacy considerations).
• A system design and deployment plan that accounts for unique challenges presented by diverse on-the-ground conditions.

Eligibility Criteria

• DRL welcomes applications from U.S.-based and foreign-based non-profitorganizations/nongovernment organizations (NGO) and public international organizations; private, public, or state institutions of higher education; and for-profit organizations or businesses.
• DRL’s preference is to work with non-profit entities; however, there may be occasions when a for-profit entity is best suited.
• Applicants must have existing, or the capacity to develop, active partnerships with thematic or in-country partners, entities and relevant stakeholders including industry and NGOs and have demonstrable experience in administering successful and preferably similar projects.
• DRL encourages applications from foreign-based NGOs headquartered in the geographic regions/countries relevant to this NOFO. Applicants may form consortia and submit a combined application. However, one organization should be designated as the lead applicant with the other members as sub-award partners.
• DRL reserves the right to request additional background information on applicants that do not have previous experience administering federal grant awards, and these applicants may be subject to limited funding on a pilot basis.
• DRL is committed to an anti-discrimination policy in all of its projects and activities.
• DRL welcomes applications irrespective of an applicant’s race, ethnicity, color, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or other status.
• DRL encourages applications from organizations working with the most at risk and vulnerable communities, including women, youth, persons with disabilities, members of ethnic or religious minority groups, and LGBTI persons.

How to Apply

Interested applicants can apply via given website.

For more information, please visit grants.gov.