Alec Ross video slice from 11:25 to 12:05 of the original video.

"It has always been the practice and policy of the United States government to promote freedom of expression... in the 21st century these things live on digital networks."

At first glance this is a non sequitur - to affirm it has always been policy is hardly an argument. In context with his earlier remarks, however, it is reasonable to infer that what is being claimed is that freedom of speech is a universal value, as recognized in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The debate about universal values and universal rights is the other starting issue we have chosen for the Civilization Project. It is obviously far too large a matter to be considered in a map just about internet freedom, so a cross-link has been added (the universal values map is just a stub at this point, to be filled out in the new year).