. >> michael martel, cyber research for the national security archive. people have been talking about transparency and the location of both. it is fairly easy to spoof locations online using vpn. at a certain point to make this effective we would have to target the vpn. virtual private network, used in places like russia, china, iran, at times with american encouragement in order to be able to practice free speech of their own. at what point do we decide that is for the worst or the best? >> any comments? that's a good question.>> it really is a trade-off, there are costs to doing that and even though there are benefits as with the other question, that is what democracies democratic government is supposed to do, they're supposed to address the hard questions of freedom, security, democratic process and the rule of law. i don't have a straight answer to that particular question but that is what we've got to do. we can't throw one thing under the bus in the name of protecting democracy but we have to do it all. i lean toward saying we have to save the demo

. >> michael martel, cyber research with the national security archive. folks have been talking about transparency on the location of posts. it's fairly easy to spoof location online using vpns. at a certain point we then have -- to make this effective, we would have to target vpns, virtual private networks, which are used by activists in places like russia, china and iran, at times, with american encouragement to be able to practice free speech of their own. so at what point do we decide that tradeoff is worth it for the west? host: anyone want to comment on that? it's a good question. >> simply say, you asked the right question. it really is a tradeoff. there are costs to doing that. and even though there are benefits just as with the bots question. so, you know, that's what democracies, democratic governments are supposed to do. they're supposed to address the hard questions, freedom, security, democratic process and rule of law. i don't have a compr to that particular technical question, but that is what we have to do. we can't throw one thing under t