About

Peter Thiel established and currently funds the Thiel Foundation, which seeks to defend and promote freedom in all its dimensions— political, personal, and economic— by supporting innovative scientific research and new technologies that empower people to improve their lives; by championing organizations and individuals who expose human rights abuses and authoritarianism in all its guises; and by encouraging the exploration of new ideas and new spaces where individuals can be less reliant on government and where freedom can flourish.

At the 2009 Oslo Freedom Forum, Thiel campaigned for transparency. He discussed three dimensions of transparency—spatial, temporal, and moral—and showed how each dimension can help stop human rights violations. In authoritarian states, Thiel explained, there is an extraordinary spatial disconnect between the regime's projected image of power and the reality of its power. If citizens of these states were able to see some of the actual workings of their governments, fear and hysteria would be reduced, and it would be easier to confront and work against these regimes. Temporally, transparency will make state violence much more difficult to perpetrate as it can be seen in real time. If more citizens are able to observe human rights violations and report on them instantaneously, those violations will be easier to prevent and stop, and a precedent will be set for the state—it will know that its citizens are watching. The moral dimension comes into play when we remember that new technologies that expand transparency and help human rights defenders can also be used by authoritarian regimes and human rights violators.

Thiel is a sponsor of the Committee to Protect Journalists. His articles have appeared in Policy Review, First Things, and The Wall Street Journal. He co-produced the film Thank You for Smoking, and was rated a master by the United States Chess Federation. In 2010, The Economist gave Thiel and Max Levchin its Innovation Award for business process.