EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

The Internet Society celebrated its 31st anniversary in 2023. The world in 1992 was so different – from todays’ world. What would you consider as the main stepping-stones over this period? Why does Internet matter?

In 2023, Internet Society celebrated 31 years since our founding by early pioneers who were leading the technical development of the Internet. While technology has evolved substantially since our founding, our belief that the Internet is truly a resource to enrich people’s lives remains at the heart of our mission.

The very foundation of society lies in our ability to communicate with one another, and the Internet assumes a pivotal role in facilitating this fundamental human need. Connectivity empowers global collaboration among researchers, ensures families remain linked despite geographical distances, and allows individuals to broaden their economic opportunities by venturing into markets beyond their immediate environments. We passionately assert that the Internet functions as a positive force for good in society. While the Internet is undoubtedly a technological innovation, we recognize it as a deeply human one. Everyone deserves it if they want it.

That is why we are proud of the positive difference we made for the Internet in 2023. In some cases, our focus was narrow or technical, making sure that the Internet remains secure and trustworthy. In other cases, we worked to keep corporations, governments, and judiciaries from undermining the very things that weave together many independent networks into the global Internet. Each step we took in 2023 had but one purpose—to ensure the Internet is for everyone.

According to ISOC what are the main opportunities ahead? What will the future of the Internet look like and how is ISOC shaping the future?

We all hold a variety of ideas about the Internet’s promises and perils, but no one can deny the opportunities it has brought humanity.

The Internet has become an indispensable resource for information, communication, and human connection. It has fueled extraordinary economic growth and catalyzed social progress.

Yet, although the Internet uplifts people and enables communities to thrive, access to it remains limited. And some of those who have it are damaging it.

It is portrayed as a dangerous, untrustworthy space where bad actors and disinformation lurk. It is compromised by industrial interests that want to own it all and by governments who want to control it, fragment it, or shut it down completely.

The Internet is not a given constant that we can take for granted. It is at risk, which puts everything we love about it at stake. It is up to us to secure its future.

Our 2024 efforts are focused on bringing the Internet to those who need it while defending it from threatening forces so that everyone can access the opportunities it brings. Read the full Action Plan 2024.

How can multi-stakeholder partnerships, such as eTrade for all, work effectively?

Many people talk about ‘the multistakeholder model’ as if it is a single solution. But, in reality there is no single model that works everywhere or for every issue. Instead, the multistakeholder approach is a set of tools or practices that all share one basis: Individuals and organizations from different realms participating alongside each other to share ideas or develop consensus policy. There are two questions we should be asking ourselves when thinking about the multistakeholder model: What is it about the multistakeholder approach that makes it so useful, robust, and adaptable? And, how can we make sure it continues to successfully answer the most complex questions of our globally interconnected and interdependent world? In answering these two questions, we have come up with a list of attributes for multistakeholder decision-making. Our focus is on how it can best be done, not in idealizing a perfect model. This is because we believe multistakeholder decision-making is a set of behaviours and practices that can be applied almost anywhere. They will make each organization or process’s ways of working more robust, more effective, and better able to deal with the complex, cross-border issues the Internet comes with.

More specifically, these attributes include:

1. Inclusiveness and transparency: constitute the basis of legitimacy in collaborative decision-making;

2. Collective responsibility: All stakeholders share collective responsibility for the continued vitality of the Internet and the benefits it brings our societies and the global economy. In the technical community, we share a sense of collective stewardship of the Internet and the open standards its technologies are based on.

3. Effective decision-making and implementation: The most effective decisions are those based on an open and deliberative process that consider a broad range of information sources and perspectives. This holds for both the quality and implementation of the decision.

4. Collaboration through distributed and interoperable governance: Collaboration is the process of two or more people or institutions coming together to achieve a common goal. The Internet is the outcome of the collaborative efforts of different actors. It benefits from an increasing amount of actors teaming up and working together. Generally speaking, the Internet Society believes that multistakholder decision-making can be accountable, sustainable and – above all – effective. The better the inputs and the more inclusive the process, the better the outcomes and their implementation.