Janna Anderson: Where does the Internet go from here?

Veículo: News-Record.com - 18/11/2007

Every advance in connectedness -- from cart paths to shipping lanes to the Internet -- has good and bad consequences. The vast majority of people use networks in a positive way, but some pursue negative agendas.

Spam, identity theft, online porn, cyber terrorism and cyber warfare are among the negative uses of the Internet. But there's another lurking danger to the Internet: the battle for control.

Whenever a successful network is born, powerful commercial and government interests seek to exercise authority. When control is misdirected or over-applied, it impedes innovation and limits a network's potential.

People worldwide must unite to emphasize the positives and minimize the negatives in our always-evolving and ever more sophisticated networked world. That's why computer scientists and engineers, policy experts, businesspeople, social activists and members of civil society meet annually at the Internet Governance Forum.

The first IGF took place in Athens last fall, and the second just wrapped up in Rio de Janeiro. These multi-stakeholder gatherings are administrated by the United Nations and are open to everyone. If you would like to participate, the next session will take place in India in November 2008.

The five primary themes at last week's IGF meetings were access, diversity, security, openness and critical Internet resources, which include the Internet's physical infrastructure and its naming system and the groups that control them.

The issues are complex and important. More than 80 percent of the world is not online -- billions of people. How can we bridge the digital divide and provide greater access to the Internet for people in remote parts of the world and in the least-developed countries? How can we improve the Internet to serve the next billion to come online? What should be the world's response when some governments cut off people's access to networked communications?

No policies are crafted and no laws passed at the IGF. Instead, people meet to share ideas and build friendships.

What sorts of things are discussed? Many concerns about the future of the Internet are wrapped in complex, competing values, making public debate crucial.

For example, security issues collide with principles tied to free-expression, access, privacy and identity. And while many people seek to advance civil liberties and the empowerment of the individual online, corporations and governments push back, working to maintain the status quo.

While age-old power and control questions remain in the spotlight, new issues pop up regularly, thanks to accelerating change in technology.

Technology is being embedded in the natural spaces of our lives; it is becoming more personal, portable and pervasive. Our cars have computers; our phones, music players and cameras are computers; and soon our clothes and even the walls, furnishings and other surfaces of our homes and businesses will have networked computers woven into them.

We are on the verge of even more immersive, life-enhancing networked communications through the layered use of global-positioning systems, virtual-reality worlds such as Second Life and geographic information systems. This is known as the 3D Internet or the Metaverse.

Such complexity reduces our ability to monitor, project and respond to problems. We have to be sharp to stay on top of everything. Accelerating change requires our vigilant attention to the details of connection, so they continue to evolve positively.

The success of the annual IGF gatherings can be found in the "F-2-F." The best way we have found to work together to build the best Internet possible is by meeting each other face to face, building friendships and having good discussions that extend beyond the forum into a continuing process for positive progress.

Connection is power, in person and online.