The Internet Society a global non-profit organization dedicated to an open, globally-connected, secure, and trustworthy Internet for everyone – will be launching the most robust tool to date to stop policymakers from breaking the Internet on Wednesday 9th September.
With the news of the Belarusian dictatorship reportedly cutting off civilian access to parts of the Internet due to protests over a disputed election, to the Trump administration introducing the ‘Clean Networks program’ to thwart the penetration of Chinese power in US online sphere and banning Chinese apps, TikTok and WeChat, a raft of proposals to control the Internet has left it at increasing risk of becoming the “Splinternet”. Attacks on the Internet are growing every day, threatening the global and open Internet from reaching its full potential and all the benefits it brings.
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The Internet Society wants to protect the Internet’s unique architecture by educating policymakers and creating a benchmark for them to adhere to. This will help ensure that future legislation will not only protect the public interest but also the Internet’s collaborative, resilient and open architecture.
Up until this point, there has been no tool to assess how proposed regulation and technology trends affect the Internet’s architecture. The Internet Impact Assessment Toolkit is based on the newly-published paper, Internet Way of Networking (IWN): Defining the Critical Properties of the Internet, that explains how the Internet’s unique foundation is responsible for its strength and success. It also identifies the critical properties that must be protected to enable the Internet to reach its full potential.
The Internet Impact Assessment Toolkit is a guide to help ensure regulation, technology trends, and decisions don’t harm the infrastructure of the Internet. It describes the Internet at its optimal state – a network of networks that is universally accessible, decentralized, and open; facilitating the free and efficient flow of knowledge, ideas, and information.
The five critical properties identified by the IWN are:
- An Accessible Infrastructure with a Common Protocol – A ‘common language’ enabling global connectivity and unrestricted access to the Internet
- An Open Architecture of Interoperable and Reusable Building Blocks – Open infrastructure with a set of standards enabling permission-free innovation
- Decentralized Management and a Single Distributed Routing System – Distributed routing enabling local networks to grow, while maintaining worldwide connectivity
- Common Global Identifiers – A single common identifier allowing computers and devices around the world to communicate with each other
- A Technology Neutral, General-purpose Network – A simple and adaptable dynamic environment cultivating infinite opportunities for innovation
