Re: Proposal to revise ISOC's mission statement

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On 10/26/2017 04:18 AM, Gonzalo Camarillo wrote:

  The Internet is for everyone.

These words mean something very different to me now than they did in the late 1990s.  In the late 1990s, I saw the Internet as entirely a force for good - giving people access to information, the ability to freely communicate among one another, making governments and businesses more transparent, helping to build a global community.

Twenty years later, the reality is somewhat different.   The Internet has become a way for the Big Brothers of the world to conduct mass surveillance, a way to study people's interactions in minute detail, to compile personal information about people and to exploit that information for profit.  This is not an accident; it is the business model of several powerful companies and the hope behind several product lines.  Even the "Internet of Things" is mostly about spying on people.

The Internet isn't for everyone anymore, at least not in the same sense.   It's for spying on everyone for the benefit of the few.  It's also for spreading conspiracy and for dividing people politically, in order to give those in power more control.

So basically I think ISOC, if it really wants to continue to pursue its original goals and ideals, needs to find a new vision.  I suggest a simple change:

The Internet is for empowering everyone.

To this end, ISOC needs to explicitly make privacy, freedom of _expression_, and authenticity of information part of its mission. 

Keith

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