From: Joly MacFie As you will hopefully be aware, today July 12 is a designated '*Internet-wide Day of Action* <https://www.battleforthenet.com/july12/>' with the main purpose of creating sufficient ruckus to make the FCC think twice about rescinding its *Open Internet Order <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_Open_Internet_Order_2010>*
I write, personally, rather than institutionally, to clarify hopefully the Internet Society's position on this , which is somewhat nuanced. Firstly, we welcome the day of action, and indeed any activity that raises the awareness of the network and its governance. Secondly, we thoroughly endorse the principles and spirit of openness that drive it. That said, there are certain aspects of the Net Neutrality concept and effort that give us pause, the main one being the idea that central authorities should tell people how to run their networks. The historical reason the Internet grew, while its peers vanished, was just this lack of control, husbanded by an ad hoc system of organization, exemplified by the IETF, of multistakeholder collaboration. This came to be called, in fact, 'the Internet model'. Globally as, increasingly, authoritarian impulses drive attempts to control, or shatter the integrity of, the Internet abound, ISOC's role to advocate against such efforts is clear. One of the main ways we do this, and I recommend a viewing of* Kathy Brown's keynote <https://youtu.be/1xfSqTUNXmc>* at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai a couple of weeks back, is to encourage continuing local-driven growth at the edges i.e. community networks. In that speech, Kathy strongly urges cell carriers to support, and open their networks to, traffic from such communities, arguing that the resulting network effects will benefit everyone. This, I would suggest, is where the struggle lies today, in building sustainable modes of bottom up access to the network, rather than campaigning against yet-to-be manifested horrors of monopolistic manipulation. Fast lanes and slow lanes are beside the point. The rallying cry should be "OPEN THE PIPES!" joly -- Joly MacFie President - Internet Society New York Chapter (ISOC-NY) http://isoc-ny.org 218 565 9365 <(218)%20565-9365>
-- Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on Google. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing the moderator at zakwh...@stanford.edu.