The Internet Society’s story has been 25 years in the making.

The foundation for a global community of people dedicated to bringing the Internet to everyone started in 1992. We have come a long way since then, and today our mission has never been more important or challenging.

This milestone year presents a unique opportunity for us all to reflect on our rich heritage, and to consider how we can impact the Internet for the next 25 years. Our community has a critical role in guiding the decisions that must now be taken for the future Internet in today’s rapidly changing world. 

On September 18th in Los Angeles, California, the Internet Society will celebrate a selected group of exceptional young people under the age of 25 who are using the Internet to make a difference in peoples’ lives.

I had the privilege of reading hundreds of submissions and nominations, many of which left me feeling humbled and inspired. The incredible impact these individuals have already had in such a short time is a model for youth around the world and for those of us who already have some years of experience!

Human development cannot happen without inclusive access to information.

This, along with reading and applying knowledge helps us to make better decisions and to create and innovate.

The Internet has brought this much closer. It is easier to create, communicate, and collaborate than ever before. E-commerce has given us new markets, e-journals are allowing us to learn, and e-health is keeping us fit. 

Abidjan became the third West African city to hold the annual Africa Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF), attracting top African and global players in the Internet ecosystem.

The second day at the Africa Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF) is dedicated to plenary presentations and discussions between the technical community, private sector, and government representatives.

The discussions aim to foster understanding of the landscape the various players operate in, the challenges faced, opportunities and ways to create synergies that guarantee increased connectivity, and exchange of content within the region.

The Internet Society has worked with NetCommons to promote community networks. They are a conducting a survey to examine users’ concerns about Internet use and explore the potential of alternative Internet provision.

The IGF-USA took place in Washington D.C on July 24, 2017. During the event, the panel "Promoting a More Inclusive Internet" looked at current barriers to an inclusive Internet and explored how access could be expanded to underserved areas and to underrepresented communities. Moderated by Dr. Brandie Nonnecke, Research & Development Manager for CITRIS and the Banatao Institute at the University of California-Berkeley and Chair of the San Francisco-Bay Area Internet Society Chapter Working Group on Internet Governance, the panel brought together several experts on access provision, each with many years experience of connecting the unconnected in the USA and overseas.

Decentralized Approach

The annual Africa Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF) kicked off at the Azalai Hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

The first day is known as “Peering Coordinators Day” where peering managers from various networks, operators, and policy makers meet and deliberate on the various ways to exchange content locally, lower the cost of connectivity, and increase the number of internet users in the region.

The Internet Society will support thirteen fellows to attend the 8th African Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF), scheduled for 22 – 24 August, 2017 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

The AfPIF fellowship program is designed to offer opportunities for qualified applicants to attend the event. The fellows come from: Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ghana, Gambia, Mauritius, Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Togo, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Lesotho, and Sudan. The annual event brings together governments, policy makers, technical experts and business leaders to discuss African Internet infrastructure challenges, including capacity, regional and national Internet Exchange Point (IXP) development, local content development, and connectivity.

The Internet Society African Regional Bureau has worked with Network Operator Groups (NOGs) in Africa, providing financial and technical support to organize trainings and events at the local level. We recently shared many of their stories. There are also a number of NOGs that seek to attract women engineers to share knowledge and experience as well as to encourage young women to take up technology-related fields – which are largely perceived in the African region as “men only.” Here are their stories.

AfCHIX

The best education materials are inclusive, equitable, and high-quality, and they promote lifelong learning. One of the best tools for sharing these types of materials is the Internet. However, the body of education materials currently available online is not yet as inclusive and equitable as it could be.  

So many of us default to looking online for anything we want to know. Wikipedia alone covers more than 40 million articles in nearly 300 languages. With this scope, it can sometimes feel like things that haven’t happened online haven’t happened in real life. And that’s a problem — especially because so many of the facts that don’t make their way online are about women, people of colour, and the global south.

The 5th Africa Domain Names System (DNS) Forum was successfully closed on 28 July after three days of insightful reflections on the Africa DNS Industry and the business opportunities it can provide. This forum follows on the success of previous fora that have taken place in Africa over the past few years – namely South Africa in 2013, Nigeria in 2014, Kenya in 2015, and Morocco in 2016. 
 

To mark its 25^th Anniversary, the Internet Society is beginning a global dialogue on the impact of the Internet on societies.  So far, we have held discussions at Chatham House in London, and opened up the dialogue in a recent public forum with more than 100 participants from 30 countries across Africa, the Middle East, Europe & Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South Asia. 

This month at the Asia-Pacific Regional IGF in Bangkok we will release the fourth annual Internet Society Survey Report on Internet Policy Issues in Asia-Pacific.

Findings from this year’s report show that cybersecurity, access, data protection, connectivity and privacy are the top five concerns for Internet users. These issues have more or less remained constant since 2014, however, not surprisingly this year cybersecurity has become the top issue.

Other issues that respondents expressed concern for relate to fake news, increasing digital surveillance that violates privacy rights, and more frequent instances of censorship and site-blocking that impact freedom of expression.

For over a decade, the Internet Society, along with many in the Internet community, have been strong advocates of using multistakeholder approaches to make decisions in a globally distributed network environment. We are encouraged that, within the Internet ecosystem, the multistakeholder model has grown in understanding and acceptance over the past several years. But we also know that the open, global Internet faces enormous challenges and that it is crucial that we not take this progress for granted.

As these devastating global ransomware attacks illustrate, cybersecurity is not an issue that can be ignored. Any time a device or system is connected to the Internet, it is a potential target. What was once just another lucrative means of extorting money from Internet users, ransomware is emerging as a preferred tool for causing widespread disruption of vital services such as hospitals, banks, shipping, or airports. Attacks are growing more sophisticated and more enduring, with longer term damaging effects and wider impact. Ransomware exploits the slow pace of security patching, systems that are dependent on old software, and poor backup practices.

This is a joint blog post by the Internet Society, Mozilla and the World Wide Web Foundation.

Home to two-thirds of the world’s population and 90 percent of its economic output, the G20 countries are a powerhouse that have yet to take on a coordinated digital agenda. 

In 2015 the world made one of the biggest promises to itself in the form of 17 Global Goals set out by the United Nations. These goals – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – are aimed at achieving extraordinary things in the next 15 years. They are dedicated to fighting injustice and inequalities, ending climate change, beating discrimination, bringing in sustainable energy, and making sure no one goes hungry. 

The second Applied Networking Research Workshop will take place on Saturday, 15 July, immediately prior to the IETF 99 meeting in Prague, Czech Republic.

Today, we released an Internet Exchange Point (IXP) Environment Assessment for Tajikistan. This report was carried out in the framework of Internet Society’s partnership agreement with GÉANT with a view to support regional Internet development in Central Asia.