WSIS Forum 2012: Action Line C10

Technology and Internet Freedom

Nicolas Seidler, Policy Advisor, Internet Society

16 May 2012, Geneva

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Internet Freedom from a technical community

perspective
Reflection based on the principles and processes of the open
technical development and architecture of the Internet

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Notion of Internet Freedom

Complex and multidimensional notion.
Rhetorically everyone supports Internet freedom, but the
notion of freedom means quite different things for different
people and cultures.
Possible understanding from the Internet technical
community:
Notion of users rights on the Internet (e.g. freedom of expression,

freedom of association).

Notion of the Open Internet as a fundamental ground upon which

freedoms are exercised.

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Open Internet and Internet Freedom

The Open Internet and users freedoms are organically
linked and share many common values.
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(freedom of opinion and expression) includes the freedom to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers.
This fundamental right strikingly reflects the very essence of
the Internet some 20 years before the invention of the TCP/
IP.

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Open Internet and Internet Freedom

The Internet has not only been a tool for these freedoms: the
free flow of information has expanded freedoms due to its
cross-border nature, speed, real-time and interactive
characteristics.
The Internet is a disruptive technology: it shakes existing
structures, institutions and organizations. Adaptation is not
fostered equally among them.
The rules and norms of the digital natives might
increasingly influence societal structures in the future. This
seemingly transitional period is at the root of several current
tensions.

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FOCUS
Open Internet standards development at the IETF

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What is the IETF?

The Internet Engineering Task Force is a loosely selforganized group of people who contribute to the
engineering and evolution of Internet technologies,
standards and specifications.
Thousands of engineers from diverse countries and
industries develop such essential standards as the IP
protocol or the Domain Name System (DNS).

In the pursuit of its mission, the IETF follows a set

of cardinal principles. Four of them are highlighted
thereafter:

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IETF principles and ethics

1. Overall mission
The mission of the IETF is to produce high quality, relevant
technical and engineering documents that influence the way
people design, use, and manage the Internet in such a way
as to make the Internet work better.

[RFC 3935 (2004): Mission statement for the IETF]

We embrace technical concepts such as decentralized

control, edge-user empowerment and sharing of
resources, because those concepts resonate with the core
values of the IETF community.

[RFC 3935 (2004): Mission statement for the IETF]

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IETF principles and ethics

1. Overall mission
The core values of the IETF build on the beliefs of its
participants, and they are based upon the principles that
underpin the evolution of the Internet itself.
The IETF in no way runs or controls the Internet; their
mission is that of enablers.
Internet pioneers believed that the human condition could be
enhanced through the reduction of communication and
information barriers.

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IETF principles and ethics

2. Open and transparent processes
No one is in charge of the Internet, but any interested
person can participate and contribute to the work of the
IETF; there is no formal membership, no dues.
The work is based on a format of cooperation built around a
volunteer core of participants who share the same
objective.
The IETF is unusual in that it is not a corporation and has no
board of directors. It is decentralized and distributed,
much like the Internet itself.

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IETF principles and ethics

3. Technical excellency and working ethics
Engineering quality is as the very core of the IETFs work
and IETF outputs are expected to be designed to sound
network engineering principles. The best idea prevails.
IETF produces documents on issues where they have the
competence needed to speak to them and to address
practical concerns.
"IETF standards exist so that people will use them to write
Internet programs that interoperate. They don't exist to
document the (possibly wonderful) ideas of their authors, nor
do they exist so that a company can say, "We have an IETF
standard.

[IETF guide to newcomers (Tao)]

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IETF principles and ethics

3. Technical excellency and working ethics
One of the founding and commonly held belief in the IETF
comes from Jon Postel:
"Be conservative in what you send and liberal in what
you accept".
While it originally concerned technical software, this easily
became a broader ethic for work and social interactions:
"Participate in the discussion in a friendly, helpful fashion,
with the goal being the best Internet standards possible.
Listen much more than you speak. If you disagree, debate
the technical issues: never attack the people.

[IETF guide to newcomers (Tao)]

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IETF principles and ethics

4. Rough Consensus and Running Code
This famous IETF motto means that the processes and
decisions concerning Internet standards are based on
consensus decision-making.
There is no vote, rather it means that strongly held
objections must be debated until there is general
agreement that these objections are not valid.
Each IETF participant brings a unique perspective and this
diversity can sometimes make it difficult to reach consensus.
However, when consensus is achieved, the outcome is
usually better, clearer, and more strongly supported
than the initial position of any participant.
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Take-aways
What do we learn from Open Internet standards development?

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Conclusions
From the early days of the Internet, there was a commitment
to a powerful user-driven notion, of bottom-up
processes in which individuals come together to solve
problems and identify opportunity through a process of
common agreement and understanding.
This is an empowering notion and we should not
underestimate the role of the Open Internet model of
development in the Internets success and as a ground for
the exercise of users freedoms online.

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Conclusions
The Internet pioneers recognized that many Internet
functions required trust and that the Internet was a sort of
public "commons", relying on the good conduct (ethics) of
those who operate it.
Certainly more than 20-30 years ago, the responsibility of
technology developers vis--vis Internet users has increased
de facto because the Internet has become an integral part of
economic and social interactions.
The principles of Open Internet standards development
reflect that such responsibility is at the core of the values
and ethics of the Internet community.

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Conclusions
The fundamental principles that underpin the creation and
evolution of the Internet should guide communities and
governments in how they work with and approach the
Internet, under the umbrella of the rule of law and
international human rights standards.
A key approach to ensure the freedom of users online will
not come from silo solutions, but rather from collaboration
to produce technically informed policies based on a good
understanding of the Internet model of development.
More dialogue between technical communities, policy
makers and other stakeholders, in the spirit of the WSIS,
should be pursued for the benefit of individual freedoms
online.
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Nicolas Seidler
Policy Advisor
seidler @ isoc.org

Thank you

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