As an NPOC member this short email is a brief comment on our growing
obligations, as citizens, in the Internet ecosystem:
Earlier this year the OECD released a document on Broadband Policies
for Latin America and the Caribbean. It is an excellent source for
information about broadband polices and socio-economic development.
It should be of particular interest to not-for-profits, social
business, and community groups anywhere in the world. (See link
below)
Without exception every organization and individual on the planet is
in some way within the Internet
ecosystem. We are a resident of that Internet ecosystem
within one more more political entities. Depending on where we
live and where we work we are an Inhabitant of some
socio-economic sub-culture within those political entities. In
short, we are all becoming citizens of the Internet
ecosystem, and as citizens we will increasingly both expect
the benefits of citizenship, for who we are and
what we do, and be expected to be engaged in the obligations of
citizenship. Those obligations include
engagement in policy making and implementation. For example, the repeated call for "The Internet to be Free"
is not about it being literally a cost-less service. This is a call
for it to remain accessible in ways that are integral to our notions
of human rights and the individual freedom and dignity of
individuals as community members, and as citizens both of our
political entities and of the global Internet ecosystem. There is of
course a concern with "Access for All". Within that there are
both technological and economic issues around access, but even there
the bigger issue is how we deploy our citizenship within the various
political entities that set policy for the Internet ecosystem. Even
our concerns about privacy and security are about our individual and
human rights, above and beyond concerns for intellectual property
protection, or national security.
Here is a good introduction to the area of broadband policy making,
to help each of use strengthen our roles as citizens of the
Internet ecosystem, citizens engaged in the development of the
Internet ecosystem.
