A traumatic experience caused a young man to understand the stark gender inequality in his home country, so he turned to the Internet to educate himself about gender equality and social justice. Inspired to take action, he founded a nonprofit at age 16 to empower young people to advocate for gender equality and work for an inclusive and accessible Internet for everyone. He joined the Internet Society Youth Ambassador Program to further develop his skills, and today, his nonprofit has served close to 6,000 young people and is building digital literacy in his country and beyond. For him, the Internet is a powerful tool for social change.
Stories like this are one of the many reasons I’m excited to begin my new role as President and CEO of the Internet Society and Internet Society Foundation. I am honored to take on this role, and I thank the Board of Trustees for their trust in me. I am deeply appreciative of all that Andrew Sullivan has done as our President and CEO for the past six years. In my previous role as Managing Director, I worked very closely with Andrew and have great respect for his leadership, expertise and vision for the Internet and for the Internet Society. His leadership has provided a solid foundation for the next stage of the organization’s growth.
Defending and Advocating for a Globally Connected Internet
The Internet is a powerful tool for social and economic development, yet as we recently outlined in our Strategy 2030 over 2.6 billion people do not have access to Internet connectivity. And for many more who can connect to the Internet, it is neither affordable nor reliable.
As the Internet has become woven into the fabric of all of our lives, about a third of the world is missing out on opportunities to connect, communicate and create online. And we are missing out on their potential ideas, solutions and creativity. We need to connect the unconnected, and we need to ensure that everyone, everywhere, has access to affordable, reliable, and resilient Internet.
While doing that, we also need to protect and defend the Internet we all want: one that is open, globally connected, secure, and trustworthy. The Internet is increasingly the subject of global power struggles and geopolitical rivalries, leading to calls for greater state control or sovereignty over core Internet functions. Well intended (and not so well intended) public policies and commercial decisions threaten the very principles that made the Internet so successful. Shutting down or blocking Internet access has become increasingly common.
All of this means that we, the community of the Internet Society, have important, urgent work to do in order to ensure that our vision—that the Internet is for everyone—becomes a reality both for those who still do not have access but also for those who are already immersed in the Internet. I am passionate about advocacy and about coalition building, and I know that we do not have time to lose. As a global community, the time to act is now to raise our voices to protect the Internet.
Our Global Community
When I first joined the staff of the Internet Society in 2009, I was drawn to the depth and breadth of the global Internet Society community. Today, we have almost 127,000 individual members, over 130 chapters and special interest groups (SIGs), and over 80 organization members who are passionate about the Internet and understand the challenges before us. We have partners and allies throughout the world. We work closely with organizations such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). The amazing work of our supporter, the Public Interest Registry (PIR), along with so many donors and funders, enables us to achieve our mission. Our colleagues and partners in the Internet technical community, industry, and civil society are essential to our work.
This community is a diverse and powerful movement dedicated to keeping the Internet open, globally connected, secure, and trustworthy. We believe that the Internet is for everyone and that the Internet is a global technical infrastructure, a resource to enrich people’s lives, and a force for good in society.
In my time ahead as President and CEO, I plan to deepen the connections and engagement between and across our community. If we are to achieve our vision that the Internet is for everyone, we need to urgently join together to be the voice that the Internet needs. Governments are seeking to regulate the Internet. The digital divide is leaving people behind. Misinformation is being spread. And “the Internet” is being blamed for so many societal issues.
We need to join together to address these global challenges, to advocate together, to promote solutions, to bring hope, and to share the stories of impact this community is having across the world.
Our Impact on People
Those stories of success need to go beyond technology and speak about the impact on people’s lives. For every community network we help deploy, there is a person whose life is made better through that connectivity. For every new proposed regulation where we explain to policymakers that the Internet doesn’t actually work the way they want it to, there is a person whose ability to create or communicate is at stake. Every time the Internet is shut down, a local business loses access to global markets. Every day, lives are changed through the Internet—and through the work of the Internet Society’s global community. These are the stories we need to tell.
There is much work to do. There are many challenges ahead of us, but also many solutions being developed. After being part of this organization for 15 years, I am excited to lead as President and CEO.