[governance] Ethical principles on which the Internet is based

[michael gurstein]

While I think the approach you are presenting here Norbert is a useful one and while it is hard on the face of it to disagree with the Komaitis/ISOC formulation there is a serious problem I think in accepting this at face value (BTW, for those with long memories what follows was the basis of a long and useful discussion pre-Geneva WSIS... and provided the basis for much of the conceptual formulation and background to community informatics.

The statement that "everyone should have access to the Internet" might seem quite uncontroversial.  However, for me "access" is a necessary but not a sufficient condition on which to build an ethical approach to the Internet.   

The value of the Internet comes not I think, from simply having "access" (in official statistics concerning LDC's often simply meaning some form of locally available connectivity) but rather in having the means to make meaningful or effective use of the Internet.  

For most of us educated, middle class, middle income, in the Developed World there is little or no gap between having access and being able to make effective use.  We have readily to hand the education, financial means, social and economic context to transform access into uses that are of value and meaning in our daily lives.

For many however--the poor, the marginalized, many and particularly rural dwellers in LDC's, those living with physical disabilities and so on, simply having "Internet access" without for example having parallel access to the literacy and numeracy skills, financial resources, assistive devices, access to software and hardware tools, access to social networks and economic structures and so on to translate simple "access" into the types of transformative applications and uses that so many have and are benefiting from -- renders having Internet "access" into a meaningless and in fact, a grotesque joke. A "joke", similar to the starving child having "access" to the delights of a bountiful feast through the window of an upscale restaurant but being separated by this physical, economic and social barrier from being able to partake/benefit.  

Since it is precisely overcoming this gap between "access" and the opportunity to make "effective use" of the Internet that has been the objective of so much of the work in community informatics and ITC for Development over the last 15 years or so, it is thus I admit a bit surprising if not astonishing to see that this formulation should be re-appearing now. 

To add a bit, yes, perhaps the "access" formulation was present at the beginning -- not too surprising given the Internet's origins, but with the opportunities that the Internet presents having been magnificently extended both in variety and in scale I think that it is necessary to move beyond this narrow approach and recognize the necessity of ensuring the opportunity for the broadest base of effective use which in turn implies a commitment to a whole range of measures to ensure such uses including training, applications design, financial supports, linguistic intervention, assistive devices as necessary etc.etc.

I would most certainly hope that an "inclusive" statement of "ethical principles on which the Internet is based" would recognize that for many there is a gap which needs to be overcome between having "Internet access" and being able to make meaningful and effective use of the Internet.

Mike


-----Original Message-----
From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org [mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] On Behalf Of Norbert Bollow
Sent: Friday, May 17, 2013 6:51 AM
To: IGC
Subject: [governance] Ethical principles on which the Internet is based

From the blog of Konstantinos Komaitis, Policy Advisor of ISOC:

   ...Internet technology and platforms are based on some ethical
   considerations: the fact that everyone should have access to the
   Internet, the fact that the Internet does not distinguish who
   participates in its social construction and technological evolution
   (equality of participation), the principle that there should not be
   any discrimination in relation to the services available to users
   (the end-to-end principle) and the Internet’s paradigm of open
   standards are invaluable principles, which reflect ethical
   propositions.

   What makes this approach, I feel, more sustainable in the context of
   Internet ethics, is the fact that these considerations are not
   subjective – these are the principles under which the Internet was
   originally built. And, we are fortunate that the ethical standards of
   the Internet’s architects reflected such ideals that have
   subsequently been transposed to the architecture of the Internet.

Source:
http://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2013/05/thinking-about-ethics-internet-space

Are we all in agreement with these principles, and with the assertion that the Internet has been originally built according to these principles?

Greetings,
Norbert

--
Recommendations for effective and constructive participation in IGC:
1. Respond to the content of assertions and arguments, not to the person 2. Be conservative in what you send, be liberal in what you accept



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