About State of the Net
Purpose of the State of the Net
Policymakers, the media, the Internet industry, and the public have
begun to make decisions based on their anecdotal assessments of the
progress of the Internet medium. The measures developed so far to allow
for educated decision-making have been unconnected and difficult to
find. As a result, debate, and therefore progress toward consensus,
is at an unnecessary standstill in many areas. Congressional and Administration
leaders, along with the broader Internet community, are calling for
baseline measures of progress and efforts to meet stated goals.
A rash of "studies" have been commissioned and countless others
have been proposed by policymakers. Asking researchers to study the
state of the Internet without first having a thoughtful discourse on
what the relevant questions are is like putting the cart before the
horse. Industry, policymakers and researchers must convene to come to
consensus on which measures are necessary to ensure informed decision
making at the state, federal and international level. State of the Net
is an attempt to bring all sides of the spectrum together to agree on
several measurable methods of assessing Internet progress on a diverse
set of issues.
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Revisit established tenets about Internet governance including: government regulation, private sector leadership, harmonization of jurisdictional conflicts, recognition of the unique qualities of the Internet from a public policy perspective, and elimination of barriers to e-commerce.
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Frame and define the public dialogue in benchmarking and evaluating the success (or failure) of industry governance.
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Communicate positively and appropriately about the Internet as a global, decentralized medium in the press and on Capitol Hill.
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Assure informed decision making by policymakers.
The seven areas that should form the basis for the
conference program are:
I. Content Online
II. Privacy
III. Quality and Reliability of Information Online
IV. Internet Taxation
V. Governance of Internet Infrastructure and Architecture
VI. Digital Divide
VII. Public Perceptions of the Internet
Uniqueness
All communities set goals for themselves and work toward achieving progress.
The Internet is made of a diverse community without a central committee
or regulatory agency; in the absence of a formal structure, the industry
needs a process for moving forward, harmonizing Industry leadership
with government action and measuring its success. State of the Net is
that exercise in self-evaluation and self-governance. Instead of simply
convening for another conference, the community would set goals with
ongoing definitions of success and measurable steps toward those goals.
