The Future of the Internet
On Monday, September 12, 2022, the Asia Society Policy Institute convened a public discussion on the future of the internet at Asia Society New York. The event built on the April 2022 launch of the Declaration for the Future of the Internet (DFI) and featured a keynote address by Peter Harrell, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for International Economics and Competitiveness on the White House National Security Council staff for the Biden administration.
Following the keynote, an expert panel shared government, civil society, media, and industry perspectives on the importance of a seamlessly connected Internet. The speakers on this panel were:
- Tim Wu, Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition Policy in the National Economic Council;
- Nicholas Bramble, Senior Counsel, Google;
- Farzaneh Badi(e)i, Founder, Digital Medusa; and
- Nabiha Syed, Chief Executive Officer, The Markup
Pressures toward a Splinternet could drastically change the utility and reliability of the internet, widening restrictions to access, fragmenting governance structures, and dividing the Internet into parallel networks in different parts of the world. The DFI, as a framework of principles, outlines the importance of preserving the networked nature of the Internet to facilitate communication, connectivity, and collaboration among state and non-state stakeholders. It aims at a comprehensive approach to “an open, free, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure” Internet.
During this event, panelists raised the significance and importance of this vision. They also offered suggestions on how to put the DFI into practice, particularly among existing partners. From a technical and security perspective, having wider conversations and open collaboration with various stakeholders is beneficial for a safe, trusted, and resilient internet. This is particularly important given the growing prevalence of cyber threats and attacks, exacerbated by the exploitation of legacy technology stacks like the Solarwinds hack. In that sense, an open internet can actually facilitate a more secure internet.
There are also very real risks to human lives as a result of the fragmentation of data, laws and norms, and access to the internet. Restrictions are usually imposed on national security grounds but state responses should not be an excuse to clamp down on expression or information flows in the digital space. Self-censorship becomes rife when people are afraid to share information, whether publicly or privately, because of punitive measures instituted on the pretext of privacy protection. This can lead — and has led — not only to a chilling effect on truthful and accurate reportage but also to state crackdowns on non-violent social media posts. Relatedly, laws and norms untethered to global principles of freedom of expression provide excuses for states to turn inwards and stifle dissenting views. Internet access restrictions can go a lot further in cutting off whole communities from the world, disrupting economic activity and livelihoods, and denying people the ability to hold power to account, rendering entire populations vulnerable to government overreach.
There is, doubtless, a severe risk of online harm — particularly to minority and marginalized communities — caused by the proliferation of hate in the digital space. However, protecting against this risk should not provide cover for governments to wall off pockets of the internet. Although privacy and free expression are often positioned as incompatible, in reality, they are complementary components of an open and functioning internet. Without privacy, there can be no assurance of opposing or alternative views.
There are several ways to ensure that privacy and free expression remain in harmony. These include evaluating privacy-based initiatives for implications and impact. The availability of a multi-stakeholder process that includes civil society participation from the beginning as well as the execution of human rights impact assessments are just some indicators of whether privacy measures are actually intended to solve privacy challenges. It is useful for civil society to acquire an understanding of how technological developments such as end-to-end encryption work. Cultivating partnerships with industry to innovate for privacy while preserving free expression is also important. Further, creating space for evaluative accountability work from independent researchers and investigative journalists is essential to the values of an open and safe internet. Maintaining this space protects the right of civil society to provide important checks on overreach, whether by government or the private sector.
Operationalizing the DFI principles in the coming months will require a collective effort by a range of stakeholders — partner countries, industry, and civil society. This will necessarily involve more engagement with civil society for creative, solutions-based approaches. In addition to human rights impact assessments, there should also be openness and interoperability assessments conducted whenever potentially restrictive laws, regulations, or normative measures are proposed. Additionally, a more targeted sanctions regime that carves out telecommunications and internet connectivity by DFI partners against non-friendly countries in order to keep internet access to populations open is one specific way to put DFI principles into practice, even in geopolitically fraught circumstances.
While the DFI reflects an overarching, positive vision of the digital ecosystem, its principles will also be translated into operational commitments through other initiatives including the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. Although the DFI is still a relatively new offering and states likely need more time to study it carefully, non-partner countries to the DFI may end up forfeiting investment opportunities by declining to align with the DFI principles. Working with the right combination of partners to learn from past mistakes and to avoid repeating them, as well as cooperating with others beyond a comfort circle of allies will help advance the vision of keeping the internet open, trusted, and resilient.