Re: Internet 2020 Goals

Ofer Inbar <cos@aaaaa.org> Sun, 18 May 2014 02:59 UTC

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Date: Sat, 17 May 2014 22:59:03 -0400
From: Ofer Inbar <cos@aaaaa.org>
To: Phillip Hallam-Baker <hallam@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Internet 2020 Goals
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I'd propose a goal that I think is familiar to people on this list,
and has probably been stated in various forms over the years.  Your
goals touch on it a bit, but none of them quite exactly say it:

The Internet isn't just for everyone to use, but also, the Internet is
for all of its "users" to *develop*.  The Internet is for participants.

Which means an Internet that welcomes, invites, and has as few
barriers as possible, to people contributing.

Where "contributing" doesn't just mean content in the forms that
others have already defined and built for - be that videos, cat
pictures, or blog posts.  Contributing also means contributing
new applications, new content formats, new protocols.  I think
we really want an Internet where users are invited, encouraged,
and able, to do those things, and where barriers are reduced.

For example, the fact that all RFCs are free and easily available
is something that supports this goal.

On the other hand, the fact that so many millions of people's Internet
access comes with restrictions on what ports are open to them, is
something that works against this goal.  Not necessarily the "fault"
of ISPs; maybe given the current environment, they really do need
to do things like this to fight malware and spam.  But that means
we have an Internet that is deficient on this point.

For another example, the fact that so many people have Internet access
on general purpose computers where they can write their own scripts
or programs, supports this goal.

On the other hand, the fact that so few people learn to program
works agains it.  the fact that so many people are moving to using
Internet devices that put barriers on the way of writing or installing
arbitrary programs, works against this goal.

  -- Cos