Internet Society, North American Bureau - Review

 

Hi, I'm Paul Brigner the North AmericanRegional Bureau director for the Internet Society 2014 was a very important year for theInternet, the Internet Society, and the NorthAmerican Bureau in particular. Over the course of the year, a new executive team was appointed at the Internet Society, Internet governance was discussed at very important meetings including the NETMundial Initiativemeeting in Brazil, the Internet Governance Forum meeting in Istanbul, the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, and the International TelecommunicationUnion's plenipotentiary meeting in Busan Korea.  Very important topics were discussed including privacy, cyber surveillance, security the IANA transition, net neutrality, and many more. As 2014 comes to a close it is a good time to review all these activities which ISOC covered closely throughout the year and to prepare for 2015. 

So let's get started. I can't think of a better way to start this conversation than with some words from the InternetSociety's new chief executive officer Kathy Brown at the very beginning of2014. Here she is:  What I think it's gonna be the major issue as we go forward and that is, "Who is in charge?"  A simple question. It's always the human question.  Who's in charge.We want users to be in charge. We want permission-less innovation on the Internet. 

We want the Internet to do what it's always done.  We want it to change, grow, be part of the fabric of society that allows and empowers individuals to do individual things, to become a part community,  to be able to grow financially, to be productive.  It is all of those things and it is so many things that the notion that any one entity is centrally controlling all this is pretty absurd.  Nevertheless, folks in various quarters think well why not me. That video was captured on Kathy's first day on the job and it demonstrates why she has been such an effective leader for the Internet Society. Since then we have been hard at work attending meetings and gathering together to discuss the path forward. I made it my personal mission in 2014 to live stream and record many of those discussions which you can see on our Livestream page.I hope you visit there soon and enjoy all the events that were recorded. I have taken snippets from just a few of those events to summarize what happened in 2014.

 you will hear from science fiction author David Brin, ISOC founder and father are theInternet Vint Cerf.  Laura DeNardis of American university Sally Wentworth that the InternetSociety and Manu Bhardwaj of the US State Department and finallyI'll be back to wrap up. so watch and enjoy it. I think that communications, communications that empower people that enable them to have some room to breathe with their ideas this is one great glory of the Internet.I know some other people who served on Al Gore's Senatorial Committee long ago when they passed the United StatesCongress passed a bill that no one, the least cynical personal alive would have expected powerful men and women to do and that'stake something that was already turning into something of real value --  the Internet --  and simply going fly, fly,  fly everywhere fly We're observing a tussle in cyberspace right now over control. There are governments that would like to keep the internet from being used in an open fashion.

 There are governments that are concerned that freedom of expression among their citizens could jeopardize the government's control of the country. So they would like to do everything they can to keep people from freely using the net. But the design and the administration on the Internet have been I would suggest successfully.  I some ways we take this for granted but we can't take this for granted. What we're talking about is a very complex system not only of technologies but of institutions and entities and should be very circumspect and careful about and proposed modifications to the system. I think the question for those of us in the internet community is how do we not lose sight what we're all trying to achieve here global interoperable network networks that enable innovation that enables connectivity free expression but that also recognizes the local context and the local challenge and allows for that fluidity that allows for people to move in and out of the ecosystem to effect it.  And what's the policy environment in which that can happen. We are extremely pleased with the outcome of other recent plenipotentiary conferences. It's worth a further discussion but we feel before the conference there was of course great concern that it might somehow undermine the successful multi-stakeholder approach however instead we feel very stronglythat the conference resulted in the clear affirmation of the existing multi-stakeholder Internet governance model and we feel that we have a lot of momentum now as we head into next year. 

What a year it is been!  2014 started with a massive challenge but thankfully ended on a positive note for the multi-stakeholder system. I would be remiss if I didn't also cover some of the activities are chapters in the North American region for 2014. ISOC Canada started the year in launch mode but they worked hard to get organized throughout the year and I'm happy to report that they are now fully operational and ready to kick off new initiatives for the new year. ISOC DC held a variety of meetings on policy issues throughout the year likewise ISOC New York held meetings by themselves but they continue to build on the strong tradition of working with other organizations to live-stream those events. ISOC Colorado held its first annual software-defined networking event.

 It was a great success and they're working hard to blaze the future of the Internet. And finally, ISOC San Francisco Bay held some very interesting meetings on cybersecurity and surveillance. And they even launched a new chapter the interplanetary Networking Chapter. I can't describe all the great activities of chapters in this short video and I certainly can't tell the whole story of 2014 but if you want to learn more you know where to go. Visit our Livestream page are going to InternetSociety.org.I'd like to ask one thing of you for the new year.

 I hope you make it your new year's resolution to either get involved with the Internet Society if you're not or if you are I hope you can even do more. The challenges for 2015 are going to be just as great and likely even greater than what we've seen this year I'll finish this video with a few words from one of the events at 2014 they warmed heart and they're going to give me the motivation to work even harder in the new year so here are to2015. Once again we can't do this without all the wonderful sponsors.  Special short engagement team with the World Bank and also the amazing fabulous job ISOC -- Internet Society is doing with videography and Livestream.  I just want to say thank you so much for all of the wonderful wonderful work! ok