[extropy-chat] A Manifesto: "The Infrastructure of Democracy"

[Amara Graps]

This 'manifesto' was presented last week by a group of well-known cyberspace
people (John Perry Barlow, Joichi Ito, John Gage, Dan Gillmor, David 
Weinberger,
Ethan Zuckerman, Marc Rotenberg, Andrew Mclaughlin, Rebecca MacKinnon,...)

at the following conference in Madrid

The International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism, and Security.
http://english.safe-democracy.org/


The Infrastructure of Democracy
Strengthening the Open Internet for a Safer World
March 11, 2005


I. The Internet is a foundation of democratic society in the 21st
century, because the core values of the Internet and democracy are so
closely aligned.

1. The Internet is fundamentally about openness, participation, and
freedom of expression for all -- increasing the diversity and reach of
information and ideas.

2. The Internet allows people to communicate and collaborate across
borders and belief systems.

3. The Internet unites families and cultures in diaspora; it connects
people, helping them to form civil societies.

4. The Internet can foster economic development by connecting people to
information and markets.

5. The Internet introduces new ideas and views to those who may be
isolated and prone to political violence.

6. The Internet is neither above nor below the law. The same legal
principles that apply in the physical world also apply to human
activities conducted over the Internet.

II. Decentralized systems -- the power of many -- can combat
decentralized foes.

1. Terrorist networks are highly decentralized and distributed. A
centralized effort by itself cannot effectively fight terrorism.

2. Terrorism is everyone's issue. The internet connects everyone. A
connected citizenry is the best defense against terrorist propaganda.

3. As we saw in the aftermath of the March 11 bombing, response was
spontaneous and rapid because the citizens were able to use the Internet
to organize themselves.

4. As we are seeing in the distributed world of weblogs and other kinds
of citizen media, truth emerges best in open conversation among people
with divergent views.

III. The best response to abuses of openness is more openness.

1. Open, transparent environments are more secure and more stable than
closed, opaque ones.

2. While Internet services can be interrupted, the Internet as a global
system is ultimately resilient to attacks, even sophisticated and widely
distributed ones.

3. The connectedness of the Internet - people talking with people -
counters the divisiveness terrorists are trying to create.

4. The openness of the Internet may be exploited by terrorists, but as
with democratic governments, openness minimizes the likelihood of
terrorist acts and enables effective responses to terrorism.

IV. Well-meaning regulation of the Internet in established democracies
could threaten the development of emerging democracies.

1. Terrorism cannot destroy the internet, but over-zealous legislation
in response to terrorism could. Governments should consider mandating
changes to core Internet functionality only with extraordinary caution.

2. Some government initiatives that look reasonable in fact violate the
basic principles that have made the Internet a success.

3. For example, several interests have called for an end to anonymity.
This would be highly unlikely to stop determined terrorists, but it
would have a chilling effect on political activity and thereby reduce
freedom and transparency. Limiting anonymity would have a cascading
series of unintended results that would hurt freedom of expression,
especially in countries seeking transition to democratic rule.

V. In conclusion we urge those gathered here in Madrid to:

1. Embrace the open Internet as a foundation of 21st Century democracy,
and a critical tool in the fight against terrorism.

2. Recognizing the Internet's value as a critical communications
infrastructure, invest to strengthen it against attacks and recover
quickly from damage.

3. Work to spread access more evenly, aggressively addressing the
Digital Divide, and to provide Internet access for all.

4. To protect free speech and association, endorse the availability of
anonymous communications for all.

5. Resist attempts at international governance of the Internet: It can
introduce processes that have unintended effects and violate the
bottom-up democratic nature of the Net.

-- 

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Amara Graps, PhD          email: amara at amara.com
Computational Physics     vita:  ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt
Multiplex Answers         URL:   http://www.amara.com/
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