Internet Society

Growth rates have been over 100 per cent per annum for 15 years. Although: Who takes care of the Internet? In 1992, a group around the inventor of the Internet, Vint Cerf, created the Internet Society (ISOC). In an environment increasingly influenced by the market and competition, ISOC ensures the conditions for the continuity and cohesion of the Internet.

For normal users, the Internet is simply there. They pay the necessary fees to T-Online, AOL or another service provider and expect the provider to guarantee their operation. However, the provider – whether it is called AOL or Telekom – maintains and controls only a minor part of what constitutes the Internet. And it’s not just about technology. The Internet is an important part of the infrastructure of the global information society. The Internet is an economic and political factor whose development and regulation will have a decisive influence on everyone’s lives.

What is the Internet Society

The Internet Society (ISOC) is a global organization dedicated to keeping the Internet open, transparent and user-defined. ISOC’s mission is to promote the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people around the world.

With more than 100 local chapters worldwide and hundreds of individual and organizational members, ISOC is an organization that has a wide reach and influence in advocacy, policymaking and capacity building.

His work focuses on four main dimensions:

Support and defend public policies that aim at an open, accessible and sustainable Internet;

Facilitate the open development of internet standards, protocols, administration and technical infrastructure;

Promote growth and access to technology by providing information, training and partnerships to individuals and communities around the world, and by helping developing countries build basic Internet infrastructure;

Participate in training activities in the areas of digital literacy and Internet governance.

Who can be part of the Internet Society

Barely visible in the uproar caused by the conflict between Internet giants Microsoft, Netscape, Oracle, IBM, CISCO and others, the Internet Society has undertaken the task of shaping and advancing the technical, political and cultural future of the Internet. The Internet Society sees itself as the international organization that fosters global cooperation and coordination for the Internet, its technologies and applications.

Anyone interested in the development of the Internet can become a member of the Internet Society. Conferences and technical and political bodies offer ample opportunity to exert influence at the international and national levels. Individual members who want to participate in shaping the future of the medium are as welcome as companies that use or offer the Internet as modern technology for their purposes.

Main Initiatives

ISOC’s main capacity building initiatives are Inforum (an online learning platform that offers courses on topics such as: internet history and future, online spam and threats, network operations, etc.), the Next Generation Leaders Program (designed to help the Internet develop its leadership potential at the intersection of technology). , business, politics and education) and the Internet Governance Forum Ambassador Programme (which offers scholarships for people to attend annual IGF meetings).

Mission

The Internet Society supports and promotes the development of the Internet as a global technical infrastructure, a resource to enrich people’s lives and a force for the good of society.

Their work is in line with our goals of making the Internet open, globally connected, secure and reliable. It seeks the collaboration of all those who share these objectives. Together, it focuses on:

Build and support the communities that make the Internet work;

Promote the development and application of open Internet infrastructure, technologies and standards; and

Advocate for a policy consistent with our vision of the Internet.

Notable activities

To help fulfill our mission, the Internet Society

Facilitates the open development of internet standards, protocols, administration and technical infrastructure.

Supports education in developing countries specifically, and wherever the need exists.

Promotes professional development and creates a community to foster participation and leadership in areas important to the evolution of the Internet.

Provides reliable information about the Internet.

Offers discussion forums on issues affecting the evolution, development and use of the Internet in technical, commercial and social contexts, among others.

Fosters an environment of international cooperation, a community and a culture that allows self-management to function.

Serves as a focal point for cooperative efforts to promote the Internet as a positive tool that benefits all people in the world.

Provides the management and coordination of strategic initiatives and outreach efforts in humanitarian, educational and social contexts, among others.

Technology and management

Internet communication standards are defined in the Internet Engineering Working Group (IETF). More than 80 working groups in 8 fields deal with specific technical issues. The IETF carries out its work during three large meetings of more than 1500 participants a year and through all the means of communication offered by the Internet.

On behalf of ISOC and the US Federal Networking Council (FNC), core Internet resources, such as names, addresses and protocol parameters, have been managed by the Internet Number Assignment Authority (IANA) under the direction of Ian Postel, who tragically passed away last summer. Isoc is currently involved in restructuring the management of these resources within the new organization ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).

Communication

ISOC carries out its mission to propagate and advance the idea of the Internet at several conferences, the largest of which, the INET Conference, is held alternately on different continents in summer. Pioneering efforts are made at these conferences through specific workshops.

The workshop for developing and developing countries, for example, was instrumental in the fact that there is hardly any country in the world that does not have access to the Internet. Other key themes of INET are the issues of political regulation and the social impacts of technology, as well as technical innovations, new applications and fields of application.

The Internet Society clearly sets out the views of its members on the crypto debate, on the problem of supported content and on the free and secure flow of information on the Internet.

Internationalization

The assertion that the Internet is, in principle, an American company is not entirely incorrect. But it’s changing. Meanwhile, the Internet shows a higher rate of growth outside the United States than within it. Within the Internet Society, regional “chapters” offer the possibility of influencing development at the regional level.

Many of these groups are still in the process of being organized, so their effectiveness will only be visible in a few years’ time. Recently, several European chapters have formed a group called ISOC-ECC (ISOC European Coordination Council) to coordinate their activities and better safeguard their interests vis-ed the European Union.

Our specialists wait for you to contact them through the quote form or direct chat. We also have confidential communication channels such as WhatsApp and Messenger. And if you want to be aware of our innovative services and the different advantages of hiring us, follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

If this article was to your liking, do not forget to share it on your social networks.

Source: https://www.internetsociety.org/es/

You may also be interested in: Research Budget