The Internet is for Everyone
The Internet Society's call for universal, inclusive access to the global network.
Cerf, V., "The Internet is for Everyone", RFC 3271, DOI 10.17487/RFC3271, April 2002, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3271>.
@misc{rfc3271,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 3271,
howpublished = {RFC 3271},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC3271},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3271},
author = {V. Cerf},
title = {{The Internet is for Everyone}},
pagetotal = 6,
year = 2002,
month = apr,
} RFC text
Contents
Network Working Group V. Cerf
Request for Comments: 3271 Internet Society
Category: Informational April 2002
The Internet is for Everyone
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document expresses the Internet Society's ideology that the
Internet really is for everyone. However, it will only be such if
we make it so.
1. The Internet is for everyone
How easy to say - how hard to achieve!
How have we progressed towards this noble goal?
The Internet is in its 14th year of annual doubling since 1988.
There are over 150 million hosts on the Internet and an estimated 513
million users, world wide.
By 2006, the global Internet is likely to exceed the size of the
global telephone network, if it has not already become the telephone
network by virtue of IP telephony. Moreover, as many as 1.5 billion
Internet-enabled appliances will have joined traditional servers,
desk tops and laptops as part of the Internet family. Pagers, cell
phones and personal digital assistants may well have merged to become
the new telecommunications tools of the next decade. But even at the
scale of the telephone system, it is sobering to realize that only
half of the Earth's population has ever made a telephone call.
It is estimated that commerce on the network will reach somewhere
between $1.8T and $3.2T by 2003. That is only two years from now
(but a long career in Internet years).
The number of Internet users will likely reach over 1000 million by
the end of the year 2005, but that is only about 16% of the world's
population. By 2047 the world's population may reach about 11
billion. If only 25% of the then world's population is on the
Internet, that will be nearly 3 billion users.
As high bandwidth access becomes the norm through digital subscriber
loops, cable modems and digital terrestrial and satellite radio
links, the convergence of media available on the Internet will become
obvious. Television, radio, telephony and the traditional print
media will find counterparts on the Internet - and will be changed in
profound ways by the presence of software that transforms the one-way
media into interactive resources, shareable by many.
The Internet is proving to be one of the most powerful amplifiers of
speech ever invented. It offers a global megaphone for voices that
might otherwise be heard only feebly, if at all. It invites and
facilitates multiple points of view and dialog in ways
unimplementable by the traditional, one-way, mass media.
The Internet can facilitate democratic practices in unexpected ways.
Did you know that proxy voting for stock shareholders is now commonly
supported on the Internet? Perhaps we can find additional ways in
which to simplify and expand the voting franchise in other domains,
including the political, as access to Internet increases.
The Internet is becoming the repository of all we have accomplished
as a society. It has become a kind of disorganized "Boswell" of the
human spirit. Be thoughtful in what you commit to email, news
groups, and other Internet communication channels - it may well turn
up in a web search some day. Thanks to online access to common
repositories, shared databases on the Internet are acting to
accelerate the pace of research progress.
The Internet is moving off the planet! Already, interplanetary
Internet is part of the NASA Mars mission program now underway at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory. By 2008 we should have a well-functioning
Earth-Mars network that serves as a nascent backbone of an inter-
planetary system of Internets - InterPlaNet is a network of
Internets! Ultimately, we will have interplanetary Internet relays
in polar solar orbit so that they can see most of the planets and
their associated interplanetary gateways for most, if not all of the
time.
The Internet Society is launching a new campaign to facilitate access
to and use of Internet everywhere. The campaign slogan is "Internet
is for everyone," but there is much work needed to accomplish this
objective.
Internet is for everyone - but it won't be if it isn't affordable by
all that wish to partake of its services, so we must dedicate
ourselves to making the Internet as affordable as other
infrastructures so critical to our well-being. While we follow
Moore's Law to reduce the cost of Internet-enabling equipment, let us
also seek to stimulate regulatory policies that take advantage of the
power of competition to reduce costs.
Internet is for everyone - but it won't be if Governments restrict
access to it, so we must dedicate ourselves to keeping the network
unrestricted, unfettered and unregulated. We must have the freedom
to speak and the freedom to hear.
Internet is for everyone - but it won't be if it cannot keep up with
the explosive demand for its services, so we must dedicate ourselves
to continuing its technological evolution and development of the
technical standards the lie at the heart of the Internet revolution.
Let us dedicate ourselves to the support of the Internet Architecture
Board, the Internet Engineering Steering Group, the Internet Research
Task Force, the Internet Engineering Task Force and other
organizations dedicated to developing Internet technology as they
drive us forward into an unbounded future. Let us also commit
ourselves to support the work of the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers - a key function for the Internet's
operation.
Internet is for everyone - but it won't be until in every home, in
every business, in every school, in every library, in every hospital
in every town and in every country on the Globe, the Internet can be
accessed without limitation, at any time and in every language.
Internet is for everyone - but it won't be if it is too complex to be
used easily by everyone. Let us dedicate ourselves to the task of
simplifying the Internet's interfaces and to educating all that are
interested in its use.
Internet is for everyone - but it won't be if legislation around the
world creates a thicket of incompatible laws that hinder the growth
of electronic commerce, stymie the protection of intellectual
property, and stifle freedom of expression and the development of
market economies. Let us dedicate ourselves to the creation of a
global legal framework in which laws work across national boundaries
to reinforce the upward spiral of value that the Internet is capable
of creating.
Internet is for everyone - but it won't be if its users cannot
protect their privacy and the confidentiality of transactions
conducted on the network. Let us dedicate ourselves to the
proposition that cryptographic technology sufficient to protect
privacy from unauthorized disclosure should be freely available,
applicable and exportable. Moreover, as authenticity lies at the
heart of trust in networked environments, let us dedicate ourselves
to work towards the development of authentication methods and systems
capable of supporting electronic commerce through the Internet.
Internet is for everyone - but it won't be if parents and teachers
cannot voluntarily create protected spaces for our young people for
whom the full range of Internet content still may be inappropriate.
Let us dedicate ourselves to the development of technologies and
practices that offer this protective flexibility to those who accept
responsibility for providing it.
Internet is for everyone - but it won't be if we are not responsible
in its use and mindful of the rights of others who share its wealth.
Let us dedicate ourselves to the responsible use of this new medium
and to the proposition that with the freedoms the Internet enables
comes a commensurate responsibility to use these powerful enablers
with care and consideration. For those who choose to abuse these
privileges, let us dedicate ourselves to developing the necessary
tools to combat the abuse and punish the abuser.
Internet is for everyone - even Martians!
I hope Internauts everywhere will join with the Internet Society and
like-minded organizations to achieve this, easily stated but hard to
attain goal. As we pass the milestone of the beginning of the third
millennium, what better theme could we possibly ask for than making
the Internet the medium of this new millennium?
Internet IS for everyone - but it won't be unless WE make it so.
2. Security Considerations
This document does not treat security matters, except for reference
to the utility of cryptographic techniques to protect confidentiality
and privacy.
3. References
[1] Internet Society - www.isoc.org
[2] Internet Engineering Task Force - www.ietf.org
[3] Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers -
www.ICANN.org
[4] Cerf's slides: www.wcom.com/cerfsup
[5] Interplanetary Internet - www.ipnsig.org
[6] Internet history - livinginternet.com
4. Author's Addresses
Vint Cerf
former Chairman and President, Internet Society
January 2002
Sr. Vice President, Internet Architecture and Technology
WorldCom
22001 Loudoun County Parkway, F2-4115
Ashburn, VA 20147
EMail: vinton.g.cerf@wcom.com
5. Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
English.
The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Acknowledgement
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
Internet Society.
AI ELI5
On this page
§1The Internet is for Everyone
Written in April 2002 by Vint Cerf, former chairman of the Internet Society, this document expresses the organization's core ideology: the Internet should serve all people worldwide.
At the time of writing, the Internet had been doubling in users annually since 1988, with over 150 million host computers and an estimated 513 million users. Projections suggested 1.5 billion Internet-enabled appliances would eventually connect, from pagers to personal digital assistants, alongside traditional computers. Despite this explosive growth, fewer than half of Earth's population had ever made a phone call, and most lacked Internet access.
The RFC frames the challenge plainly: the Internet has the potential to be the most powerful amplifier of human expression ever created, offering a global platform for voices that would otherwise be faint. However, this vision will only become reality if the Internet community consciously works to overcome the barriers of cost, regulation, complexity, and governance.
The Internet is growing super fast and reaching more people. But lots of people in the world still don't have it. The author says we need to work hard to make sure it's available and affordable for everyone.
§2Key Barriers to Universal Access
The document identifies six critical barriers that prevent the Internet from truly being available to everyone.
Affordability: The Internet must become as affordable as other essential infrastructure. This requires not just relying on Moore's Law to reduce equipment costs, but also using regulatory policy to encourage competition.
Freedom from restriction: Governments must not restrict access to the network. The Internet requires unrestricted and unregulated operation, coupled with freedom of speech and freedom to receive information.
Technological capacity: The Internet must evolve to keep pace with explosive demand. Maintaining the Internet Architecture Board, the Internet Engineering Task Force and related standards bodies is essential to this ongoing development.
Universal deployment: The Internet must become accessible in every home, business, school, library, hospital and town worldwide, at any time and in every language.
Simplicity: Internet interfaces and tools must be simple enough for anyone to use, supported by education and training.
Responsible use: Users must employ the Internet with care and consideration for others' rights, while communities develop tools to prevent and address abuse.
The author lists six big problems that keep people from using the Internet: it costs too much, governments block it, it's not fast enough, it's not everywhere, it's too hard to use, and people abuse it. Each one needs to be fixed.
§3Specific Challenges
Beyond the six main barriers, the RFC addresses additional challenges that demand attention.
Legal harmonization: Incompatible laws across nations create obstacles to global electronic commerce, intellectual property protection, freedom of expression and economic development. A coordinated global legal framework that works across borders is necessary.
Cryptography and privacy: Users must be able to protect their privacy and transaction confidentiality. Cryptographic technology should be freely available, applicable and exportable to support this right. Authentication methods are equally vital to build trust in digital commerce.
Child protection: Parents and teachers need tools to create protected spaces online for young people, allowing adults to control what content children encounter. These protections must be voluntary and flexible rather than imposed uniformly.
Interplanetary expansion: The document optimistically notes that the Internet is expanding beyond Earth. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was already developing the Interplanetary Internet, which by 2008 was expected to provide Earth-Mars communication as the foundation for an interplanetary network of networks.
Different countries have different laws that don't work well together. People need codes to keep their secrets safe online. Parents need ways to keep the Internet safe for kids. And the author thinks the Internet will even reach Mars one day.
§4The Internet's Transformative Power
The RFC emphasizes the Internet's unprecedented role in human communication and coordination. As a repository of human accomplishment, it is now the place where knowledge accumulates and is shared globally. Online databases and shared resources are accelerating the pace of scientific and technical progress.
The Internet also serves as a powerful tool for democratic participation. Proxy voting for stock shareholders was already common online, and the RFC suggests that similar innovations could extend Internet-enabled voting and political participation to broader populations.
The document celebrates the Internet as perhaps the most powerful amplifier of free speech ever invented. It enables multiple viewpoints and dialogue in ways that traditional, one-way mass media cannot achieve. This makes it essential to preserve the Internet's open, unrestricted character while also building systems to detect and punish abuse.
The Internet is like the world's biggest library and town square combined. It helps scientists share discoveries, lets people vote online, and gives everyone a voice. That power is why we have to protect it and make it available to all.
§5A Call to Commitment
The document concludes with a rallying cry for the Internet community to commit to universal access. The Internet Society launched a campaign with the slogan Internet is for everyone, but Cerf emphasizes that the slogan alone means nothing without sustained action.
Each barrier requires dedicated effort. Reducing costs requires both technological progress and regulatory reform. Preserving freedom requires vigilance against government overreach. Meeting demand requires investment in technical infrastructure and standards development. Achieving universal deployment requires infrastructure investment and localization into many languages.
Perhaps most importantly, the RFC reminds readers that technology alone cannot solve this challenge. The Internet will only be truly for everyone if humans commit to making it so through policy choices, business decisions, educational efforts and conscious responsibility in their use of the network.
The author's main message is: we have to actually do the work. Just saying the Internet should be for everyone isn't enough. Every person, company and country needs to decide they will help make it happen.