The Future of the Net is in Good Hands

With the advent of a new administration, there’s lots of talk about the future of the economy, the future of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the future of the climate, but not as much talk of the future of the Internet.  Remember that series of inter tubes that connects everyone around the globe instantly and inexpensvely?  And remember those corporations and telecoms that wanted to create different classes of net users and charge different (read higher) rates for the transfer of data to and from different people?

This huge fight over net neutrality isn’t over, it’s really just in its infancy, but, great news just arrived from the Obama transition front:  Susan Crawford had been named one of the two co-chairs of the FCC transition team!

This is big, big news for anyone who cares about preserving the essential level playing field of the web.  Susan is an Internet intellectual property pioneer, a former board member of ICANN (it’s like the UN for domain names) and founder of One Web Day (of which I am a board member.)  Susan is a passionate advocate for the open web and it is outstanding news about the intent and interests of the Obama team that they recognized the importance of having someone with her background, interests and skills involved in the formation of hte plans for the FCC which governs much of the activity online here in the US.

Oh, and did I mention that Susan is my friend, and guide, and inspiration, too?  Brava!

About these ads