Start Something: Father of the Internet Calls for New Activism

By Rob Scott
April 13, 2012

Internet pioneer and current Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf is asking people how we should define the Internet and its future.
He distributed an email on April 9 as a call to initiate a new dialogue on the subject. An accompanying Google page suggests: “Let’s start something” and features links to participate via Google+, Facebook, or Twitter.
“It’s time to start a new chapter in our Internet conversation — one in which we come up with positive and proactive plans to drive constructive Internet legislation in countries around the globe,” Cerf wrote in the email.
“Instead of reacting only to legislation that is harmful to the Internet’s utility, we should be promoting policies that improve the Internet’s usefulness while making it a safer and more secure environment for everyone,” he suggests.
“At first glance, this whole campaign seems quite odd, and we’ve asked Google to clarify a few things about it,” reports Digital Trends. “But from what we can gather, this is an attempt to launch a proactive campaign to influence federal legislation on the Internet. (At least, that’s our interpretation of it.) It’s an interesting idea, considering nearly all of the online activism we’ve seen so far (think SOPA/PIPA blackout) has been reactive, meaning Washington drafts some dangerous bill, and then the Internet community pushes back against it.”

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