Some elements want to control the Internet. Those elements do not understand the Internet. And they end up doing things very stupid to exercise that supposed control over the Internet, without making the effort that would allow them to know what it is really about. The consequence is a direct damage to the health of the Internet. More closed, more centralized, more discriminatory. The Mozilla Foundation published a detailed report on the overall state of the Internet as an ecosystem, and its conclusion is worrying: the network of networks is sick.
Last year, 56 “shutdowns” – partial or total – were ordered by different governments. In 2015, there were 15. It is evident that freedom of expression goes against the interests of an increasingly large number of politicians, who insist on twisting solid and compelling evidence in favor of their own interpretation, or, as we have recently heard, presenting “alternative facts”, while we hear the laughter of our friend Orwell in the background. If we add to this an interoperability that is conspicuously absent, increasingly closed and proprietary clouds, innovators relentlessly attacked by patent trolls, and geographical restrictions on content distribution, it is obvious that the Internet is not in the best state, is it?
Mozilla’s Health Report
At least, that is what Mozilla proposes with its latest health report. According to Mark Surman, executive director of the foundation, what began as a promotional tool for democratic values, entrepreneurship, and collaboration is at risk of becoming the opposite. Of course, the report would not be valid if it did not mention positive aspects, and the fact that almost half of the human species already has some form of access to the network cannot be ignored. The other side of the coin is a very poor distribution of that access, the expansion of proprietary software, fragmentation, high development costs, and severely weakened security parameters, with the example of the “Internet of Things” at the forefront.
The Internet still has “black holes” despite increasing demands for transparency. On intellectual property, only a third of the planet applies a concept similar to “fair use.” Even basic communication mechanisms are deficient, since 52 percent of websites are in English, and barely one in four people can understand that language. Surman and most of us are the first to recognize that the famous “golden age” of the Internet is not going to return. Times have changed, and the network of networks has changed with them. But we must ensure that its growth is in the right direction. The current outlook is a bit disheartening.
