Standards

Standards icon

The internet’s architecture, communication systems, and document and  data formats should be based on open standards that ensure complete  interoperability, inclusion and equal opportunity for all. 

What does this look like in a democracy? 

Internet standards/formats should be open with little to no barriers to access to  ensure users, content hosts, and service providers are able to freely exchange information. Technical standards are not used as a way to accomplish censorship or surveillance. 

warning signs of an undemocratic internet: 

  • A technical standard is developed with the express intent of enabling tracking or surveillance of individual internet users. 
  • A government refuses to adopt international internet standards effectively limiting citizens’ access to the global internet. 

 

selected sources from international frameworks: