RFC 3271 (rfc3271) - Page 2 of 6
The Internet is for Everyone
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RFC 3271 The Internet is for Everyone April 2002 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. Cerf Informational
