Allowing a handful of broadband carriers to determine what people see and do online would fundamentally undermine the features that have made the Internet such a success, and could permanently compromise the Internet as a platform for the free exchange of information, commerce, and ideas.
Interpretation
The quote warns against the excessive control of the internet by a few companies, which could harm its fundamental purpose of facilitating free communication and commerce.
Vint Cerf's quote highlights the dangers of allowing a limited number of broadband providers to dictate the online experience for users. He emphasizes that such control could threaten the core values of the Internet, which has thrived on openness and unrestricted access to information, commerce, and diverse ideas. By compromising these principles, the Internet risks losing its role as a platform that supports the free exchange of ideas and information among its users.
In practice
This quote could be used in a debate about net neutrality policies.
One thing we know for sure is that the Web is a collaborative medium unlike any we've ever had before. We see people working together, playing together, interacting in social settings using these media. We hope that will emerge as the new tool for education.
I want more Internet. I want every one of the 6 billion people on the planet to be able to connect to the Internet - I think they will add things to it that will really benefit us all.
History is rife with examples of governments taking actions to 'protect' their citizens from harm by controlling access to information and inhibiting freedom of expression and other freedoms outlined in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We must make sure, collectively, that the Internet avoids a similar fate.
Given that my title at Google is Chief Internet Evangelist, I feel like there is this great challenge before me because we have three billion users, and there are seven billion people in the world.
Improving the Internet is just one means, albeit an important one, by which to improve the human condition. It must be done with an appreciation for the civil and human rights that deserve protection - without pretending that access itself is such a right.
You don't have to be young to learn about technology. You have to feel young.
The expansive anarchy of the Internet continues to lull us into believing that, because we can see something, that something should be seen. Because we can say something, there is something that must be said.
Human language is the new UI layer, bots are like new applications, and digital assistants are meta apps. Intelligence is infused into all of your interactions.
Progress is possible only if we train ourselves to think about programs without thinking of them as pieces of executable code.
Machine learning is looking for patterns in data. If you start with racist data, you will end up with even more racist models. This is a real problem.
First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy? Second, how do we make technology work for us, and not against us - especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change? Third, how do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman?
Fraud really thrives in moments of great social change and transition. We're in the midst of a technological revolution. That gives con artists huge opportunities. People lose their frame of reference for what can and can't be real.
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