Agreement Reached on Internet Policymaking Principles

This week, at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) High Level Meeting on the Internet Economy, we joined Tim Berners-Lee and Vint Cerf, along with representatives from business, civil society, and Internet technical communities from 34 countries to discuss how to preserve the openness of the Internet.

Also present were policymakers who, over a decade ago, helped establish the Internet policy framework -- elegant in its restraint -- that enabled the open Internet to flourish with innovation and human connections beyond our wildest expectations. After intensive conversations, the OECD issued a communique of fundamental principles.

These principles should be embraced by governments and other stakeholders. They were developed through an extensive, transparent, multi-stakeholder process. Although there was broad support from the government, technical, and business communities, the civil society groups participating in the process were not able to support the final text due primarily to concerns about specific provisions on online copyright questions. We will continue to seek common ground with them on how these principles are interpreted and implemented. In another fifteen years, those of us who gathered together at the OECD will look back and be proud of what we did—just as those who set the original framework for the Internet are justifiably proud.