Become an Internet Advocate

The Internet has radically transformed our lives for the better. Because of it, there are virtually infinite opportunities to innovate and work together for the collective good.

We owe its success to a foundation of five properties—what the Internet needs to work for everyone. We call this the “Internet way of networking” and we can’t take it for granted.

What makes the Internet great also makes it vulnerable. Governments and businesses are increasingly making decisions that could impact the Internet, and they might not even know it. We must protect the Internet from bad decisions—or we risk losing it altogether.

It’s up to all of us to protect and defend what the Internet needs to exist and thrive. We cannot let the Internet become a splinternet.

How Can I Advocate for the Internet?

We need your help. If you have five minutes, five hours, or even more, you can promote, protect, and defend an open, globally connected, secure, and trustworthy Internet. We are stronger together. Always.

Here’s how you can help:

Flag

Spot a legislative threat, business decision, or technology development that could undermine the open, globally connected, secure, and trustworthy Internet.

Let us know.

Analyze

Use the Internet Impact Assessment Toolkit to understand how an issue could support or threaten what the Internet needs to exist and thrive.

Learn how to analyze a threat.

Strategize

Identify the advocacy goal and form a strategy to promote, protect, and defend the Internet.

Start with SMART advocacy goals.

Together

Work with a global movement of like-minded Internet champions to amplify our impact.

Become an Internet Society member.

Advocacy Resources

“Fair Share” Proposal in the EU

The European Commission’s ‘fair-share’ model will compel large platforms to pay costs toward telecom infrastructure—and it will fragment the Internet.

Brazil’s Cost-Sharing Proposal

Across the world, stakeholders believe that ‘fair-share’ arguments will fragment the Internet. Brazil’s cost-sharing proposal will negatively impact users.

Enablers of an Open, Globally Connected, Secure and Trustworthy Internet

What does the Internet need to thrive? Learn about the enablers of an open, globally connected, secure, and trustworthy Internet.

Encryption

The Encryption course is an introduction to encryption, and is intended to serve both as an overview and as a level set and foundation.

Encryption Advocacy Toolkit

Factsheets, toolkits, and templates to help support your advocacy efforts before and after Global Encryption Day. (external)

Encryption: Essential for the LGBTQ+ Community

For some communities, like LGBTQ+ communities, encryption is especially crucial in keeping people safe both online and in real life.

Fact Sheet: Client-Side Scanning

Client-side scanning (CSS) broadly refers to systems that scan message contents for matches or similarities to a database of objectionable content before the message is sent to the intended recipient.

Fact Sheet: How Encryption Can Protect Journalists and the Free Press

Encryption is an essential tool for journalists. If journalists cannot communicate in confidence with colleagues and sources, they cannot do their jobs in safety.

Factsheet: How Encryption Can Protect Advocacy Groups and Social Change Movements

Encryption is especially crucial for human rights defenders, advocacy groups, community organizers, and humanitarian actors. It should be used with other more conventional privacy protection tools to keep people safe both online and in their everyday lives.

Our Members in Action

Here’s how some Internet Society members are advocating for an Internet that benefits everyone. They’re using the four-step advocacy model: