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How Healthy is the Internet?
Lee Skallerup Bessette

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Mozilla has been killing it these days, from super-secure browsing to keeping Facebook in its (secure) place. This month, they released their annual Internet Health Report.

From the Introduction:

The Internet Health Report is about the human experience of the Internet. It is an independent, open source compilation of data, research and stories that show how the Internet is evolving across five issues.

There is A LOT here in this report. They have divided the report into five issue sections:

Each section has a helpful primer on the issue with feature pieces highlighting the various approaches to said issue.

So, how healthy is the Internet?

In most cases it's not a simple question. Certainly, there are some straightforward indicators to watch. Things are getting a bit better in areas like: access, affordability, and encryption. And they are getting worse in: censorship, online harassment, and energy use. Simple indicators miss the complexity that comes with global ecosystems like the Internet.

We need to pay attention to the contractions, like the growing tension between free speech and harassment. We need to watch for technologies and people who are smaller today but may be huge tomorrow, like open source hardware makers or blockchain innovators. And we need to think creatively about how the people who make technology, the people who use it and the people who regulate it, can work together to create a digital world that is truly enriching for everyone.

This is a great primer for students and professors alike in understanding the web in 2018, cutting past the hype cycles and disruption narratives that typically inform and shape these kinds of reports.

How healthy do you think the Internet is?

[Photo by Marcelo Leal on Unsplash]