For open democratic processes in setting Internet standards

The Internet has grown and developed through bottom-up, decentralised, consensus based standards. It is this that gives it its open democratic nature. Those who want to transform it into a closed and controlled medium attempt to undermine its openness by imposing new hierarchical structures on it.

Decisions taken by technical standards bodies can have a profound effect on the privacy and freedom of Internet users.

Internet Rights Bulgaria is in favour of having the maximum meaningful participation for civil society in all aspects of Internet governance and standards setting. We are for representative and participative global governance and we are particularly concerned to achieve equitable representation for developing countries. As part of our work in favour of open standards and equal rights for developing countries we are committed to supporting open source and free software.