The Internet is at war. Its foe: Congress.
For the past year, bills seeking to fundamentally change the Internet as we know it have been routinely making their way into our nation’s legislature. Whether they advocated censorship or allowed private information to be easily shared, these bills seemed more concerned with pleasing special interests than benefiting the general public that uses this technology.
The denizens of the World Wide Web responded to these challenges with vigor.
When the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) were making their way through Congress, the Internet rallied and the bills were defeated. Google, Wikipedia and other major Internet companies led a campaign that informed the public of the bills’ contents and organized opposition against the legislation.
Last week, the European Parliament rejected the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement (ACTA) after months of organized resistance against the treaty.
But how long can Internet activists keep resisting before an unfavorable law is eventually passed and enforced? It seems that with every victory they achieve, a new bill emerges that again upsets the Internet community.
So some Internet activists have come up with a solution: a Declaration of Internet Freedom.
Last week, various Internet-related organizations came together to create the declaration with the hopes that it would convey the principles they believed were essential for a free Internet and to prevent harmful legislation from coming up again.
The Declaration is made up of five brief principles: freedom of expression, openness, access, innovation and privacy. While these points are all commendable, they may be a little too vague to place in a document that you hope will influence lawmakers.
Yet, the creators of the declaration are hoping to do more than just build up a set of policy guidelines.
“Let’s discuss these principles – agree or disagree with them, debate them, translate them, make them your own and broaden the discussion with your community – as only the Internet can make possible,” the declaration’s preamble states.
By creating this document and spreading it to all the corners of the World Wide Web, the declaration’s creators hope to engage the Internet community and ignite a grass roots campaign to ensure the Internet is never threatened by harmful legislation.
And the idea is catching on.
Last week, the libertarian Campaign for Liberty released its own manifesto on Internet liberty with the support of Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tx., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
The United Nations Human Rights Council also recently backed a resolution that stated freedom of expression should extend online.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., even beat the new declaration to the punch last month when they drafted a strikingly similar “digital bill of rights.”
These people and groups understand the importance of the Internet in our society today.
Never before have so many people been able to communicate with each other from so far away. Never before has information been so readily available to those who just wanted to look. Never before has such a medium existed that empowered its participants in such a democratizing way.
The Internet is arguably the most important medium ever invented, and it is up to those of us who have lived to benefit from its creation to ensure that future generations will enjoy the same advantages we have now.
A “Declaration of Internet Freedom” or a “digital bill or rights” is a step in the right direction to safeguarding the Internet liberties we enjoy.
More bills will continue to be introduced that propose crucial changes to the Internet.
If the public could organize and ensure that the Internet is safely protected against censorship and special interests, then this important technology may continue to prosper and mark an important moment in its history: the realization of its democratic potential.
David Scheuermann is a 20-year-old mass communication and computer science junior from Kenner. Follow him on Twitter at @TDR_dscheu.
 
____ Contact David Scheuermann at [email protected]