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What everyday citizens can do to claim power on the internet

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    Bryn Freedman: So you said
    that in the 20th century,
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    global power was
    in the hands of government.
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    At the beginning of this digital century,
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    it really moved to corporations,
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    and that in the future
    it would move to individuals.
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    And I've interviewed a lot of people,
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    and they say you're wrong,
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    and they are betting on the companies.
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    So why are you right
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    and why are individuals going to win out?
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    Fadi Chehadé: Because companies
    cater to individuals,
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    and we as the citizenry
    need to start understanding
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    that we have a big role
    in shaping how the world
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    will be governed moving forward.
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    Yes, indeed, the tug of war right now
    is between governments,
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    who lost much of their power to companies
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    because the internet is not built
    around the nation-state system
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    around which governments have power.
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    The internet is transnational.
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    It's not international,
    and it's not national,
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    and therefore the companies
    became very powerful.
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    They shape our economy.
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    They shape our society.
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    Governments don't know what to do.
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    Right now, they're reacting.
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    And I fear that if we do not,
    as the citizenry,
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    which are, in my opinion,
    the most important leg of that stool,
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    don't take our role,
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    then you are right.
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    The detractors or the people telling you
    that businesses will prevail are right.
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    It will happen.
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    BF: So are you saying that individuals
    will force businesses
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    or business will be forced
    to be responsive,
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    or is there a fear that they won't be?
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    FC: I think they will be.
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    Look at two weeks ago,
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    a small company called Skip winning
    over Uber and Lyft and everyone
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    to actually get the license
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    for the San Francisco scooter business.
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    And if you read why did Skip win,
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    because Skip listened
    to the people of San Francisco
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    who were tired of scooters
    being thrown everywhere,
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    and actually went to the city and said,
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    we will deploy the service,
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    but we will respond
    to the people's requirements
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    that we organize ourselves
    around a set of rules.
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    They self-governed their behavior,
    and they won the contract
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    over some very powerful companies.
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    BF: So speaking of guidelines
    and self-governance,
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    you've spent an entire lifetime
    creating guidelines and norms
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    for the internet.
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    Do you think those days are over?
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    Who is going to guide,
    who is going to control,
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    and who is going to create those norms?
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    FC: The rules that govern
    the technology layers of the internet
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    are now well put in place,
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    and I was very busy for a few years
    setting those rules
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    around the part of the internet
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    that makes the internet one network.
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    The domain name system, the IP numbers,
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    all of that is in place.
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    However as we get now into
    the upper layers of the internet,
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    the issues that affect
    me and you every day --
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    privacy, security, etc. --
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    the system to create norms for those
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    unfortunately is not in place.
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    So we do have an issue.
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    We have a system of
    cooperation and governance
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    that really needs to be created right now
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    so that companies, governments,
    and the citizenry can agree
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    how this new digital world
    is going to advance.
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    BF: So what gives
    a digital company any incentive?
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    Let's say, Facebook comes to mind,
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    they would say they have
    their user's best interests at heart,
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    but I think a lot of people
    would disagree with that.
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    FC: It's been very difficult to watch
    how tech companies have reacted
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    to the citizenry's response
    to their technologies.
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    And some of them, two or three years ago,
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    basically dismissed it.
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    The word that I heard in many board rooms
    is, "We're just a technology platform.
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    It's not my issue
    if my technology platform
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    causes families to go kill
    their girls in Pakistan.
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    It's not my issue. That's their problem.
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    I just have a technology platform."
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    Now, I think we are now entering a stage
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    where companies are starting to realize
    this is no longer sustainable,
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    and they are starting to see the pushback
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    that's coming from
    people, users, citizens,
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    but also governments
    that are starting to say,
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    "This cannot be."
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    So I think there is a maturity
    that is starting to set,
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    especially in that Silicon Valley area,
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    where people are beginning to say,
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    "We have a role."
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    So when I speak to these leaders, I say,
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    "Look, you could be the CEO,
    a very successful CEO of a company,
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    but you could also be a steward.
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    And that's the key word.
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    You could be a steward
    of the power you have
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    to shape the lives and the economies
    of billions of people.
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    Which one do you want to be?"
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    And the answer is,
    it's not one or the other.
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    This is what we are missing right now.
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    So when an adult like Brad Smith,
    the President of Microsoft,
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    said a few months ago,
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    we need a new set of Geneva Conventions
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    to manage the security
    of the digital space,
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    many of the senior leaders
    in Silicon Valley
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    actually spoke against his words.
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    "What do you mean, Geneva Convention?
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    We don't need any Geneva Conventions.
    We self-regulate."
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    But that mood is changing,
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    and I'm starting to see many leaders say,
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    "Help us out."
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    But here lies the conundrum.
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    Who is going to help those leaders
    do the right thing?
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    BF: So who is going to help them?
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    Give me, because I'd love
    to interview you for an hour,
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    but give me your biggest fear
    and your best hope
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    for how this is going to work out.
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    FC: My biggest hope is that we
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    will become each stewards
    of this new digital world.
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    That's my biggest hope,
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    because I do think, often,
    we want to put the blame on others.
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    Oh, it's these CEOs.
    They're behaving this way.
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    Oh, these governments
    are not doing enough.
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    But how about us?
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    How is each of us actually taking
    the responsibility to be a steward
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    of the digital space we live in?
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    One of the things I've been pushing
    on university presidents is
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    we need every engineering and science
    and computer science student
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    who is about to write
    the next line of code
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    or design the next IoT device
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    to actually have in them
    a sense of responsibility and stewardship
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    towards what they're building.
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    So I suggested we create a new oath,
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    like the Hippocratic Oath,
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    so that every student entering
    an engineering program
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    takes a technocratic oath or a wisdom oath
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    or some oath of commitment
    to the rest of us.
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    That's my best hope, that we all rise.
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    Because governments and businesses
    will fight over this power game,
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    but where are we?
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    And unless we play into that power table,
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    I think we'll end up in a bad place.
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    My biggest fear?
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    My biggest fear,
    to be very tactical today,
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    what is keeping me up at night
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    is the current war between
    the West, the liberal world,
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    and China,
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    in the area of artificial intelligence.
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    There is a real war going on,
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    and for those of us who have lived
    through the nuclear nonproliferation age
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    and saw how people agreed
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    to take some very
    dangerous things off the table,
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    well, the Carnegie Endowment
    just finished a study.
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    They talked to every country
    that made nuclear weapons
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    and asked them,
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    which digital weapon
    would you take off the table
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    against somebody else's
    schools or hospitals?
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    And the answer,
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    from every nuclear power
    to this question was,
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    nothing.
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    That's what I'm worried about ...
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    the weaponization of the digital space,
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    and the race to get there.
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    BF: Well, that sounds like
    you've got a lot of work to do,
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    and so do the rest of us.
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    Fadi, thank you so much.
    I really appreciate it.
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    FC: Thank you.
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    (Applause)
Title:
What everyday citizens can do to claim power on the internet
Speaker:
Fadi Chehadé and Bryn Freedman
Description:

more » « less
Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDTalks
Duration:
08:34

English subtitles

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