Michael Nesmith Quotes

We are having Internet Governance discussions and meetings and a very large number of people are discussing the future of the Internet who have no clue as to what the Internet is except that it is important and that they have to be involved.

I have been involved in Internet-related policy for approximately one decade, and I have been using the Internet myself for almost that period of time.

So long as confusion reigns, there will be no successful global Internet agenda, only contradiction.

All Australians understand that high-quality, reliable and affordable broadband is a critical part of the infrastructure our nation needs to prosper in coming years.

The Internet is a bright spot for our struggling economy and functioning just fine without what amounts to a federal pat-down of the inner workings of the Internet.

Improving the Internet is just one means, albeit an important one, by which to improve the human condition. It must be done with an appreciation for the civil and human rights that deserve protection - without pretending that access itself is such a right.

Eight billion people will have Internet access by 2020.

The Internet in the 21st Century is as important to our future as highways were in the 20th Century. Like a highway, the Internet must remain free and open for all - not determined by the highest bidders.

I had had a lot of experience in bringing the Internet to Australia, and I saw that knowledge in the hands of people achieves reform.

My own view is that the Internet should be run by technologists and engineers and business people, not by lawyers and bureaucrats here in the nation's capital.

It is important to note that Internet access is not a necessity in the day-to-day lives of Americans and doesn't even come close to the threshold to be considered a basic human right.

The Internet Governance Forum - which brings together NGOs, government officials and companies - needs to do a better job of including representatives from Africa, Latin America, and Asia and addressing their issues.

Gigabit Opportunity Zones would enable Americans to become participants in, rather than spectators of, the digital economy. They would be a powerful solution to the digital divide. I hope our elected officials will give the idea serious consideration.

The digital revolution is one that every community should and can participate in.

Obama routinely pushed policy that pleased the tech-savvy, including his successful effort to keep broadband suppliers from giving preferential treatment to bigger web companies over individuals.

The public should have access to unfettered communication and commerce, and the Internet is increasingly the medium where that takes place.

Public participation helped create the Internet, and it helps protect it. That's worth celebrating and remembering.

Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans; so are its resources.

Fast, cheap, abundant broadband is a fantastic economic accelerator, enabling breakout businesses and kick-starting new industries.

It's one of those secrets that not a lot of politicians realize: The Internet is not a 10th-tier policy issue. It's not an add-on policy. It's something that affects everybody's life.

We can't just live as rentiers off the oil fund.

I'm well aware that the Internet is global and can't be wholly affected by any one country. But the United States has outsized influence.

Net neutrality is the principle forbidding huge telecommunications companies from treating users, websites, or apps differently - say, by letting some work better than others over their pipes.

Broadband companies can have great success offering access to the unfettered Internet.

One of the things that made the Internet so explosive and such an economic and intellectual force is because of the free-market enterprise in a country like the U.S. controlling access to it.