About the Internet Society 

Media Information

Selected Quotes of ISOC President Don Heath

On the Promise of the Internet

“The Internet should prove to be the single most successful enterprise produced by man. It may prove to be a passing fancy. One thing is certain; its explosive growth in the past few years has had a significant impact in many ways:

• It has demonstrated that it can be a powerful social revolutionizing force;
• It has captured the imagination of business, industry and finance; of publishing, entertainment, religion - and virtually all enterprises that can influence our lives;
• It breaks down barriers to learning, to education, to universal, ubiquitous and instantaneous communications and thus to mutual understanding and acceptance;
• It has opened the eyes of many to a vision for a brighter future;
• It has awakened in many a spirit of hope, and fueled the energy of innovation;
• It has also awakened governments, regulators, politicians, intelligence and law enforcing agencies.”

- Opening Plenary, INET’96, Toronto, Canada, June 1996

“If the United States government had tried to come up with a scheme to spread its brand of capitalism and its emphasis on political liberalism around the world, it couldn't have invented a better model than the Internet.”

- Interview with the New York Times

“[Internet] impact could significantly alter the structure of world societies and governments, of business and commerce, of cultures and customs, of language and law, of religion and politics. In short, we are only beginning to see the impact of the Internet and what universal and ubiquitous communications can create.”

- Keynote Speech, Network World + Interop, Tokyo, Japan, June 1999

“I believe that the ISTF was founded some number of years before those it would serve were/are ready and, as a serendipitous result, it will be ideally suited to function effectively when the time is truly right – perhaps in 2001.”

- ISOC “President’s Letter,” Trustee Meeting, San Diego, CA, December 2000

On the Evolution of the Internet

“The forces that most influence the evolution of the Internet today are economic, social, legal and political, from virtually every culture known to man. Technology is neither a constraining nor a particularly driving force. It does, however, remain essential to the underpinnings of whatever the Internet becomes – and it, that is, technology, must be adapted to the needs and desires of new positive forces which will be giving the Internet its direction and purpose.”

- Opening Plenary Speech, INET’96, Toronto, Canada, June 1996

“[Governments and Regulatory Bodies] are questioning many existing Internet attributes and surfacing other issues that could substantially alter the Internet, the Internet Culture, and perhaps the promise that we believe exists in the future Internet.”

- Keynote Speech, Internet’96, Mexico City, Mexico, October 1996

“It is imperative that we preserve the environment and culture that has allowed the Internet to emerge into its present state. It represents opportunity for applications and opportunities that will easily reach a worldwide audience. We must all be diligent, in our reactions, to insure that the phenomenon that we call the Internet will continue to grow, in all ways, and not be co-opted into impotence. It remains to be seen - it will always remain to be seen - how we, and our successors, perform in this grass-roots stewardship of the Internet.”

- Keynote Speech, IEEE Globcom’96, London, England, November 1996

“What we now call the Internet and what we now call the telephone industry may not be that much different in the future.”

- Keynote Speech, OPENNET’96, Berlin, Germany, November 1996

On Internet Society Membership

“The Internet Society’s Mission Statement has changed slightly to respond to this New World. The Internet Society’s mission must change significantly to act in this New World.”

- Closing Plenary – Developing Countries Workshop, Toronto, Canada, June 1996 – regarding the rapid emergence of the Internet

“Our thousands of members come from 150 countries and are a very active, dedicated group of professionals involved in the work of the Internet Society. And we, together with all those who have an interest in the effective and constructive use of information through connectivity, can positively influence the health and growth of the Internet. We can, together, insure that the opportunity that is presented today, by the Internet, will continue to exist tomorrow. Together, we can prevent the co-opting of the Internet by any single entity, preserving and protecting its underlying principles.”

- Keynote Speech – “21st Century – Information Society and Network Dynasty” Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, September, 1996

“Yes, change we must; adapt we must; but, compromise principle, we must never.”

- Closing Plenary – Developing Countries Workshop, Toronto, Canada, June 1996 – regarding the rapid emergence of the Internet

“We are uniquely equipped to provide knowledge, perspective, diversity, and education – appropriately reflective of our culture – to the parties, and the processes they employ, in the development of public policy, globally.”

- ISOC “President’s Letter,” Trustee Meeting, San Diego, CA, December 2000

On Convergence

“The PTTs and telecos of the world must be intimately involved with the Internet – or whatever we may call what the Internet of today evolves into – in the future. The Internet that will be, can become a reality much quicker if that group decides earnestly and intimately to be involved. But make no mistake, the Internet evolution will continue regardless.”

- Keynote Speech, IEEE Globcom’96, London, England, November 1996

“Might there be bandwidth companies, infrastructure companies, network companies, network applications companies or content provider companies? Will enough time pass to allow companies like America On Line (AOL) to regroup and catch on to what they could achieve? Might Microsoft come up with the model for exploitation of the essence we are attempting to evolve to in the Internet? Can the telecos compete in the New World of universal communications?”

- Keynote Speech, OPENNET’96, Berlin, Germany, November 1996

“In my opinion those telecos who do not make the change [to the Internet] will simply cease to exist or, at least, be gobbled up by some other more aggressive entity – not necessarily from within the telecomm industry.”

- Keynote Speech, Network World + Interop, Tokyo, Japan, June 1999

“If [European telecos] are compelled to operate in an unleashed competitive environment, they must become lean and mean, and they will quickly recognize that to survive into the future (which will come faster), they must meet the demands of consumers – of all sizes.”

- Authored Article, Public Network Europe, January 1998

“I also have few doubts that the world’s companies who will be the dominate players in what today we are calling the Internet, will evolve through a complex transforming process including mergers and acquisitions. Most likely we will not be able to recognize these new organizations by today’s standards because they will have undergone such a monumental transformation.”

- Keynote Speech, Network World + Interop, Tokyo, Japan, June 1999

On Internet Governance

“With the extreme exposure the Internet commands; and, with its innate capability to exacerbate or amplify otherwise benign issues; the Internet is increasingly becoming the focus of discussion concerning ‘ownership’ or ‘control’. For the Internet to reach its fullest potential, it will require self-governance and self-regulation.”

- Panel Speech, FCBA CLE Conference, Washington, DC, March 1997

“With regard to any future governance of the Internet, the requirements of the Internet network should have priority over any boundaries, or the interests of any single nation-state, that it transcends.”

- Speech – DNS Conference, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 1996

“If there was ever testimony for bottom-up planning, development and implementation, the Internet certainly would ‘make the cut.’”

- Speech to an open meeting of the Geneva Chapter of ISOC, Geneva, Switzerland, July 1996

“In no way does self-governance mean that national governments should not participate. However, national governments must exercise care so that they do not dominate or otherwise “rule” the process.”

- Keynote Speech, ChinaInet’97, Beijing, China, November 1997

“As we see new entities defining the direction, evolution and growth of the Internet, we must adopt a perspective that will allow us to see actions of these entities in the context of the consequences that may result, whether intended or not. We must all be diligent, in our reactions, to insure that the phenomenon that we call the Internet will continue to grow, in all ways, and not be co-opted into impotence. It remains to be seen – it will always remain to be seen – how we and our successors perform in this grass-roots stewardship of the Internet.”

- Keynote Speech, OPENNET’96, Berlin, Germany, November 1996

“If we, together, can create an effective self-regulating organization for this relatively well-defined portion of Internet administration, it will portend well for the development of future self-governance initiatives. If we fail in this relatively simple attempt – simple at least as compared to such things as regulation of content – then the likelihood of our being able to ever achieve the critical requirement for keeping the Internet an independent, universal, and global means of communication, will be dealt a severe blow.”

- Keynote Speech, Wireless ’99, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, July 1999, regarding the creation of ICANN

“Take cooperation out of the Internet and it will simply cease to be.”

- Panel Speech, Internet World Berlin ’99, Berlin, Germany, May 1999

“The concept of ‘rough consensus’ is a rigorous process that weeds out the weak and encourages the best; it does not mean unanimity; it does mean broad-based participation and acceptance.”

- Keynote Speech, Mundo Internet ’98, Madrid, Spain, February 1998

On E-Commerce

“Ninety percent of the ‘dot com’ companies existing today will be gone – sooner than later.”

- Keynote Speech, eBusiness Conference 2000, Oxford University, Oxford, England, March 2000

“Start ups, or ‘upstarts,’ with no profit, and questionable prospects, today, can leverage their market capitalization to buy value.”

- Speech, WIPO Arab Regional Conference on E-Commerce, Amman, Jordan, September, 2000

“Whatever e-commerce may be, if it isn’t creating much wealth for companies, it is creating substantial wealth for individuals who are founding those companies – at least temporarily. Regardless, this sort of activity is good in that it provides a mechanism to push the capability and test the limits of the Internet for e-commerce.”

- Speech, St. Cloud State University, E-Commerce Club, St. Cloud, MN USA, September 2000

“E-commerce of today, which is not much more that performing transactions we used to do over the telephone network, won’t go away, but so much more will be done, in the future, by software agents working for us and on our behalf – directly and indirectly.”

- Keynote Speech, eBusiness Conference 2000, Oxford University, Oxford, England, March 2000