Author Archives: PCI Editor

Sustainable Development Goals

PCI to Co-produce [email protected] Conference

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Palo Alto, CA, Sept. 23, 2020 — People-Centered Internet, a California-based 501(c)3 organization with a mission to “put humanity at the center of the Internet,” is co-hosting [email protected], and Mei Lin Fung is Chairing the Opening Day. Our Founding Chair, Vint Cerf will be part of the event from 8 to 10 a.m. and make closing remarks at 9:45 am Eastern.

The event is free to attend and kicks off with Digital Cooperation and Diplomacy Day on Thursday, Sept. 24 and closes on Oct. 2. As part of the celebration of the United Nations’ 75th Anniversary, speakers from across the globe will usher in a new era for a personal commitment to acting on science, technology, and art in an interconnected and interdependent way.

The goal of the dialogues is to shift the culture of science to be more human, and to share our hopes and inspiration so that each of our actions on the micro scale will lead to a macro effect.

The Digital Cooperation and Diplomacy Day session is divided into three acts: The Art of Learning, The Art of Health, and The Science of Thriving. Dozens of leaders from across the public and private sector will present their perspectives on how to bring art and humanity to the center of progress. Their expertise and priorities will help guide forward the vision and priorities for executing on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

People-Centered Internet is uniquely positioned to co-host this event by leveraging changemakers and resources from across sectors and nations — all while keeping our people-centered vision at the heart of the conversation.

The culmination of the event is a call to action for volunteers to “Connect to Thrive” and bring expertise and resources to this momentous effort. PCI encourages attendees to use the hashtag #Connect2Thrive to tune into updates and conversation.

Examining the 2020 U.S. Election with David Becker

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Becker’s message for Americans headed into the 2020 election is threefold: voter fraud is low and election security is improving, but the real threat — a growing mistrust in U.S. election outcomes — remains.

“It’s highly unlikely the Russians and others are trying to infiltrate our systems in an undetected way to change election results,” Becker said. “What we know they’re trying to do is to delegitimize our elections and to reduce our confidence in our elections.”
“It’s highly unlikely the Russians and others are trying to infiltrate our systems in an undetected way to change election results,” Becker said. “What we know they’re trying to do is to delegitimize our elections and to reduce our confidence in our elections.” “The Russians and others aren’t trying to infiltrate our systems in an undetected way to change election results,” Becker said. “What they’re trying to do is to delegitimize our elections and to reduce our confidence in our elections.”

Connecting Kenya: A Conversation with Bitange Ndemo

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Ndemo is known as a pioneer for Internet access in Kenya. He led the establishment of TEAMS, the fiber optic cable system from Mombasa to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, linking Kenya to the rest of the world. The history of the effort to create TEAMS, it turns out, relied on government investment and trust for Ndemo’s vision.

WSIS 2020 Forum Panel

Mei Lin Gives Remarks at WSIS Forum 2020

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Today digital technology brings perils as well as promise. Connecting the schools safely means regulators have to assure that technologies Do No Harm. I commend the ITU for #Reg4Covid and in 2019 WSIS, Regulators on the digital frontier spoke about the importance of “share and learn” together in Regional (cross border) networks. National implementations can be improved by sharing breakthroughs and building on lessons learned by neighbors. Regulatory learning networks are needed to keep up with rapid change and the constant cyber attacks. Regional networks are also key to designing regional infrastructure built on common digital building blocks (Appendix 1) This can decrease by ten-fold the cost of health, education, social support systems. I know because I am from Singapore where this strategy has been underway for 2 decades with huge cost savings. Singapore is also the home of the DQ Institute – Digital Quotient – recognized by OECD, IEEE and others for assessing child and adult digital literacy.

Digital Puerto Rico and Resiliency Innovation Network

Building a resilience ecosystem in Puerto Rico

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In 2018, following the devastation of hurricanes Irma and Maria in Puerto Rico, People-Centered Internet fielded a team of experts, working with the RAND Corporation, to offer recommendations for leveraging the Internet for the archipelago’s recovery plan. This initiative followed extensive disaster response work by PCI community member, Melvin Cordova, through his “Project Coqui.” PCI team members — including Marci Harris, Mei Lin Fung, and Lin Wells — traveled multiple times to Puerto Rico to engage with local business leaders, innovators, academics, and policymakers. They also participated in a knowledge-exchange trip, organized by Mei Lin Fung, for leaders from Puerto Rico to visit Singapore and engage with their counterparts in business, government, and academia to learn from Singapore’s post-colonial transformation. PCI’s work culminated in 11 recommendations (courses of action or “COAs”) for leveraging federal programs and private resources for Puerto Rico’s recovery and were included in the plan submitted to Congress.

PCI launches new Digital Cooperation and Diplomacy Initiative

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As PCI’s leaders remind us every day, the Internet was created by people, to connect people. This people-centered, cooperative essence permeates its history and at PCI, we want it to guide its future. Today, with the launch of our new Digital Cooperation and Diplomacy Initiative, PCI is committing to continuing on that path. By creating worldwide connections, facilitating critical conversations to solve today’s problems, and designing and imagining a people-centered future of the Internet, PCI’s new DCD Initiative seeks to follow in the footsteps of the originators of the Internet and harness their spirit of cooperation for a new age of connectedness.