Vint Cerf Quotes

I believe that interconnectivity is a human right.

Much of the civil rights work of this century will entail championing digital rights.

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.

Falling entry barriers and lower access costs have significantly democratised participation, whether in production or consumption.

To me, technology was a means to an end to achieve the social justice goals, stronger democracy and more effective government that is the aim of what I do.

If multi-stakeholder Internet governance is to survive an endless series of challenges, its champions must commit to serving the interests and protecting the rights of all Internet users around the world, particularly those in developing countries where Internet use is growing fastest.

Many people see technology as the problem behind the so-called digital divide. Others see it as the solution. Technology is neither. It must operate in conjunction with business, economic, political and social system.

Our goal in life ought to be to extend this medium [the Internet] so that it is available to every man, woman and child in the country.

Computer literacy is a fundamental civil right.

At the very least, you must make the Internet free in areas that are poverty-stricken. Without the Internet and access to information, poverty-stricken households will never catch up to households above the poverty line - throwing the African-American community deeper into the stone ages.

Let's make sure that the Internet stays open to those who need it the most.

I've talked a lot about the need to promote digital empowerment: to enable any American who wants high-speed Internet access, or broadband, to get it.

Only about 10 percent of India's population uses the web, making it unlikely that Internet freedom will be a decisive ballot-box issue anytime soon.

The world's urban poor and the illiterate are going to be increasingly disadvantaged and are in danger of being left behind. The web has added a new dimension to the gap between the first world and the developing world. We have to start talking about a human right to connect.

The Internet has introduced an enormously accessible and egalitarian platform for creating, sharing and obtaining information on a global scale. As a result, we have new ways to allow people to exercise their human and civil rights.

If our language, our programs, our creations are not strongly present in the new media, the young generation of our country will be economically and culturally marginalized.

As a society, we haven't spent as much time building the citizen Internet.

Although I believe the Web has greatly increased the distribution of quality news, I do worry about those who don't have Internet access.

I'm chairing a UNESCO committee on how to improve global Internet communications for science; help third-world people get onto the Net so they can be part of the process.

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.

Web publishing can create common spaces; it all depends on how we, the readers and sometimes the producers, react to technological change. If we sort ourselves into narrow groups, common spaces will be in big trouble. But there's no reason not to have common spaces on the Internet. There are lots of them out there.

The Internet and digital technologies can and will boost economic, social, and political development, including by vastly expanding the capacity of individuals to enjoy their right to freedom of speech and expression, which is key to empowering human rights.

The Web is not a prize to be won, and Mr. Ballmer's attitude is deplorable in the light of what the Web means to the world, to users, to designers and developers, and - to put it into Microsoft parlance - customers.

As Chair of the Broadband and Technology Task Force, I will strive to ensure that legislative and regulatory policy making on these rapidly evolving services takes fully into account the needs of the Latino community.

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.