CDT works to ensure that the internet’s underlying physical and policy structures are designed with democracy and human rights at their center. This work has only grown more important as we tackle questions of access, governance, and structure raised by the emergence of AI tools.
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CDT builds support for human rights into the basic protocols of the internet and the web. The architecture of the internet enables communication, competition, and innovation across borders and sectors of society. But constant stewardship and advocacy is needed to ensure that the internet’s design, implementation, and governance support free expression rather than enabling censorship, and support privacy rather than building ubiquitous surveillance.
The technical decisions that govern how the internet operates are made by a variety of stakeholders through internet standards bodies, including the Internet Engineering Task Force and the World Wide Web Consortium, among others. CDT brings the voice of civil society to the highest level of standards-setting deliberations.
