Internet Society

Community 9 September 2026 Walking home one afternoon through the streets of São José do Alegre, a quiet rural town in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, João heard a notification ping and pulled out his phone. He read the WhatsApp message with growing curiosity: the government was giving out new benefits. All he had to do was click on a link and fill out a form. But he would have to be quick, the message warned, since only the first 50 applications would be accepted.

Community 8 September 2026 Around the world, our community works locally, regionally, and globally to keep the Internet a force for good: open, globally connected, secure, and trustworthy. We are highlighting just a few of their incredible initiatives from August. 🇳🇵Nepal Chapter was instrumental in the success of the joint Internet Society Community-Centered Connectivity Day held during SANOG44 in Kathmandu.

Community 4 September 2026 On a typical busy morning in Rwanda’s Karongi District, Patrice Nshimiyimana, a 44-year-old father of three, sat down with his phone, about to do something he’d never done before: renew his family’s health insurance online. For years, he had relied on neighbors or local cyber cafés to access essential government services, a time-consuming and expensive solution that could jeopardize his privacy. But this time would be different.

We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Alan Barrett, a long-time friend, colleague, mentor, and one of the builders of the Internet in Africa. For more than three decades, Alan played a foundational role in shaping the Internet in Africa and beyond. In 1990, he helped establish the first Internet connection to South African universities, and in 1993, he co-founded the country’s first commercial Internet service provider.

It all began with an email from a stranger. A year later, two fully operational, community‑owned digital hubs now serve over 4,500 people—most of them refugees—in a region with limited grid power, high connectivity costs, and uneven digital access. And the stranger became a friend who showed us what community-centered connectivity at its best looks like. Community-centered connectivity is one of the most effective approaches available to bring connectivity to the hardest-to-connect areas worldwide.

Internet Exchange Points 25 May 2026 Imagine you want to visit a neighboring city, but there’s no direct bus. To get there, you first need to travel much farther to a different city, wait for a connection, then take another bus back to your original destination. Your first reaction would probably be the same as anyone else’s: this is a waste of time, the trip takes longer and relies on multiple connections, so more things can go wrong. And it’s expensive.

Open Internet Standards 21 May 2026 Today, 21 May, marks the 15th Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)—a day dedicated to getting everyone talking, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion for people with disabilities. At the Internet Society, this day resonates deeply, because our vision—”⁠the Internet is for everyone”—can only become reality when we actively work to remove the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from fully participating online.

en fr es Community 7 May 2026 Around the world, our community works locally, regionally, and globally to keep the Internet a force for good: open, globally connected, secure, and trustworthy. Here is an overview of just some of their activities over the last few weeks. 🇨🇱 Chile Chapter collaborated with the Facultad de Psicología UDP to deliver a digital literacy workshop for older adults as part of the Learning and Citizenship program.

Remember when taking public transport meant searching for a timetable or worse, trudging out to a bus stop to find the schedule? When you had to rely on experience to figure out whether the 22 or the 15 bus or the subway would get you to your destination faster? Today, we just click on our map app and every transportation option, fare, and schedule is at the tip of our fingers.

The cancellation of RightsCon 2026 is a stark reminder that when opportunities for civic engagement are neutralized, so are stakeholders’ voices. In this case, civil society was denied the ability to meet in person in Lusaka last week to share ideas and opportunities for how to address some of the most urgent digital challenges of our time.