"Even the most fervent internet user has to log off sometimes. That’s what Barbara van Schewick had in mind for her family vacation at a farmhouse near Cologne. But it’s hard to escape your work when you are one of the world’s most sought-after internet consultants.
Even on vacation, Ms. van Schewick, who heads Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society, spends her days reading emails and writing position papers.
“I shouldn’t be sitting in front of the computer,” she says. “But the battle is really on now.”
Ms. van Schewick is at war once again, fighting for what she calls “internet freedom.” You could call it her mission in life. In the United States, she just spent the last two years arguing against the introduction of a two-tier online society: a fast network for internet giants, who can pay huge sums to telecoms companies, and another network for everyone else.
Now a new front has opened up in Europe. Ms. van Schewick wants to stop telecoms companies from abolishing data equality online. “Net neutrality,” its proponents call it. They say it is the biggest driver of innovation in the networked world."
- Date Published:08/15/2016
- Original Publication:Handelsblatt