Imagine the possibilities.

Could you have imagined 20 years ago how people use the Internet today?

Twenty years ago, before the World Wide Web and instant messaging, before Google, or Facebook, or Youtube,

or Skype, or Twitter, or any one of the thousands of other applications and services we depend on today.

What started as a research project among a handful of scientists is now a global network of networks

at the core of how we work, how we learn, and how we live.

Since the beginning, the Internet has brought on an amazing explosion of innovation, collaboration and economic growth

because it's empowered the people who use it.

The Internet today connects more than two billion people.

Families use it to share life's milestone moments.

Artisans and entrepreneurs use it to realise big ideas.

Students use it to learn beyond their borders.

Neighbours use it to connect with their communities.

And citizens use it to empower social action.

The technology has changed, but the Internet is more than just technologies

and has flourished because a set of principles has ensured it is a place where participation and creation are open.

Among those principles are

Open Standards

Shared development processes

and transparent and collaborative governance.

These have made the Internet a place for everybody, even as it has grown.

But the course of the Internet's development has never been, and is not now, inevitable.

We are today at a crossroads in its evolution that invites our action.

The future of the Internet and its influence in the world depend on what we do today

how we face the rising challenges, and how we embrace the emerging opportunities.

The future of the Internet will be defined by the users.

The future of the Internet will be defined by us.

So now is the time for us to act, to ensure the Internet stays open, for the billions of new users in the next twenty years.