Principle Number 1:

The Internet is an integral part of modern life - a key component in education, communication, collaboration, business, entertainment and society as a whole.

This may sound like stating the obvious, but let's not forget that in order to understand the 9 other principles, we need to find common ground, The Internet is an integral part of modern life, but we also need to put the Internet in context: it's a matter of education, communication, collaboration, business and entertainment, as many people may have a narrower view of what the Internet is about. At the end of the day, it's about society as a whole.

Principles Number 2 and 3:

The Internet is a global public resource that must remain open and accessible.

The Internet should enrich the lives of individual human beings.

Mitchell, in this second principle, again mentions the fact that it's a global resource. But what's new at this point is itspublic nature. This public resource should have a positive impact on people's lives. This is now less obvious as we may think: the Internet may be used in ways that are against people will. Think privacy breach, surveillance... DRM, in these regards, are significant.

Principles Number 4 and 5:

Individuals' security on the Internet is fundamental and cannot be treated as optional.

Individuals must have the ability to shape their own experiences on the Internet.

This may go without saying, but has to be stated. First, the cyberspace needs to be as secure (or even more) as the real world, at least in advanced societies. Also, freedom goes with using the public space as you want, not as some organization wants you to do. When we discussed the Manifesto before posting it publicly, we considered using the word sovereignty over one's data. I like the concept of this, but it was considered too hard to get on a global scale, so this sentence has been reworked.

Since I'll be away, comments are closed on my blog. But readers and Mozilla contributors are invited to discuss the Mozilla Manifesto on the Mozilla.Governance mailing list / newsgroup.