During the uprising in Egypt, in January 2011,  the order was given to “turn off” the Internet, sending shock-waves around the world. Murmurs were heard of US security agencies and American politicians asking for access to a similar kill switch. These actions force us to look at who owns The Internet?

This is where the Choke Point Project comes in, mapping the nodes of control in service of the multitude of global citizens under who authoritarian regimes can act upon without their consent. We are in favor of exploring approaches to the decentralization of access in favor of guaranteeing connectivity as a counter-weight to the control of the Internet by nation states and corporate influence.

A team comprised of web researchers, software developers and data visualization experts aim to gather data from across the web and show the control points, while clearly explaining the issues involved: history of Internet control, current legal situation, choke points, possible strategies for decentralization, reasons for and against kill switches.We are confident to succeed with this project, through the interconnected network of designers and hackers available through the communities of ContactCon (a major conference focused on an independent Internet which was held October 20th, 2011 in New York, convened by Douglas Rushkoff ) and members of the P2P Foundationcommunity.

The site should function as a living record of Internet ownership and control, documenting the key areas from domain name registration ownership to traffic gates which open and close to pass along information across fibre optic cables crossing land and sea.

We will create a site with:
- interactive data visualization of choke points, so that everyone can understand where the vulnerabilities lay
- show the related open projects which aim to remedy those vulnerabilities
- point to articles with analysis and strategy to educate and inform general public and researcher communities
- releasing datasets and tools used to track down Internet choke points
- calls to action based on analysis