Foreword by Matthias Kammer, DIVSI Director

Matthias Kammer,
Director of Deutsches Institut für Vertrauen und Sicherheit im Internet (DIVSI)

Decision-Makers and the Internet

The release of the „DIVSI Milieu Study on Trust and Security on the Internet“ revealed the motivation factors and attitudes dominating the relationship of Germans to the Internet. The paper also describes the expectations people have with regard to security and data protection.

Just as almost all other investigations of the subject, the paper focused principally on the user perspective. The discus- sions about the study repeatedly gave rise to the question about responsibility for the Internet, about accountability for its structure. We have determined that very little is known about the people who actually shape the Internet. As we wanted to fill in this blank space, we commissioned an examination of a key question: Who are the decision-makers and doers for the Internet itself?

This DIVISI Decision-Maker Study, which has once again been carried out by the renowned SINUS-Institut, closes this gap. It expands the scope of our qualitative examination entitled „DIVSI Opinion Leader Study – Who Shapes the Internet?“ released in November 2012 into a nationwide representative study.

Who is behind the Internet? What opportunities to exercise influence do these actors have, how do they view users, what do they have to say about users’ needs for security and freedom? All of these questions are answered here.

Four essential statements can be derived from the results:

  • Private-sector businesses are the drivers of current developments on the Internet. Companies are not simply actors who offer their products and services here. They also set the rules and change them continuously.
  • No one is offline anymore. The Internet is becoming a significant factor in more and more areas of our lives. The distinction between online and offline spheres is becoming increasingly blurred.
  • Decision-makers do not believe that a general responsibility for „the Internet“ is structurally possible, nor that it is desirable. Their solution is to pass responsibility on to the users to a substantial degree.
  • It is becoming more and more difficult to establish generally valid regulations and mutual agreements for the negotiating space of the Internet. The focus of the discourse is rapidly moving from a purely technological perspective to the question of the „digital culture“.

Along with the empirical findings, the Decision-Maker Study reveals indications that a greater social upheaval is taking place. In comparison with all other decision-makers, the Digital Vanguard manifests the lowest level of trust in our political system and the rule of law in our state.

Those who are familiar with our first study will be struck by the differences, some of them major, between the views of the decision-makers and the attitudes and behavioural patterns of the general population ascertained last year. That study determined that 39 per cent of the people living in Germany are digital outsiders. That figure does not concern the decision-makers in the least. From their standpoint, the digital outsiders live in an environment which is marked more and more strongly by events in the online world.

The findings and conclusions of this study will certainly not be applauded by all. But that cannot, and must not, prevent us from presenting even unwelcome facts for discussion. If our commitment to the creation of a networked world which is more trustworthy and secure is to succeed, we must understand the situation as it actually exists.

With this in mind, I hope that the time you spend with the DIVSI Decision-Maker Study will be both informative and fascinating.

Matthias Kammer
Director DIVSI