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Fadi Chehadé: If We Fragment The Internet, 'It Will Not Be The Internet As We Know It'

CEO: If We Fragment The Internet, 'It Will Not Be The Internet As We Know It'
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Senior Editor, Breaking News, HuffPost

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Fadi Chehadé, CEO Of ICANN, told HuffPost Live at Davos he thinks the "biggest threat" to innovation is a fragmented Internet.

"The biggest threat is to start building walls that create frictions. Frictionless Internet, where innovation is permissionless... is critical," he said.

"If we cannot find a way to govern the Internet in an equal footing, in an open transparent way this year, we might descend into a fragmented version of the Internet," Chehadé said. "The moment we fragment the Internet it is possible there will be tariffs between borders, there will be rules... it will not be the internet as we know it."

Chehadé said an open Internet is vital because it "globalizes every local industry and every local service."

Chehadé took over ICANN in October 2012. As CEO he is guiding the largest expansion of the Internet address system since its creation in the 1980s, according to the AP.

Watch Chehadé's interview above, and see more from Davos below:

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