Internet Impact Assessment Toolkit

Guides and templates to help you defend the Internet

This toolkit is designed to help build strong arguments to defend and strengthen the Internet. It offers guides, templates, and an analytical framework. Use it to develop advocacy strategies, create campaigns, improve policies, or offer expert-backed guidance on decisions that affect what keeps the Internet working as one network—for all.

What Do We Mean by the Internet?

When we talk about the Internet, we’re referring to a global telecommunications network of more than 70,000 smaller networks around the world. Those thousands of networks aim to follow the same set of networking principles— that is, technical principles and practices for connecting to one another. These principles form the foundation of how the Internet has worked for decades. They’re essential to every digital service, website, app, or smart device we rely on. 

The Internet Society has developed a technical description of these foundational principles. We call this The Internet Way of Networking, a framework that describes what makes the Internet unique from other networks. We built this toolkit to help our community of technical, policy, and other experts use this framework. It can help identify where policies, business decisions, regulations, or trends may affect the Internet’s unique foundation, or the best practices that help it grow and thrive.

Want to Check Your Work?

We can help you validate your analysis, even if it’s not finished. Or we can help you decide whether an Internet Impact Assessment is needed. Contact us.

Do an Internet Impact Assessment

Just like an environmental assessment, you can do an Internet Impact Assessment on a policy creation process, to analyze a proposal, or understand the effects of a decision or trend.

Use these guides and templates to spark discussion or make better decisions. Or expand your analysis into a full Internet Impact Brief, many of which we include in the Impact Brief library.

Use a Checklist to Get Started

Use this checklist to plan and organize your Internet Impact Assessment work.

Plan Your Impact Assessment

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Use this discussion guide to set a direction and create priorities for your Internet Impact Assessment work.

Gather Collaborators

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Use this discussion guide and worksheet to help you and your collaborators start your Impact Assessment with clear expectations.

Do a Preliminary Analysis

Learn how to structure an Internet Impact Assessment analysis using the Internet Way of Networking (IWN). Connect policies, the Internet, and their impact on people with actionable steps and insights.

Introduce Other People to the Internet Way of Networking

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The Internet Way of Networking is the Internet Society’s description of the basic architecture and practices of the Internet.

Share Your Analysis with the Internet Society

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Share your results to help the Internet Society understand global Internet trends and patterns. Even unfinished assessments are valuable for spotting key insights.

Write an Internet Impact Brief

Expand your analysis into an Internet Impact Brief, a detailed document with recommendations, for the Internet Society website or internal distribution.

About the Internet Way of Networking

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The Internet provides the foundation for most of our digital lives. From communication tools to e-commerce, everything was built on top of a set of practices, rules, and technical standards. But what makes it so reliable and full of potential?

Learn how the Internet Society defines a healthy Internet.

The Internet’s Five Critical Properties

The Critical Properties are the core characteristics that make the Internet unique. Learn more about them.

The Four Goals of a Healthy Internet

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Discover the Internet Goals and Enablers—principles guiding a healthy, inclusive Internet. Learn how policies and decisions can support or hinder its growth.

Learn about the Internet Way of Networking


Find courses, workshops, and other resources to learn more about the foundations of the Internet.

Internet Impact Brief: Nigeria’s Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation Bill 2019
Finds that implementing the regulatory measures described in the proposed Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation Bill 2019 would negatively affect the performance, resilience, trustworthiness and security of the Internet ...
Internet Impact Brief: Cambodia National Internet Gateway
Outlines how the decree would undermine three of five critical properties of the Internet Way of Networking and negatively impact all four of the qualities that maximize the Internet’s potential ...
Internet Impact Brief: End-to-end Encryption under the UK’s Draft Online Safety Bill
This brief uses the Internet Impact Assessment Toolkit (IIAT) to assess how the limitations placed on the use of end-to-end encryption under the UK’s Online Safety Bill may affect the ...
Internet Impact Brief: Mandated Browser Root Certificates in the European Union’s eIDAS Regulation on the Internet
This report uses the Internet Impact Assessment Toolkit (IIAT) to assess how the EU’s proposal may affect the global Internet by impacting what the Internet needs to thrive as an ...
Internet Impact Brief: 2021 Indian Intermediary Guidelines and the Internet Experience in India
This report uses the Internet Impact Assessment Toolkit to assess how the 2021 Indian Intermediary Guidelines may affect the global Internet by impacting what the Internet needs to thrive as ...
Internet Impact Brief: Canada’s Proposed Online Harms Legislation and the Internet
This report uses the Internet Impact Assessment Toolkit (IIAT) to assess how the Canada’s proposed online harms bill may affect the global Internet by impacting what the Internet needs to ...
Internet Impact Brief: Technical Architecture of the GAIA-X Project
This report uses the Internet Impact Assessment Toolkit (IIAT) to assess how the GAIA-X concepts may affect the global Internet by impacting what the Internet needs to thrive as an ...
Internet Impact Brief: Revised Directive on Security of Network and Information (NIS2) – Presidency Compromise Proposal September 2021
This report uses the Internet Impact Assessment Toolkit (IIAT) to assess how the Presidency compromise proposal from 21 September 2021 may affect the global Internet by impacting what the Internet ...