The technology we choose to create: Human rights advocacy in the Internet Engineering Task Force

Abstract This article is an ethnographic analysis of recent efforts in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to consider human rights values development networking standards and protocols. By deploying qualitative methods—65 semi-structured interviews two years ethnography—I provide a detailed anthropological picture how IETF participants understand technology, what consequences their perspectives have for advocacy. governance scholars recently debated “turn infrastructure” role advocacy IETF. Bringing these insights together, I argue that IETF's shared view about non-prescriptive nature technology encourages resist inclusion through standardization. identify this as barrier addressing direct civil society engagement standardization organizations. explains why rarely reflect concerns contextually embedded social issue more than technological or communicative problem. My findings inform ongoing academic policy debates advocates epistemic grounding research.