Internet Insights : in this article, discover:

• What is the Internet Insights platform – Key figures about Internet
• Some key figures for Belgium
• Best 3 tips to get access to the platform – for free!

Internet Insights – What is it?

Internet Insights is a tool that consolidates trusted third-party Internet measurement data from various sources into a single platform that measures how the Internet is functioning. You’ll notably find everything about Internet Shutdowns, Internet Technologies, Encryption, and more, and this for each country worldwide.`

Some Internet key figures in Belgium

The first main figure is Internet Shutdowns, with no shutdown in Belgium, but it is not the case in other countries, where governments may partly of fully restrict access to the Internet. It may look normal in Western-Europe, but this is a big democratic achievement!

The second is HTTPS, the fact of having websites encrypted, with 75% or 3 websites on 4 are encrypted. This is less than other countries in our neighbourhood with an average of 92% in Europe. Why is it important to have encrypted websites (HTTPS)?  Read this article from EFF on encrypting the web for more explanation.

The next one is also related to encryption, with TLS 1.3, with 55% of top 1000 websites having strong encryption, and 45% of other top websites using less secured encryption and trust. To understand why strong encryption is needed, follow our encryption project and events on encryption, but in two words it is for your safety and protection.

The latest one listed here is HTTP/3, also known under the name QUIC, the third evolution of protocol used to access the web, with as key advantage the speed, thanks simultaneous individual download of several parts of a web page. For more explanation and illustration, read this interesting article from Cloudflare comparing HTTP/3 and HTTP/2.

And that’s not all, there would be much more to say with IPv6 and other things.

Best 3 tips of Internet Insights

Internet Insights platform is available for free since December 2020! Here are our best tips:

1. Tip 1: Go on insights.internetsociety.org to discover the platform
2. Tip 2: become an Internet Society member and join Belgium Chapter;
3. Tip 3: take an active part in the “Measuring Internet” project.

As always, don’t hesitate to contact us.