GOOD 100: Meet Kosta Grammatis, Bringing the Internet to the Ends of the Earth

Kosta Grammatis wants you to know that 5 billion people in the world don't have internet access. The former Avionics Systems Engineer believes that in the digital age, internet access should be available to everyone on Earth, and through organizations such as ahumanright.org, he works to make sure that it will.

Grammatis’s Move this Cable initiative has successfully convinced a cable company to move a planned transatlantic cable to connect one of the most remote islands in the world to the internet. Web, a documentary by ahumanright.org, illustrates what happens when poor children in a remote village experience the internet for the first time.

The village featured in Web, which got connected by the Peruvian government, serves as an example of how beneficial internet connectivity is for kids, and how the world needs more of it. Grammatis's past project, Buy This Satellite, raised awareness for the cause as well, reaching more than a million people and informing them about the digital divide.

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This year, Grammatis is well along in raising a round of investment for a top secret social venture called unifi that will expand Internet access in developing countries while providing low cost access in developed countries.

Next April 4, Grammatis will be celebrating No Internet Day (4/04, get it?), which he hopes will both raise awareness for those without internet access, and provide a moment for us to reflect on how the ways in which we communicate have changed. What is life like disconnected? Grammatis hopes No Internet Day will answer this question for those of us who don’t remember what it’s like to live without Google or cat videos.

Follow Kosta Grammatis here.\n

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