The internet has been nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize with its nomination being supported by the 2003 recipient of the same award Shirin Ebadi, fashion designer Giorgio Armani, as well as the founder of the $100 laptop project Nicholas Negroponte.
 
According to the BBC, the internet is among the record 237 nominees, joined by people such as Russian human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina and Chinese activist Liu Xiaobo. This final list of nominees was decided upon on Tuesday by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
 
The 2010 recipient of this prestigious award will be announced on 8 October 2010, with the prize money probably remaining the same as the 10 million Swedish kronor (about R10.4 million) that was awarded to US president Barack Obama last year. If the internet is awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, it isn’t yet clear who would receive the award and the prize money accompanying it. (Can we suggest Tim Berners-Lee perhaps? But definitely not Al Gore.)
 
The net is worthy of the prize since “…democracy has always flourished where there is openness, acceptance, discussion and participation,” it states on the Internet for Peace's  website, an organisation set up to support the nomination. “And contact with others has always been the most effective antidote against hatred and conflict. That’s why the Internet is a tool for peace. That’s why anyone who uses it can sow the seeds of non-violence. And that’s why the next Nobel Peace Prize should go to the Net.”