tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26720905580448895292024-02-19T07:40:29.272-08:00DotAfrica Top Level DomainAn Online African IdentityUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-76111101989461841382015-06-08T06:18:00.000-07:002015-09-15T06:22:18.528-07:00Fadi's Resignation, Sepp Blatter's Resignation - Others Should Consider Resigning as Well…<em>"Only proper regulation by an independent agency with full
Congressional mandate will ensure that a 'FIFA-Mafia type' organization
of systematic corruption does not emerge. ICANN should not be trusted by
Congress to regulate itself."</em> (Excerpted from <a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20150309_no_legal_basis_for_iana_transition_post_mortem_senate_hearing/%20by%20Sophia%20Bekele">March 9, 2015, CircleID</a>)<br />
<br />
<strong>A Review of Fadi Chehade's Incomplete Legacy at ICANN</strong>
<br />
Fadi Chehade, the incumbent President and CEO of the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), on 21 May 2015
announced his intention to leave ICANN by March 2016. No actual reasons
were given for his summary and unexpected decision to stop being the
head of an organization that he has led since 2012 — against the
background that Fadi Chehade had recently received an ICANN
Board-approved contract extension up till 30 June 2017; together with a
slate that has a long list of things to do with many uncompleted
assignments. Apart from mentioning that Fadi Chehade would be moving
after March 2016 to a career in the private sector, outside the domain
name industry, no other helpful detail was contained in <a href="https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2015-05-21-en">the ICANN announcement.</a><br />
<br />
By the time Fadi finally departs from ICANN sometime in the spring of
2016, he would be leaving a mixed leadership record and legacy at ICANN.
The following summarizes what he inherited and/or did at ICANN:
<br />
<ul>
<li>The <strong>ICANN new generic Top-Level Domain Name Internet Expansion program</strong> which he has been shepherding as a work-in-progress during the past three years.</li>
<li>He also inherited an <strong>ICANN Strategic Planning process</strong> which <strong>he cancelled and started another 5-year ICANN Strategy afresh</strong>.
Under this charter, he commenced plans to internationalize ICANN by
establishing overseas offices in different regions, and also appointed
Vice-Presidents for Multi-stakeholder Engagement for different ICANN
regions.</li>
<li>Following the National Technology and Information Administration
(NTIA) announcement to Transition the IANA Technical Functions to a
Global Multi-Stakeholder Group, it was Fadi's ICANN that took the <strong>responsibility of facilitating and coordinating the IANA Transition process</strong>.</li>
<li>As part of Fadi's internationalization strategy and his close
engagement with countries such as Brazil, the announcement of the IANA
Transition plan in March 2014 was quickly followed by the <strong>establishment of the NETMundial Initiative (NMI)</strong>
which came out of the 'Global Multi-Stakeholder Meeting on the Future
of Internet Governance' that took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil in April
2014.</li>
</ul>
In a nutshell, Fadi Chehade attempted to consolidate his professional
legacy at ICANN based on achieving internationalization, completing the
IANA Transition, and causing a paradigm shift in Global Internet
Governance by introducing the NMI as 'a new kid on the block' that would
help strengthen the structures of Internet Governance.
<br />
The non-completion of some of these programs and initiatives that Fadi
Chehade started before deciding to step aside as ICANN CEO would cause
his leadership achievements and professional legacy at ICANN to remain <em>mixed and incomplete</em>.
<br />
The concerns and anxieties engendered by this premature departure of the
ICANN helmsman caused the NTIA's Larry Strickling to issue a statement
which tried to reassure the community that: <em>"a successful transition does not depend on the leadership of a single individual"</em> and urged the community to remain focused on developing the IANA Transition Proposal.<br />
<br />
<strong>NETMundial's Birthing Problems and the IANA Transition</strong>
<br />
The NMI was not thoroughly embraced because its roles, organization, and
activities were ill-defined, for which reason it attracted the frantic
attentions of different polemicists who argued strenuously against it.<br />
<br />
The truth behind the NETMundial idea, namely, preparing it as a possible
vehicle to handle the IANA Transition, has not been mentioned at
anytime. It was obvious to any interested analyst that there was a link
between the NTIA's intention in March 2014 to devolve the IANA Technical
Functions to a Global Multi-Stakeholder Group, and a Global
Multi-Stakeholder Conference that was convened in April 2014 to discuss
the future of Internet Governance. Even so, efforts were made to
carefully distance the NMI from the IANA Transition; for instance, by
ensuring that Hon. Larry Strickling, Assistant Secretary and Head of the
U.S. NTIA, who announced the IANA Transition Plan, was not on the NMI
Inaugural Coordination Council; and instead, indicating that the US
Government was supposed to be represented on the NMI — Inaugural
Coordination Council by the Hon. Penny Pritzker, US Secretary of
Commerce. In other words, a very senior cabinet-level official in the US
Administration would be involved in the NMI that is still
under-formation whilst the head of an executive agency under the same
U.S. Department of Commerce would oversee the IANA Transition.<br />
<br />
<strong>Post Transition IANA (PTI)</strong> – <em>a wholly-owned ICANN subsidiary</em>
<br />
Notwithstanding, those people within the Internet Governance Community
that were suspicious, fought against the NETMundial Initiative, with the
result that the NMI continued to falter, because of lack of
cross-cutting stakeholder support since its clear mission and purpose
has not been clearly articulated apart from the general concepts
contained in the Terms of Reference that was issued after the <a href="https://www.netmundial.org/blog/secretariat/netmundial-initiative-stanford-communiqu%C3%A9">Stanford Meeting Communiqué</a>.<br />
<br />
These factors have caused the process of the IANA Transition Proposal to
move faster than the NMI; and when it became obvious that the NMI will
not be realized in the near future, a quick decision was made to ensure
that the IANA Transition Proposals would be centered on a model that is
entirely '<em>internal to ICANN</em>' — whereby a Post-Transition IANA (PTI) will be based on a <em>wholly-owned ICANN subsidiary</em>.
This implies that the 'IANA Transition' in essence will simply replace
the NTIA's current role with ICANN, whilst ICANN's present role as the
IANA Functions Operator will be transferred to an ICANN-owned
subsidiary. The PTI ICANN Subsidiary will be accountable to ICANN but
not to the Global Multi-Stakeholder Group that was originally given
responsibility for the IANA Transition.<br />
<br />
<strong>The Brazilian Connection & NTIA's Stamp of Approval</strong>
<br />
Fadi's connections to the Government of Brazil — as a spirited
high-level outreach and engagement effort that was meant to give a more
substantive voice to the 'Global South' in Internet Governance affairs —
was the impetus that created the nexus of 'ICANN and Brazil' that was
used to drive the NETMundial Initiative. The NTIA's Larry Strickling has
tacitly approved of this relationship by mentioning China, Iran and
Russia as countries that oppose the multi-stakeholder model by seeking
to increase governmental/inter-governmental control of the Internet
using bodies like the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and
United Nations; whilst singling out Brazil for special commendation as a
country that promotes the multi-stakeholder model of Internet
Governance on account of Brazil's successful hosting of the NETMundial
Conference.<br />
<br />
It is easy to speculate that Fadi's absence from the scene would cause
NMI to rapidly lose traction and become orphaned in the coming months.
Even so, Fadi Chehade's tenure would be remembered within the ICANN
Global Community for the high number of Independent Review Panel (IRP)
juridical proceedings that were instituted to challenge ICANN Board and
Staff actions; unsettling issues of accountability improvements that
were inextricably tied to the IANA Transition; and increased
Congressional focus on the IANA Transition.<br />
<br />
<strong>Why FIFA is reminding us of ICANN!</strong>
<br />
About three (3) months ago, Fadi Chehade was a Panel Witness at the
United States Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee
hearing on '<em>Preserving the Multistakeholder Model of Internet Governance</em>'
that was convened on February 25, 2015 to look into aspects of the IANA
Transition, and assess the level of preparedness of the NTIA and ICANN
regarding the Transition. At that hearing, the Honorable Senator John
Thune, Committee Chairman, had been more concerned about ICANN's
accountability and continuing government oversight in a Post-IANA
Transition regime when he commented that:
<br />
<blockquote>
<em>"Some worry that, in the absence of U.S. involvement
in the IANA functions, ICANN may be subject to capture by authoritarian
regimes, and these are valid concerns."
</em><br />
<em>
</em><em>
"But I also worry that, in the absence of the contract with the U.S
government, ICANN could become an organization like FIFA — the
international soccer organization that is flush with cash, unresponsive
to those it supposedly serves, and accountable to no one."</em> (See <a href="http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Hearings&ContentRecord_id=683924ae-83d7-4bf4-922a-cdecb9556ba9&Statement_id=525b8a90-a9b5-4ec4-9a6b-fbd7a99e160a&ContentType_id=14f995b9-dfa5-407a-9d35-56cc7152a7ed&Group_id=b06c39af-e033-4cba-9221-de668ca1978a&MonthDisplay=2&YearDisplay=2015">Chairman Thune's Majority Statement</a>)</blockquote>
These statements unmistakably convey the notion that senior members of
the United States Government have been seriously concerned about FIFA's
('Fédération Internationale de Football Association') lack of
accountability.<br />
<br />
<strong>They didn't get it!</strong>
<br />
Whilst some of the Panel Witnesses at the Senate Hearing like Fadi
Chehade and Larry Strickling were busy trying to demonstrate that the
focus of the IANA Transition Proposal that was being developed by the
IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) would ensure that
no government-led or inter-governmental solution will commandeer the
IANA functions in the absence of the U.S. NTIA's direct oversight, these
officials failed to address this other very important concern: that
without any robust accountability and legal safeguards, including
governmental oversight, the IANA Transition could be hijacked by an
unaccountable and corrupt system, similar to the type that FIFA had
unwittingly created to govern the sport of global football (soccer).<br />
<br />
This is where both Mr. Fadi Chehade and Hon. Larry Strickling failed to
convince the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
that they have thoroughly addressed the most important concerns
regarding the 'IANA Transition' — which like they say in the US 'we got
this'. In a nutshell, what Senator Thune actually alluded to was that
some governmental involvement or control was necessary in addition to
ICANN accountability improvements that would be attendant to the IANA
Transition. This is what the NTIA and ICANN leaders failed to grasp or
'did not get'.
<br />
It was this clear understanding that led me to posit in my <a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20150309_no_legal_basis_for_iana_transition_post_mortem_senate_hearing/">Post-Mortem Analysis of the Senate Committee Hearing</a> that:
<br />
<blockquote>
<em>"Only proper regulation by an independent agency with
full Congressional mandate will ensure that a 'FIFA-Mafia type'
organization of systematic corruption does not emerge. ICANN should not
be trusted by Congress to regulate itself."</em></blockquote>
This partly explains why increased oversight of the NTIA-ICANN framework
relationship with respect to the IANA Transition has now become a more
regular Congressional activity in recent weeks.<br />
<br />
<strong>The FIFA Global Corruption Scandal — "World Cup of Fraud"</strong>
<br />
It was therefore not surprising to me when <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/fifa-officials-arrested-on-corruption-charges/2792236.html">many executive committee members of FIFA and some sports marketing executives</a> were indicted and arrested last week in Switzerland and <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/fifa-officials-arrested-on-corruption-charges/2792236.html">the Americas</a>
following a spirited investigation that was led by the United States
Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); in
collaboration with the United States Federal Internal Revenue Service
and the Swiss Federal Police. Many high-ranking executive committee
members of FIFA were arrested in Zurich as they congregated there to
attend a FIFA Congress.<br />
<br />
In announcing the indictment, the Head of the US Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen, called FIFA a "<em>World Cup of Fraud</em>” and was quoted as saying: "<em>today, we are issuing FIFA a red card</em>”.
After the scandal broke, this became CNN TV's leading headline on 28th
May 2015. The Hon. Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney General and
Secretary of Justice, accused FIFA operatives of "<em>corrupting the business of world-wide soccer to benefit themselves</em>”
through profiting about US$150 million from awarding media and
marketing rights; and charged them with many serious crimes including
bribery, money laundering, racketeering, wire fraud, violation of United
States banking laws, income tax evasion, obstruction of justice,
structuring of financial transactions, etc. — the sort of conspiracy
crimes that would be typically mentioned in an indictment of Mafia mob
bosses by the FBI and a prosecuting US District Attorney.<br />
<br />
From the events of the past week, it is obvious that if the United
States of America can go after FIFA which is based in an
extra-territorial jurisdiction as part of leading a determined global
effort to clampdown on FIFA's corruption. An organization that is
resident in the United States like ICANN can be readily pursued at any
time, if lack of accountability leads to an official investigation for
corruption.<br />
<br />
<strong>FIFA Scandal Implications for the ICANN-led IANA Transition</strong>
<br />
Taking the FIFA as a good example of an unaccountable institution, the
present FIFA global scandal and corruption probe by the US Department of
Justice Federal Bureau of Investigations is an important lesson
applicable to the need for sound corporate governance for any
institution tasked with global responsibility. Thus, this imperative now
requires that the entire IANA Transition Framework should be
re-evaluated immediately.<br />
<br />
FIFA's corruption was propelled by massive revenues of about US$5.7
billion and cash reserves of US$1.5 billion. Since the first new gTLD
Program was launched, ICANN has also garnered significant revenues of
about US$400 million or more from new gTLD application fees and extra
revenues generated from the auctioning of some new gTLD domain names.
ICANN also takes a 'cut' from all domain name registration fees, and its
cash balances would be further bolstered with increased uptake of more
new gTLD domain names. Huge cash balances should not be left in the
hands of an organization that is widely perceived as unaccountable and
which also habitually pays very large financial claims, hefty travel
allowances and per diems to its Board Members.<br />
<br />
<strong>Need for Fresh Thinking and New Beginnings at ICANN and NTIA</strong>
<br />
Fadi's departure from ICANN, and the FIFA global corruption scandal that has caused <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/blatter-resigns-as-fifa-chief-/2804556.html">Sepp Blatter's resignation as FIFA Chief</a>
less than four days after being elected to a fifth term as FIFA
President, should now compel a rethink of what has been happening at
ICANN and the NTIA regarding the IANA Transition — against the backdrop
that US leaders like Senator John Thune have already expressed their
concerns about this important matter.
<br />
<ul>
<li><strong>Need to Investigate the Conflicts of Interests of ICANN Board Members:</strong>
Fadi's resignation as CEO should also cause ICANN to be re-evaluated
and its Board Members numerous Conflicts of Interest to be thoroughly
investigated by the US Department of Justice and the pertinent
Congressional Judiciary Committees.</li>
<li>We need not remind ourselves once again that <strong>there is still no governing legal framework for the IANA Transition</strong>.</li>
<li>ICANN should first <strong>of all be given a clean bill of health</strong> before the IANA Transition is allowed. A US-centered organization like ICANN must not become like FIFA.</li>
<li>Only the <strong>establishment of a proper regulatory environment</strong>
would help avoid any potential criminal mismanagement of funds
generated from the governance and technical administration of the
Internet.</li>
</ul>
<strong>FIFA mistakes should not be repeated at ICANN — without anyone to oversight, it will!</strong>
<br />
The entire world became scandalized by the misconduct of FIFA executives
simply because FIFA was not regulated by any over-sighting authority in
the first place. The same mistake should not be allowed in the case of
ICANN that is now being given the responsibility for the Post-IANA
Transition regime by the U.S. NTIA. As Attorney-General Loretta E. Lynch
said when announcing the FIFA indictment, "<em>FIFA was too powerful to go unchecked</em>”.
Similarly, I believe that a Post-Transition IANA regime that will
create an all-powerful ICANN will be too dominant to go absolutely
unchecked.<br />
<br />
The last U.S. House Sub-Committee on Communications and Technology hearing on '<em>Stakeholder Perspectives on the IANA Transition</em>'
that was convened on May 13, 2015 did not invite the ICANN and NTIA
leaders to attend as Panel Witnesses. Does this in any way suggest that
the NTIA and ICANN no longer enjoy the complete trust of the U.S.
Congress who now wanted to hear only from other stakeholders?<br />
<br />
<strong>Who else should resign?</strong>
<br />
I personally think that in addition to Fadi Chehade, the ICANN Board
Chairman Dr. Stephen Crocker should also probably resign; and the NTIA's
Hon. Larry Stickling too — so that both ICANN and NTIA will benefit
from fresh thinking regarding the IANA Transition. Only new people that
can inspire and win the full confidence of the U.S. Congress should now
take responsibility for the IANA Transition at ICANN and the NTIA; and
at the same time ensure that the mandatory ICANN Accountability
Improvements that are now being sought will not just be a <em>pro-forma</em> effort.
<br />
The IANA Transition will be held up for some time at Congress, and only
those who can work properly with Congress will be trusted to deliver
this effort based on far-reaching accountability safeguards.<br />
<br />
<strong>Accountability structures on their own are not sufficient to
stop corruption — after all, FIFA has an Audit and Compliance Committee</strong>
<br />
But this did not stop a pervasive organizational culture of corruption
to develop. Governmental oversight is a very essential preventative
measure that is also used correctively whenever infractions occur.<br />
<br />
Therefore, the time to act is now and the re-evaluation of ICANN and the
IANA Transition should not be put off until ICANN's reputation is
seriously damaged like FIFA's before doing that which should have been
done at the beginning. A future scandal of global proportions that will
cause widespread angst and hand-wringing within the Global Internet
Community must be avoided.<br />
<br />
<strong>By <a class="blue" href="http://www.circleid.com/members/5906/">Sophia Bekele</a>,
CEO of DotConnectAfrica. Ms. Bekele is a former ICANN generic Names
Supporting Organization (gNSO) Council policy advisor & contributed
to policy over the new gTLD programme & IDNs. She was also policy
advisor to various UN Agencies on ICTs. Founder and spearhead of the <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/">Yes2DotAfrica campaign</a>.
Bekele is a business and corporate executive, an international
entrepreneur, a thought leader in Corporate and ICT Governance,
international policy, Business Strategy, Internet, ICT &
development. Her Profiles on <a href="http://www.sophiabekele.com/">sophiabekele.com</a> / <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Bekele">wikipedia</a>.</strong>dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-68452188443286106132015-03-09T05:27:00.000-07:002015-09-14T05:29:34.438-07:00"No Legal Basis for IANA Transition": A Post-Mortem Analysis of Senate Committee Hearing<em>Only proper regulation by an independent agency with full
Congressional mandate will ensure that a 'FIFA-Mafia type' organization
of systematic corruption does not emerge. ICANN should not be trusted by
Congress to regulate itself.</em><br />
<em> </em>
<br />
<strong>Introduction – The cure is closer, and not arms-length, Internet supervision</strong>
<br />
The recent hearing conducted by the US Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science & Transportation on 'Preserving the Multi-stakeholder Model
of Internet Governance' which took place during the last week of
February 2015, again showed that the Republican-controlled US Congress
needs to act decisively to protect the status quo.<br />
<br />
The Senator Thune-led Committee convened the hearing on 25th February to
look into the 'IANA Transition' and assess the level of preparedness of
the non-governmental agencies that are handling the Internet Technical
Management functions and assess threats regarding the possible take-over
of Internet governance by foreign governments that might be
antagonistic to US National Security, International Public Diplomacy and
Internet Policy.<br />
<br />
If general fear supposes the US Government giving up control of some
parts of the IANA functions, would lead to a situation where some
unfriendly foreign governments would now exercise control of critical
Internet technical functions, then a correct medicine must be taken to
cure a particular ailment that has been diagnosed. It is only closer,
and not arms length, US government supervision that will control or
mitigate any fears and anxieties of foreign take-over of the Internet.
Therefore, Congress has to plug any existing legal loopholes, and
tighten its administrative, technical, financial, public policy, and
political oversight over the entire process no matter whose ox is gored.<br />
<br />
The US Senate Committee heard from three (3) Panel witnesses, namely: the <a href="http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=3abbe751-4440-4c5f-83bd-382b38cbdc05">Honorable Larry Strickling</a>,
Assistant Secretary of the National Technology & Information
Administration (NTIA), an agency of the US Department of Commerce; <a href="http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=eb7d2a85-31b5-45f5-8284-2b193a24edd3">Ambassador David A. Gross</a>,
the former United States Coordinator for International Communications
and Information Policy (2001 to 2009) within the US State Department,
who presently leads the non-governmental Internet Governance Coalition
(IGA); and <a href="http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=e1c78908-c5d1-4658-9cc7-aa64d0289f7a">Mr. Fadi Chehadé</a>, President & CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).<br />
<br />
Most of the witnesses made lengthy presentations that were, at times,
heavy on historical content but glossed over the purpose of the Senate
Hearing. Only Ambassador Gross stressed that the IANA Transition Process
should not be rushed which was in line with the thinking of Senator
John Thune; whilst the witnesses from the NTIA and ICANN are inclined to
proceed full steam ahead, so as to submit a proposal and allow the
'IANA Transition' to occur at the expiration of the current IANA
Contract by 30<sup>th</sup> September 2015.<br />
<br />
<strong>ICANN Oversight to become a Mainstream Congressional Role</strong>
<br />
One important take-away for me from reading the Congressional documents,
and watching a recorded video of the event, is that regular oversight
of the NTIA and ICANN will become a more mainstream activity for the
pertinent US Congressional Committees that are keeping this matter
within their purview. This is what I have always advocated (See for
example, <a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20150105_congress_will_oversight_icann_and_you_can_take_that_to_the_bank/">Congress will Oversight ICANN – CircleID</a>).<br />
<br />
The Senators have already sent an oversight letter to the NTIA to state
their support for the present bottom-up multi-stakeholder process.
Whilst voicing their concerns, the Senators also signaled the direction
that they would like this to go: that is, any resulting proposal on the
IANA Transition must not replace the NTIA's current role by a
governmental or inter-governmental solution. Again, a similar condition
is also stipulated in the NTIA's directive to the ICANN-led
Multi-Stakeholder Group regarding any resultant proposal on the IANA
Transition.<br />
<br />
Therefore, even though the Senators might accept a process-led by a
non-governmental Global Multi-stakeholder Group, tighter US government
supervision would be required. Only the US Congress can provide this
level of process oversight that would ensure that the 'Multi-Stakeholder
Group' remains accountable to the global public interest that it is
supposed to serve, and does not become a law onto itself.
<br />
<strong>A Legal Loophole that needs to be closed</strong>
<br />
<blockquote>
<em>"NTIA has fulfilled this temporary role not because
of any statutory or legal responsibility, but as a temporary measure at
the request of the President. Indeed, Congress never designated NTIA or
any other specific agency responsibility for managing the Internet DNS.
Thus, NTIA has no legal or statutory responsibility to manage the DNS."</em></blockquote>
That a legal void currently exists was revealed by the above excerpt taken from <a href="http://www.ntia.doc.gov/speechtestimony/2015/testimony-assistant-secretary-strickling-senate-committee-commerce-science-and-">Assistant Secretary Strickling's written presentation to the US Senate Committee hearing</a>.
It is obvious that the NTIA has so far acted out of political
expediency to enable it to play an important role; even though, within a
nebulous legal framework. However, this must no longer be so, if the
IANA Transition must take place.
<br />
As part of ensuring an enduring oversight mechanism, the Congress must
now put a permanent legal structure in place to designate a specific
agency for this role — with legal/statutory responsibility for managing
(or regulating) the Internet DNS. The NTIA believes that it did not have
the legal responsibility to act, and that its role was temporary; so on
what basis is the NTIA driving the current IANA Transition process
without the requisite legal authority or Congressional mandate?
<br />
I believe that the IANA Transition should be indefinitely postponed
until such a time that a proper governing legal framework for it is
established by the US Congress. Proper oversight has to be anchored on
appropriate legal and statutory mechanisms that would guide the entire
process. The IANA Transition and resulting devolution to a Global
Multi-stakeholder Group cannot be operated as long as this patent legal
lacuna continues to exist. Congress must first be allowed to close any
existing legal loopholes, before those who are rushing the IANA
Transition may be allowed to proceed.<br />
<br />
<strong>Avoiding the 'sorry Example' of FIFA</strong>
<br />
Senator Thune in his opening statement was perspicacious enough to cite
FIFA as the type of non-governmental example that must be avoided in the
absence of proper US governmental control over the IANA Technical
functions.<br />
<br />
The International Federation of Football Associations (officially known
as 'Fédération Internationale de Football Association' – 'FIFA') is the
global body that governs the administration of 'Soccer' (which is the
sport of Football outside the United States). The whole world is always
busy enjoying the world's 'beautiful game', without paying any attention
to FIFA's accountability or the transparency of FIFA's actions and
processes. In recent years, FIFA has been bedeviled by many
controversies and unresolved scandals.<br />
<br />
During the last few years, numerous allegations of administrative
high-handedness, bribery, vote-rigging, vote-buying, corruption and
graft relating to the award of World Cup hosting privileges, marketing
rights and payments to FIFA Executive Committee members by special
interest groups have been rife. Many of these accusations have been
investigated by committees affiliated to FIFA but no one has ever been
found culpable and properly punished, yet the allegations refuse to go
away (See for example, "<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-27801996">Fifa 'like mafia family', says former FA boss Triesman</a>”.
Many books have been written, and TV documentaries have been produced
on this issue. If the oversight of FIFA had been within the purview of
the US Congress, the organization would have been thoroughly
investigated and 'hammered' like other sports governance associations in
the United States, but since FIFA remains only accountable to itself
and operating out of Zurich in Europe, the world soccer governing body
has continued with 'business as usual'.<br />
<br />
It is therefore the responsibility of Congress to ensure that the IANA
Technical functions are not transitioned to a Global Multi-Stakeholder
Community that will become like FIFA. FIFA has refused to demonstrate
any accountability to the global public interest that it serves or to
the international coalition of quasi-nongovernmental organizations
('quangos' – Country Football Federations and Associations) that
comprise its membership.<br />
<br />
It is often mentioned that 'the love of money is the root of all evil',
and a global body suffused with cash but not accountable to anybody,
will fall into many evils of corruption. ICANN's coffers are beginning
to bulge with cash that it has no idea how to spend: monies that it has
garnered from new gTLD application fees, and auctioning of some new gTLD
names plus cash generated from regular industry-sponsors of its events.
ICANN has so far not shown how it intends to spend these enormous
surpluses for the global public interest. Rather, it regularly pays
millions of dollars in per diems and hefty allowances to Board members
and those within the ICANN Community that it sponsors to its events. <strong>Those
who continue to benefit from these sinecures have no interest in fiscal
accountability and would not welcome any oversight from any external
body.</strong><br />
<strong> </strong>
<br />
Again, the US Congress must be steadfast in ensuring that ICANN or
anybody that takes eventual responsibility of the Internet DNS functions
does not become like FIFA but must remain fiscally responsible and
accountable to a regulatory structure that will be set-up by Congress.
Accumulated surpluses in billions of United States Dollars that are held
by organizations like FIFA and ICANN should be properly escrowed with
an International Financial Pool or given to global charities such as
UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund) and the
International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies so
that excess funds in the hands of unaccountable officials does not
engender a culture of unbridled financial recklessness and runaway
international corruption.<br />
<br />
<strong>ICANN Remains Unaccountable</strong>
<br />
The issue of ICANN's accountability remains unresolved. All those who
are involved in the ICANN Global Community have continued to complain
about ICANN's accountability or lack thereof. The existing ICANN
accountability mechanisms remain at best unsatisfactory.<br />
<br />
Senator Thune has made it clear that reforming ICANN's accountability
processes must precede any IANA Transition deal. It would be foolhardy
to completely devolve the Internet Technical Management functions to a
Global Multi-Stakeholder Community that pivotally rests on an ICANN that
is widely perceived as largely unaccountable. As a matter of fact,
without the required accountability process improvements, it would not
be long before ICANN becomes just like FIFA. This must be prevented at
all cost.<br />
<br />
ICANN's respect within the community that it represents continues to
decline at a rapid pace. The administration of the ICANN new gTLD
program led to the institution of eleven (11) Independent Review Panel
(IRP) legal proceedings that have been lodged against ICANN by different
bodies that have disagreed with ICANN decisions. These IRPs are usually
invoked after internal mechanisms such as 'Requests for
Reconsiderations' and 'Cooperative Engagement Processes' (CEPs) have
been completely exhausted. Everyone knows that the ICANN Board
Governance Committee (BGC) regularly refuses any submitted
re-consideration requests. The organization would rather go to an
expensive legal proceeding, instead of re-considering its internal
decisions. This demonstrates that there is urgent need to re-evaluate
ICANN's decision-making, if those within the community continue to
question ICANN's decisions, which are already seen as not unimpeachable.<br />
<br />
Again, it needs not be over-emphasized that an unaccountable ICANN
cannot take responsibility for a completely devolved IANA Technical
function. Therefore, it must be re-emphasized once again, that the IANA
Transition should not be rushed, and should be indefinitely delayed by
the US Congress until ICANN's accountability mechanisms have been fully
reformed to make those processes more reliable and trustworthy.<br />
<br />
<strong>The Need to Continue Defunding the IANA Transition</strong>
<br />
The US$1.1 trillion Omnibus Spending bill expressly defunds the IANA
Transition until September 30, 2015. The current term of the IANA
contract implementation that is presently in force between the NTIA and
ICANN runs until 30th September 2015. Thus, as I have previously
reported, the IANA Transition cannot take place in violation of US
Federal Law that has defunded it within a stipulated time-window;
neither would the IANA Transition happen without the express approval of
the proposal by Congress. This peculiar proviso in the Omnibus spending
bill actually implies that Congress believes that the IANA Transition
should be delayed with proper deliberation, and not be rushed as ICANN
and NTIA are inclined to.<br />
<br />
<strong>Therefore until certain things happen, it would be prudent for
the US Congress to continue defunding the IANA Transition process beyond
September 30, 2015.</strong> As already mentioned, any existing legal
loopholes have to be closed, first of all to ensure that a proper legal
regulatory framework is put in place to govern the IANA Transition. This
is an important duty for Congress to perform — that is, its primary
law-making role in addition to executive oversight that happens after
the fact. Second, ICANN's accountability processes must be completely
reformed and improved upon. Third, any complete proposals on the IANA
Transition that are developed and submitted by the ICANN-led Global
Multi-stakeholder Community (working as the 'IANA Stewardship Transition
Coordination Group') must be thoroughly evaluated and scrutinized by
the US Congress to ensure that it satisfies the most rigorous standards
of probity and policy expectations regarding an accountable governance
structure; and enduring US Government oversight of a non-governmental
body that might be saddled with an important global responsibility. At
the same time, those that are preparing and submitting the IANA
Transition proposals under the aegis of ICANN should also not be
evaluating the proposals that they have developed, and further
'awarding' the devolution process to themselves — as ICANN that always
draws expertise from the same small gathering field of people that it
feels comfortable to work with. <strong>Only the US Congress can ensure that there are proper 'checks and balances'.</strong><br />
<strong> </strong>
<br />
<strong>Working Methods from Contemporary US Public Experience</strong>
<br />
Contemporary US public policy and administration experience suggests
that a trusted method that works is the devolution of functions to a
quasi- public-private model that is properly over-sighted by the US
government and regulated by a body that is fully empowered by law. One
only needs to look at the current US Federal Environmental Management
and Protection Regime to see how this sector is managed and regulated;
and also the US Banking, Financial, and Securities sector to see how
these important economic pedestals are governed. The environmental and
natural resources policy sectors have been protected because of robust
legal provisions and oversight by the US Congress and close governmental
regulation by the US Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Similarly, those who violate US Financial and Securities laws and
policies have been made to face huge financial penalties and other legal
risks. It is only close government supervision that protects the public
from institutions that may become neglectful of their responsibilities
or who chose to remain unaccountable. Multi-stakeholder Internet
Governance should be similarly handled based on normative governmental
regulation and oversight.<br />
<br />
I believe that such proven methods from contemporary US Public Policy
experience must be applied in administrating any Internet Governance
structure that would result from the IANA Transition proposals. This
further underscores the need for Congress to establish a US Internet
Regulatory Authority (USIRA) which I had called for in my December 2014
article (See <a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20150105_congress_will_oversight_icann_and_you_can_take_that_to_the_bank/">Congress will Oversight ICANN – CircleID</a>).
The proposed USIRA should be set-up by Congress to exercise direct
supervisory responsibilities over the working relationship between the
NTIA and ICANN; and the governance of any regime that results from the
IANA Transition process. Such a body will also take responsibility for
Internet policy-setting and governance, whilst the NTIA and the
ICANN-led Global Multi-stakeholder Community take responsibility for
technical program implementation. The present situation, where the same
body sets policy and also implements, is highly flawed in terms of its
conceptual design.
<br />
<strong>Dissimulation: NetMundial and the Dissatisfaction of Brazil, ICANN GAC and Other Issues</strong>
<br />
<em><strong>NMI:</strong></em>
<br />
It is often argued by those who have been strenuously pushing for the
IANA Transition that the NetMundial Initiative (NMI) ("Global
Multi-Stakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance") was
devised to address the evident dissatisfaction of countries like Brazil
with the current Global Internet Governance structure. Nothing could be
further from the truth. With respect to Internet Governance, the BRICs
(Brazil, Russia, India and China plus South Africa) have, in recent
years, pushed for a UN/ITU-led model of Global Internet Governance and
not the present 'US-centric' ICANN-led Multi-Stakeholder Model. The main
reason for Brazil's 'apparent dissatisfaction' is due to the Snowden
revelations of NSA's surveillance activities on foreign government
leaders and not because of the structure of Global Internet Governance.
Any claims to the contrary are meant to dissimulate and mislead.<br />
<br />
The same way that Brazil has been won over to the 'Multi-Stakeholder
Camp' through involvement, consultations, reassurance and cooperative
outreach is the same way that other countries (that is, those who are
not opposing just on account of perceived US-Internet hegemony) may also
be won over; but not because the NTIA has agreed to an 'IANA
Transition' to a Global Multi-Stakeholder Community. One argument that
is now being presented by ICANN to accelerate the IANA Transition
process is that devolution of the IANA technical functions will curb the
agitation by certain countries to push for the UN/ ITU-led model of
Global Internet Governance. My view is that those countries that oppose
'US-centricity' will always favour a UN/ITU-led model irrespective of
whether an IANA Transition occurs or not.<br />
<br />
<em><strong>ICANN GAC:</strong></em>
<br />
Before concluding, it is important to also comment on the issue of ICANN
Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). It is a well-known fact that
ICANN decision making is often 'grid-locked' on account of GAC Policy
Advice. This has often given the ICANN GAC body an extraordinary amount
of influence within ICANN which typically undermined the
'Multi-Stakeholder' principle as governments at ICANN inadvertently
assumed an exaggerated role.<br />
<br />
It was ICANN's intention to give more power to governments and
inter-governmental organizations represented on the ICANN GAC body, by
setting a voting threshold of 2/3<sup>rd</sup> of ICANN Board Members
that can overturn a GAC Advice/Decision. During the recent Senate
Committee Hearing, the ICANN CEO has signaled that the ICANN Board will
not accept decisions from the GAC, presumably to bring ICANN Board
thinking to be more in line with the IANA Transition expediency
(benchmark) of ensuring that any final Transition Proposal does not
replace the NTIA's current role with a government-led or
inter-governmental organization. It seems that this admission was
actually forced from Mr. Fadi Chehade because of a probing question from
Senator Debra Fischer (Republican-Nebraska), member of the Senate
Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, who pointed out the
inconsistency of the 2/3<sup>rd</sup> threshold of rejecting GAC Advice
with limiting governmental influence in a Post-IANA Transition regime.
This reversal of intention remains to be seen in practice, since there
could be an ICANN Board-ICANN GAC confrontation.<br />
<br />
<strong>Conclusion</strong>
<br />
I believe that the argument made that the US Congress can, and would
oversight ICANN is already won. I think that I have also won the
argument that Congress will be deliberative, and aware of its arduous
responsibilities regarding Internet Governance; remain focused and
due-process oriented, and not allow itself to be steamrollered by both
the NTIA and ICANN regarding the IANA Transition.<br />
<br />
<strong>The case for 'Transition' has NOT been properly made</strong>,
since nobody has said that "Global Internet Governance is broken and now
needs to be fixed". ICANN accountability and transparency process
improvements should be more of priority concern instead of exerting
inordinate and very ambitious efforts to 'fast-track' the IANA
Transition.
<br />
<span style="display: block; text-align: center;">* * *</span>
<br />
<strong>Recommendations:</strong>
<br />
1) Congressional oversight of the 'IANA Transition' should be deepened
to ensure that any proposals developed and submitted by the ICANN-led
Global Multi-Stakeholder Community are independently evaluated, but not
by the same group of people that prepared the proposal in the first
place.
<br />
2) The legal loopholes that have been identified need to be properly closed by the US Congress.
<br />
3) It must be reinforced that the duties of Internet Policy-Setting
should be separated from Internet Technical Program Management, so that
the same organization does not handle policy governance and technical
implementation like ICANN is currently doing, i.e. there should be a
formal separation of duties.
<br />
4) An Internet Regulatory Agency that reports directly to Congress is
now required more than ever to help shepherd this complex process. Only
proper regulation by an independent agency with full Congressional
mandate will ensure that a 'FIFA-Mafia type' organization of systematic
corruption does not emerge. ICANN should not be trusted by Congress to
regulate itself.
<br />
5) and finally, Congress must act as soon as possible to ensure that
there are no process irregularities, so as to help mitigate identified
risks. The process should be driven by critical-thinking and considered
consultations with Congressional leaders and not based on
scare-mongering and other tactics of dissimulation.<br />
<br />
<strong>By <a class="blue" href="http://www.circleid.com/members/5906/">Sophia Bekele</a>,
CEO of DotConnectAfrica. Ms. Bekele is a former ICANN generic Names
Supporting Organization (gNSO) Council policy advisor & contributed
to policy over the new gTLD programme & IDNs. She was also policy
advisor to various UN Agencies on ICTs. Founder and spearhead of the <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/">Yes2DotAfrica campaign</a>.
Bekele is a business and corporate executive, an international
entrepreneur, a thought leader in Corporate and ICT Governance,
international policy, Business Strategy, Internet, ICT &
development. Her Profiles on <a href="http://www.sophiabekele.com/">sophiabekele.com</a> / <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Bekele">wikipedia</a>.</strong>dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-90040156120814537642015-03-07T05:20:00.000-08:002015-09-14T05:22:39.775-07:00ICANN Should Not Ululate Over "Booking.com" IRP Outcome: Decision Exposes Failure of AccountabilityThe IRP Panel that was tasked with deciding the Booking.com vs. ICANN
IRP that was filed regarding the application for the .hotels new gTLD
name has <a href="https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/final-declaration-03mar15-en.pdf">made a decision</a>
that seems favorable to ICANN as the Defendant. However, this is not a
victory for ICANN but an indictment of the ICANN procedures and
accountability systems which are widely viewed as detrimental to new
gTLD applicants. The result mirrors a negotiated dispute resolution
outcome that is costly and only returns the applicant to an auction with
its competitor — Despegar Online's who applied for .hoteis — that is in
contention for the same (or similar) string name.<br />
<br />
Reading between the lines, perhaps, the IRP was wrongly filed and lost
based on a technicality, but this does not mean that ICANN has been
victorious. It is possible to assume that this middle-ground ruling was
also 'negotiated' to enable Booking.com win via an auction, since the
issue was string similarity, and an auction process could be also be
used to settle a string similarity/contention set.<br />
<br />
<strong>Board Member's Reactions:</strong>
<br />
Technical details that have been raised in the ruling include the
Panel's reiteration of the ICANN Board members' hesitations over the
string similarity panel findings saying:
<br />
<blockquote>
<em>"There is no question but that process lacks certain
elements of transparency and certain practices that are widely
associated with requirements of fairness."</em></blockquote>
They also stated that:
<br />
<blockquote>
<em>"We can — and we do — acknowledge certain legitimate
concerns regarding the string similarity review process raised by
Booking.com, discussed above, which are evidently shared by a number of
prominent and experienced ICANN NGPC members."</em></blockquote>
Some of the statements quoted by the <a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/minutes-new-gtld-2013-09-10-en">ICANN NGPC members at a September 10<sup>th</sup> 2013 meeting</a> where four board members abstained from the vote, with five voting in favor including —
<br />
George Sadowsky who stated that: "they understood that the BGC did the
right thing, but thought the end result was contrary to ICANN's and the
user's best interests. George noted he intended to abstain from voting
as a result." He concluded in his statement that "I cannot and will not
vote in favor of a motion that reflects, directly or indirectly, an
unwillingness to depart from what I see as such a flawed position and
which does not reflect in my opinion an understanding of the current
reality of the situation."<br />
<br />
Olga Madruga-Forti noted that she intended to abstain from the vote
because "there was not sufficient rationale provided for why the string
similarity review panel made its determination".<br />
<br />
Ray Plzak also abstained from the vote, saying that while the process
was followed "it needs to be reviewed to potentially add a mechanism
that would allow persons who don't agree with the outcome to make an
objection."<br />
<br />
Bill Graham who voted yes, however agreed with Ray's suggestion, and
noted that generally, "there is a considerable level of discomfort and
dissatisfaction with the process as expressed by Committee members."
Sadly, ICANN board members were repeatedly informed that because the
process had been followed, they had no choice but to deny the
reconsideration request.<br />
<br />
<strong>No Options for applicant</strong>
<br />
The expressions of concern within the technical issues in ICANN's own
structure indicates systemic weaknesses and failures that are unable to
provide appropriate reliefs and remedies that are seen as fair and just
by all those seeking accountability review using ICANN's processes.
Therefore when the .hotels/.hoteis application process failed almost
from the start it means that applicants find themselves at an absolute
loss. All the applicant complaint redress/internal dispute resolution
procedures against ICANN Board or Staff actions such as the ICANN's
Ombudsman, reconsideration requests, Cooperative Engagement Process
(CEP) and the IRP must not remain weak options for the applicants.<br />
<br />
Looking at the IRP Panel's decision, ICANN is not an outright winner and
it is just the beginning of an indicative voice to find a permanent
solution to its recourse mechanism.<br />
<br />
<strong>An IRP Process is about accountability and not a negotiated resolution</strong>
<br />
IRP is a procedure-based juridical inquiry into ICANN Board or ICANN
Staff actions. Therefore any IRP Decision that looks like a 'resolution'
does not in any way further the cause of ICANN accountability
improvements; nor adds any legal precedence value to IRP-based Alternate
Dispute Resolution (ADR) processes. The persistent issue that remains
is that the ICANN system for recourse by applicants has not been fixed
and that means it is broken and will continue to affect applicants
materially — including the time and money wasted in pursuing
accountability through the IRP Process.<br />
<br />
<strong>Lack of ICANN's accountability should be subject to due process in court of law
<br />
</strong>
<br />
Therefore, ICANN should not engage on any premature ululation regarding
this particular Booking.com IRP outcome; rather ICANN should be very
troubled that there may be need for a higher place from which to find
justice by affected new gTLD applicants. The next phase of the new gTD
program should allow for applicants to sue ICANN in courts for any
damages caused as a result of lack of proper accountability processes.
This is what I would like to see as part of the Congressional Review of
ICANN's Accountability which I would also recommend strongly.<br />
<br />
<strong>By <a class="blue" href="http://www.circleid.com/members/5906/">Sophia Bekele</a>,
CEO of DotConnectAfrica. Ms. Bekele is a former ICANN generic Names
Supporting Organization (gNSO) Council policy advisor & contributed
to policy over the new gTLD programme & IDNs. She was also policy
advisor to various UN Agencies on ICTs. Founder and spearhead of the <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/">Yes2DotAfrica campaign</a>.
Bekele is a business and corporate executive, an international
entrepreneur, a thought leader in Corporate and ICT Governance,
international policy, Business Strategy, Internet, ICT &
development. Her Profiles on <a href="http://www.sophiabekele.com/">sophiabekele.com</a> / <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Bekele">wikipedia</a>.</strong>dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-21987131646774457182015-02-16T05:18:00.000-08:002015-09-14T05:19:16.355-07:00ICANN Africa Strategy - A View from the Inside<em>The rise of "Exclusive Mulistakholder"</em><br />
<em> </em>
<br />
<strong>Will Africa be able to move and stand on its feet?</strong>
<br />
<em>"Africa is rising"</em> is a phrase we are accustomed to hearing
nowadays. We Africans also seem desperate to make that positive
narrative about Africa. From the vantage point of the digital Africa
that I seat, it is most promising, but only if we can face some of our
own self afflicted stagnation.
<br />
Having been in the African Domain scene for nearly a decade now, I am
always challenged to view our situation with a pinch of salt, a fact
that doesn't attract many friends. But I am willing to go at it and
point out the shortcomings.<br />
<br />
ICANN has been in a process to find its place and expand the footprint
in Africa, but this has not been easy coming; with very few performing
ccTLDs and a small number of new gTLDs, it seems like a long way off.
Let us look at a few scenarios.<br />
<br />
<strong>The formation of ICANN Africa Strategy</strong>
<br />
When the current CEO joined ICANN, there was a proposal for an 'ICANN
Africa strategy' with a view to endear ICANN to Africa, and also get
Africa into ICANN. Despite that our organization was excluded from
initial meetings and the formulation of this strategy, as an African
organization that is very active stakeholder at ICANN and Africa, we
however gave our views on the proposal.<br />
<br />
Most recently at the center of the Singapore meeting was the ICANN
Africa strategy meetings which was accorded a press release by ICANN on
Feb 3, 2015 calling on emphasis for participation of the African
community. The ICANN Africa team thus hosted <a href="https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2015-02-03-en">two meetings</a> in Singapore namely <em>"The Africa Strategy 2016–2020"</em> on 10th Feb 2015 and <em>"Enhanced Engagement With Africa"</em>
11th Feb 2015. The purpose is said to enhance ICANN's Engagement in
Africa leading to the ICANN 55 meeting in Marrakech Morocco next year.
DCA members have participated in most of the Africa sessions.<br />
<br />
<strong>Community Opposition to the Initial ICANN Africa Strategy</strong>
<br />
Similar to the experience of the NetMundial Initiative, there was a
well-known opposition from the African Community that the original ICANN
Africa Strategy was not inclusive, transparent, and was unambiguously
captured by <em>"special interest group"</em> who pronounced themselves as <em>"Leaders of the African Internet community"</em>. This was symbolized by the joint <a href="https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/correspondence/quaynor-et-al-to-icann-board-01mar12-en.pdf">letter</a> they wrote to ICANN prior to forming the strategy.<br />
<br />
DCA was also one of the opponents at the time, and wrote a strongly
worded letter to ICANN leadership. As with many of DCA's complaints
under the current ICANN leadership, this <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Letter-to-ICANN-Board-of-Directors-on-Recent-Announcment-of-Africa-Strategy-16-August-2012.pdf">letter</a> was completely ignored.<br />
<br />
<strong>Decrypting what ICANN Africa Strategy is Not</strong>
<br />
In a <a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121024_icann_africa_strategy_is_not_the_same_as_the_african_agenda/">rebuttal</a>, I wrote on CircleID to correct an <a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121023_africa_at_icann_continent_on_the_move/">article</a>
written on how the .Africa gTLD was to be at the center of the ICANN
Africa strategy, I recall clarifying the conflated issue of ICANN Africa
Strategy vs "Africa Agenda".<br />
<br />
I made clear to the African and Global ICANN community between the
failed "Africa Strategy" in Dakar, which encompassed a rough call to
reserve the .Africa gTLD for the AUC, so as to delegate it to a
structure that the AUC choose (that included ZACR and the African
Community kinship) versus what the new ICANN Africa Strategy is, and
should be. We called to dismiss any reference to a .Africa gTLD.<br />
<br />
<strong>Multistakeholder Model Quashed by Preferential Treatments</strong>
<br />
For reasons beyond any conjecture of Africans, the African community was
widely informed that the ICANN Africa Strategy was architected by ICANN
Board Chairman and his close allies on the board. The ICANN Africa
Strategy members, who have self selected themselves as <em>"Leaders of the African Community"</em>
were then said to have been handpicked by these same ICANN Board
members leading to criticism and objections by many. These findings also
substantiated the reasons why many were not aware of the initiative on
the ground in the first place. It was a top down construct and had no
community consultation.<br />
<br />
The implications of this preferential treatment became more apparent,
when the actions that took place by the ICANN Board Chairman during
ICANN Toronto, made a visible promotional effort to the gathered
audience, that the launch and strategy of this initiative included their
handpicked people as representative of the African Community. There
were no representatives invited from DCA, a long term member of ICANN
community which was also attending nearly every ICANN meeting at its own
expense.<br />
<br />
<strong>A scholarship award without the merit or grade</strong>
<br />
It should be worth informing that non of the so called <em>"Leaders of African Community"</em>
now selected and consolidated as ICANN Africa Strategy members, except
one or two who are already members of other ICANN structure, were even
attending the ICANN meetings for the past many years. In particular
during New gTLD program development of 5-7 years.
<br />
DCA and its members however have had significant visibility and
continuous contributions to ICANN since 2005, not only to the .Africa
gTLD, but to the success of the New gTLD program, IDNs, Multistakholer
model, and beyond.<br />
<br />
Equally, this exclusion treatment given to DCA by ICANN was understood
by many Africans, as well as the closely observing global ICANN
community, as an attempt to endear a selection process of who should be
representing Africa, due to the high stakes over the .africa gTLD - a
sort of <a href="http://www.cio.co.ke/blog/quid-pro-quo-secrets-of-icann%E2%80%99s-africa-strategy-with-auc">.africa Magna Carta</a>, if ICANN was to succeed in Africa.<br />
<br />
Later to be noted by one AfriICANN list member who wrote in the list attributing ICANN's action by saying <em>"we now know whose support ICANN has for the community" giving rise to an what I call "Exclusive MultiStakholderism"</em>.<br />
<br />
<strong>What Measurable Results did ICANN Africa Strategy Achieve so far?</strong>
<br />
With the link that tied the ICANN Africa Strategy and .africa gTLD cut
off, several markers have been mentioned to show the success of the
initiative. The budget allocations for the previous quarter to support
the strategy are not known.
<br />
<ul>
<li>However what we do know is that, at first instance, the budget
carried along those member appointments who could not afford to attend
ICANN meetings at their own cost. This we believe to be nearly all
members of the ICANN Africa Strategy other than the ones who are already
carried by ICANN's other structures.</li>
<li>In lieu of "African participation to ICANN", there were many African
Governments sponsored by ICANN to GAC at the last minute. These
Government Representatives had no understanding of ICANN, the New gTLD
program, nor .africa gTLD, but were directly made to object to DCA's
.africa application, amounting to simply a planned invasion on DCA. I
guess some would say this is quite an achievement to ICANN Africa
Strategy program.</li>
<li>There were also mentions of the DNSSEC roadshows that are said to
have resulted to a few ccTLD DNSSEC signings and one DNS Forum in
Durban.</li>
<li>We also hear of announcements that some supporters of the African
kinship get fellowship awards and continue to be sponsored to ICANN, or
noise makers, such as tech day organizers, have been given roles to be
occupied and keep them quiet.</li>
</ul>
Apart from these, we do not really see much development in reaching out to Africa.
<br />
<strong>High Level Appointments and Expat Hires - A witness protection program</strong>
<br />
Perhaps it will be right to say that the Africa Strategy has benefited a
few individuals more than the community. This also extends to other
high-level ICANN appointments and numerous salaried positions that have
been concluded so far. Almost all those who proclaimed themselves as
"Leaders of the African Internet Community" now seem to have escaped to
salaried positions at ICANN in different parts of the world. These are
newly created positions by ICANN CEO which issues titles of "Vice
President", positions which amounts to a witness protection program.
Therefore, one would wonder if the Africa Strategy was meant for the
real African community and/or even be sustainable in the long run?<br />
<br />
<strong>The Special Session on "Africa on the Road to Marrakech" — A Surprise ICANN Africa Strategy 2.0, Call for African Governments</strong><br />
<strong> </strong>
<br />
Before the shock has even left the scene of the original ICANN Africa
Strategy, and its performance or lack thereof, we are now introduced to a
version 2.0. From looking at the design of things in the report, the
2.0 seems to call for more African government's involvement in Internet
Business. In reality, the African private sector has moved ahead on its
own with little or no engagement from the governments.<br />
<br />
Statistics on Internet development, innovation, startups and
Entrepreneurship have demonstrated that Africa's rise is private sector
led, with government acting as a support rather than catalyst. What the
African Strategy needs is not a new 2.0 strategy but a total revolution
of the working structure, involving more stakeholders and voices.
Finally, a workable formula that is SMART — Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Realistic, Time-related.<br />
<br />
<strong>Déjà vu Dakar Masquerade — An "Africa Agenda 2.0" in Marrakech?</strong>
<br />
It is noteworthy to observe that while the whole internet governance
ecosystem is becoming wary of government involvement, the ICANN Africa
Strategy 2.0 is heading in the opposite direction. Customarily, DCA was
not invited to be part of the development of this ICANN Africa Strategy
2.0 document, but we believe this strategy is potentially problematic.<br />
<br />
However, if I shall give a heads up, should the script to bring in more
governments in Marrakech be written by the same playwright, and mirror
what we experienced with "Africa Agenda" Dakar, it will be another
tragedy for ICANN and the African Community's expectation.<br />
<br />
Finally, having followed the ICANN Africa Strategy closely, it is almost
hard to quantify the benefits to the African Community. In fact, the
implementation of the strategy, so far, in the opinion of many Africans,
is a failure in the multi-stakeholder model of Internet Governance we
aspired for. The entire ICANN Africa Strategy is an apparent usurpation
of the model by a Special Interest Group who has appointed themselves as
<em>"Leaders of the African Internet Community"</em> and has used it to their limited benefit rather than the wider African community.<br />
<br />
<strong>By <a class="blue" href="http://www.circleid.com/members/5906/">Sophia Bekele</a>,
CEO of DotConnectAfrica. Ms. Bekele is a former ICANN generic Names
Supporting Organization (gNSO) Council policy advisor & contributed
to policy over the new gTLD programme & IDNs. She was also policy
advisor to various UN Agencies on ICTs. Founder and spearhead of the <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/">Yes2DotAfrica campaign</a>.
Bekele is a business and corporate executive, an international
entrepreneur, a thought leader in Corporate and ICT Governance,
international policy, Business Strategy, Internet, ICT &
development. Her Profiles on <a href="http://www.sophiabekele.com/">sophiabekele.com</a> / <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Bekele">wikipedia</a>.</strong>dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-6376600326874810252015-01-15T05:14:00.000-08:002015-09-14T05:15:31.720-07:00Wikileaks 2012, NSA 2013, NTIA Mishaps & Global Cyber Crime 2014: U.S. Exceptionalism over IG 2015?The internet has become almost part of our daily involvement and
reality is that it affects every facet of our modern lives. We are
increasingly becoming dependent on the Internet, for which reason its
availability, functionality, safety, stability and security are now of
great and continuing concern to all of us and most importantly to US
Congress, who so far has maintained stewardship over these key
functions.<br />
<br />
As the internet gets new updates, services apps and new technologies, so
is the increased threats to the very resource we would like to use and
trust. Several issues have become evident and have hit the headlines and
drawn us to concerns we must boldly address. In my previous article, "<a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121220_wikileaks_of_2012_to_snowden_nsa_leaks_of_2013_internet_governance/">From Wikileaks of 2012 to Snowden's NSA Leaks of 2013: Implications for Global Internet Governance</a>”,
I covered the trending issue that came to the fore, that whilst Wiki
leaks was about US diplomatic cables, the Edward Snowden disclosure of
classified NSA information to private media organizations such as the UK
Guardian newspaper has had graver implications for global Internet
privacy. The NSA leak presented the United States of America as a
country that practically spies on everybody in a most indiscriminate
manner, including its own allies.<br />
<br />
In an interview with CIO East Africa, I gave the African continent's
perspective as to why the "The AUCC debate on Cyber Security needs to
involve all stakeholders" concerning the NSA issue and that "African
governments are still a long way in accepting such technologies as open
data… African governments can prepare proper legislations and strategize
on how to handle private data in a manner that is not intrusive to
rights of its citizens. The backlash of the NSA revelations wouldn't be a
good experience for any government". Therefore "this emphasizes that
internet governance should be a matter that is handled by many
stakeholders to avoid giving the governments a monopoly of leadership in
policy development"<br />
<br />
From a private sector perspective , I wrote a piece on the reality of <a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121013_emerging_cybersecurity_threats_and_implications_for_private_sector/">Emerging Cyber-Security Threats and Implications for the Private Sector</a>,
including a case for New gTLDs & Security — where I highlighted
that "cyber-warfare will be conducted against computers and network
resources owned and operated by the private sector who own the
utilities, financial corporations, and a lot of intellectual property."
As such "The cost of Internet Security protection is bound to sky-rocket
in the coming years." As "Private sector organizations that have their
information resources compromised as a result of cyber-security attacks
will not only suffer huge financial losses, and loss of business
good-will, but their stock value could be affected and plummet and
suffer degradation of overall market value. Investors stand the risk of
losing their money invested in such companies." A case and point that
soon exasperated was when Target, a US National Retailer was attacked by
hackers who gained access to as many as 40 million credit and debit
cards used by customers of Target during the height of the holiday
shopping season.<br />
<br />
Only at the end of 2014, did we come across deafening noise on the
famous Sony Pictures Entertainment cyber hack, as it also took interest
of the US political scene. Here there was a release of confidential data
belonging to Sony Pictures Entertainment, the hackers who also called
themselves the "Guardians of Peace" or "GOP" demanded the cancellation
of the planned release of the film "The Interview", a comedy about a
plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The US leadership
saw it as un-American to recoil to such threat and also an attack on
free speech.
<br />
As a result of such global cyber crime matters, President Obama Obama
signed an order to protect consumers from identity theft by
strengthening security features in credit cards and the terminals that
process them and also plans to announce legislation that would shield
companies from lawsuits for sharing computer threat data with the
government in an effort to prevent cyberattacks.<br />
<br />
Most recently ICANN the internet gatekeeper announced that it was
"investigating a recent intrusion into our systems. We believe a "spear
phishing" attack was initiated in late November 2014. It involved email
messages that were crafted to appear to come from our own domain being
sent to members of our staff. The attack resulted in the compromise of
the email credentials of several ICANN staff members". Whilst, this goes
to show that no one is safe from these targeted attacks. ICANN's
mission is tied to being the gatekeeper over the availability,
functionality, safety, stability and security of the global internet,
which directly impact Cyber Security. ICANN itself is embroiled in a bid
to sever its ties with the US government; therefore, aside from the
mainstream accountability concerns, governance of the cyber security has
and will form a major part of discussions on designing a new model to
oversight ICANN. From the statements and activities, the US congress is
not keen to let this separation happen soon, with the budgetary
interventions, the IANA transition may just be but a dream.<br />
<br />
From an individual perspective, a recent case was reported by <a href="http://addisfortune.net/articles/diaspora-investor-set-free-in-a-higher-court-reversal-of-a-two-year-sentence/">Addis Fortune Newspaper</a>
where "The Court passed a guilty verdict against Yonas, a member of the
Ethiopian diaspora from Germany, and sentenced him to two years in
prison (although reversal was made afterwards by a higher court to a 6
months only imprisonment by suspension, based on lack of reasonable
prove on aggravating circumstances to delete data from the computer of
the victim) and a 5,000-Br fine for the cyber crime he was said to have
committed against his business partner lady Akiko Seyoum". This is among
the rare cases of prosecution for cyber crime, and a signal that Africa
is becoming aware of the need to mitigate the increase of cyber crime
and money laundering schemes.<br />
<br />
In conclusion, the need to protect the global internet from such
implications above as to its availability, functionality, safety,
stability and security and using it also as a diplomacy tool to ensure
the same, would definitely give a justification by a wide margin to the
US status quo over the internet. Whilst, the US would not allow itself
to be liable as exemplified during the global financial crisis of 2009
and the 1930, for blowing out its house of cards over its American
Exceptionalism, a concept that has its roots from the principle of a
country organized around an ideology that includes a set of dogmas about
the nature of a good society, especially the one that tied it to a
future mission of bringing liberty and democracy to the world.<br />
<br />
Therefore, expect nothing less but 2015 to be a year of American Excepionalism over Internet Governance!<br />
<br />
<strong>By <a class="blue" href="http://www.circleid.com/members/5906/">Sophia Bekele</a>,
CEO of DotConnectAfrica. Ms. Bekele is a former ICANN generic Names
Supporting Organization (gNSO) Council policy advisor & contributed
to policy over the new gTLD programme & IDNs. She was also policy
advisor to various UN Agencies on ICTs. Founder and spearhead of the <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/">Yes2DotAfrica campaign</a>.
Bekele is a business and corporate executive, an international
entrepreneur, a thought leader in Corporate and ICT Governance,
international policy, Business Strategy, Internet, ICT &
development. Her Profiles on <a href="http://www.sophiabekele.com/">sophiabekele.com</a> / <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Bekele">wikipedia</a>.</strong>dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-27018908631262344392015-01-05T05:11:00.000-08:002015-09-14T05:12:30.448-07:00Congress Will Oversight ICANN: And You Can Take That to the Bank<em>Therefore, I wish to call for the establishment of such a new
body that will work in cooperation with the NTIA to exercise supervisory
responsibilities over ICANN.</em><br />
<em> </em>
<br />
Even though the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN) plays a very important role in the global Internet ecosystem,
its activities are not frequently mentioned in the mainstream
international media; that is, until ICANN's name is mentioned alongside
that of the US Congress in a US$1.1 trillion Omnibus spending bill.
Since the bill was passed by the House of Representatives, the issue of
ICANN has assumed a certain topicality and has attracted commentary from
many pundits.<br />
<br />
<strong>Advocacy on Internet Governance Matters</strong>
<br />
The organizations that I lead, DotConnectAfrica Trust and its registry
technology services affiliate are very active members of the Global
Internet Governance community. Apart from applying for the .Africa new
Internet Top-Level Domain name, we spend our spare time on spirited
advocacy — writing letters urging the National Technology and
Information Administration (NTIA) of the US Department of Commerce to
support the new generic Top-Level Domain (new gTLD) program of ICANN; or
writing to Senator John 'Jay' Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the US Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, to express
unequivocal support for the ICANN-led Global Multi-stakeholder model of
Internet Governance and urging a Re-Affirmation of the status quo.
<br />
Therefore, when DCA started voicing certain issues concerning the
.Africa new gTLD process, and feeling that no one was listening to its
multi-faceted complaints, I was then compelled to write to Congressional
leaders, and copied other leaders in the US Administration. A few
months ago, I also wrote on behalf of DCA Trust to Senator John Thune
and Senator Marco Rubio both of the Commerce, Science &
Transportation Committee to express our thanks to them for intervening
to enhance ICANN's accountability.<br />
<br />
<strong>My appeal to US Congress and clarifying Congress's role to the public</strong>
<br />
Last year, when I took our complaints to Congress some people scoffed. I
only requested Congress to appoint a Congressional Ombudsman for the
ICANN new gTLD Programme. I directly recommended that "the new gTLD
Ombudsman will be authorized by Congress with the powers of an
Independent Counsel to investigate and adjudicate on issues of
illegality that have been reported regarding new gTLD matters." I
believed that such an Independent Counsel would assist in resolving most
of the problems that would be brought by applicants based on issues
that could not be handled within the guiding policy framework of the new
gTLD program.<br />
<br />
DCA Trust is now forced to engage in an Independent Review Process (IRP)
Panel proceeding with ICANN regarding ICANN Board decisions over the
.Africa new gTLD name string. The IRP is administrated by the
International Center for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) of the American
Arbitration Association (AAA). Similarly, many applicants who have
disagreed with ICANN decisions have gone to seek accountability under
the same IRP Process mechanism.<br />
<br />
One Internet blog that covers the Internet Domain Name industry scoffed
that Congress would not understand the import of my letter. In fact, I
only wrote to specific leaders and as such, I did not expect most people
to understand the deeper aspects of the complex articulations and the
essential pivots on which I have based DCA's case regarding the .Africa
new gTLD name-string that we applied for. I recall engaging in an
exchange of communications with the same Internet Blogger and used the
opportunity to clarify and explain to a skeptical public how the US
Congress has direct legislative and policy oversight over ICANN. I
strenuously argued at the time that:
<br />
<blockquote>
"… the same ICANN is under U.S. Federal Government
Oversight by virtue of its mandate as a federal contractor handling the
Internet Technical Management Functions (such as domain names and unique
Internet address numbering and assignment) under the IANA Contract. It
is therefore our contention that the United States Congress has complete
jurisdiction over the entire new gTLD program of ICANN and this cannot
be challenged (or scoffed at) by anybody without drawing the ire of
Congress. DCA Trust has therefore acted correctly by recognizing the
overarching authority of Congress over the entire ICANN new gTLD process
and deciding on its own to undertake a necessary due process escalation
of this matter to Congress. ..."</blockquote>
As a result of my engagement with Congress, some within the ICANN global
community thought that I drew the attention of Congress to ICANN by
blowing the whistle of accountability on them. However, such thinking
wrongly presumes that Congress has not been aware of Global Internet
Governance and the leadership role it could play in this process; or the
debates about who should be responsible for governing the Internet — a
global communications platform that came out of advanced US research
leadership capabilities and computer technology innovation.<br />
<br />
Central to this history of innovation is the fact that the Internet is
seen as an essential part of U.S. science and technology national public
policy; which is also a tool for US international public diplomacy in
this era of technology-driven globalization. When combined, these two
elements make a very strong and unassailable case for the US to keep the
Internet under its firm control. This therefore makes the complete
devolution of Internet Governance functions a 'No Go' area for the
United States Government.<br />
<br />
<strong>The Omnibus Spending Bill, NTIA & ICANN</strong>
<br />
In the recent US$1.1 trillion Omnibus spending bill that was approved by
both Houses of Congress, we find the following unambiguous stipulation:
<br />
<blockquote>
"None of the funds made available by this Act may be used
to relinquish the responsibility of the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration during fiscal year 2015 with respect to
Internet domain name system functions, including responsibility with
respect to the authoritative root zone file and the Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority functions."</blockquote>
This is very deliberate language that specifically mentions the IANA
Transition by name and denies its funding. The implication is that if
the NTIA and ICANN ignore this, and move ahead with the transition
during Fiscal 2015, then this would be considered as a very serious
violation of US Law. This explains why Congress is strong, because
Congressional leaders would go to any lengths to ensure that there is
wholesale conformance, compliance and accountability for any or all
matters under its direct purview as an operative arm of the United
States Federal Government.<br />
<br />
<strong>Continued Misunderstanding of the Role of Congress and Some Flawed Arguments</strong>
<br />
Any action by Congress is thoroughly binding because of the concept of
Parliamentary Sovereignty i.e. a constituted Parliament cannot be
restricted in its powers to make any type of law. In addition to law
making privileges, its powers of executive oversight enable it to hold
hearings on matters within its interest; conduct investigations,
subpoena witnesses to give testimony, appoint Special Independent
Counsels, approve or withhold funds in the appropriations bill, screen
Cabinet nominees appointed by POTUS, etc. Hence, wherever there is true
constitutional rule, Congress (or a similar National Assembly within a
federal democracy) is usually the highest over-sighting institution of
the Federal Government.<br />
<br />
I have observed some flawed arguments by some recent commentators who do
not seem to understand what is happening in light of this recent
development; and who have also failed to grasp the inimitable and rather
broad powers of Congress. For some, Congress is interfering and think
that the legislative body's 'unwarranted involvement' could be bypassed
by 'crowd-funding' the IANA Transition in defiance of the express wishes
of Congress; while some others are advancing the supposition that
Congress cannot oversight ICANN.<br />
<br />
<strong>Next Steps for Congress</strong>
<br />
At this initial stage, Congress has simply withheld funding based on a
very clear stipulation enshrined in the US$1.1 trillion Omnibus spending
bill. After September 30, 2015, Congress could launch an investigation
led by an Independent Counsel into the IANA Transition program, and also
conduct public hearings on the issue. A US law could be enacted by
Congress to permanently keep control of the Internet under a special
agency of the US Government that would be formed; perhaps, the United
States Internet Regulatory Authority (USIRA) — and such a new body would
be required by law to make periodic reports to Congress regarding
matters of Global Internet Governance and Internet Domain Name
functions.<br />
<br />
The force of law is typically used to give binding weight to
administrative policy. Therefore, I wish to call for the establishment
of such a new body that will work in cooperation with the NTIA to
exercise supervisory responsibilities over ICANN.<br />
<br />
<strong>The need for a more Accountable and Transparent ICANN</strong>
<br />
With focused Congressional searchlight on the NTIA and ICANN regarding
Internet Domain Name functions and the implementation of the IANA
Contract, one would now expect better accountability of ICANN's
decisions and processes — which everyone has always agreed upon: that
ICANN's accountability mechanism must be improved upon. Only Congress
can deliver what the people have asked for. An institution that could
report on the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques can equally
dissect ICANN's decision-making and processes with a view to making them
more transparent and accountable. Congress always had the power to
oversight ICANN. What is new is that Congress has now demonstrated the
political will to do so; and you can take that to the bank.<br />
<br />
<strong>By <a class="blue" href="http://www.circleid.com/members/5906/">Sophia Bekele</a>,
CEO of DotConnectAfrica. Ms. Bekele is a former ICANN generic Names
Supporting Organization (gNSO) Council policy advisor & contributed
to policy over the new gTLD programme & IDNs. She was also policy
advisor to various UN Agencies on ICTs. Founder and spearhead of the <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/">Yes2DotAfrica campaign</a>.
Bekele is a business and corporate executive, an international
entrepreneur, a thought leader in Corporate and ICT Governance,
international policy, Business Strategy, Internet, ICT &
development. Her Profiles on <a href="http://www.sophiabekele.com/">sophiabekele.com</a> / <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Bekele">wikipedia</a>.</strong>dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-29450138840581906632014-08-14T04:49:00.000-07:002015-09-01T04:50:59.532-07:00Call for ICANN to Educate and Not Mislead GACI read with interest the <a href="https://www.icann.org/news/blog/update-enhancing-icann-accountability#.U9lCqV_YeVI">recent blog</a>
written by Theresa Swinehart a Sr. Advisor to the President on
Strategy. She wrote: "The most critical element of this [ICANN
Transition] process is trust and alignment. To ensure success on this
accountability track, we must as a community work closely together to
make sure that the final process is meaningful. There is plenty of work
to be done in an ambitious period of time."<br />
<br />
Post the completion of the ICANN 50 London meeting, I wrote a Commentary on this forum titled "<a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20140703_thank_you_gnso_from_the_she_dot_africa/">Thank You GNSO - From the SHE.africa</a>”,
endorsing a call by the ICANN's Generic Names Supporting Organization
(GNSO) which unanimously endorsed a joint statement in support of the
creation of an independent accountability mechanism. As a former GNSO
member I thanked GNSO for their good efforts and reminded them of DCA
Trust's call for the same mechanisms. This was even before the NTIA
transition became an issue. I also pointed the concerns we expressed to
US Congress. We pointed out in our letter Congress has the overarching
responsibility for the oversight of ICANN. I also commented on some of
my observations from the outcome of the ICANN 50 London meeting
regarding the misleading message that was being conveyed by ICANN CEO on
DCA's .africa gTLD application.<br />
<br />
<strong>DCA GAC Responses valuable to ICANN's Accountability improvements</strong>
<br />
In a follow up note, I wrote directly to the GNSO to bring to their
attention the above mentioned matters. The letter can be found <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/DotConnectAfrica-Letter-to-GNSO-Note-of-Thanks-on-the-unanimous-endorsement-in-support-of-creation-of-an-Independent-Accountability-mechanism-14-Aug-2014.pdf">here</a>
[PDF]. In this letter, I also referenced DCA's response to the recent
GAC Advice conveyed in the GAC London Communiqué on africa. DCA pointed
out specific deficiencies that could be cited in various forms. These
included inappropriate communications, misleading information,
incompetency and a lack of understanding that exists within the ICANN
structures in handling its matters. Our response and observations should
be taken in this context, and in adherence to any accountability and
transparency improvement measures.<br />
<br />
It is within this context that I am compelled to post again DCA's case to shed <strong>more</strong> light on what I think would be of public interest. In particular the activities of GAC and ICANN's reaction to it.
<br />
<strong>Inappropriate GAC Advice on .Africa in London GAC Communiqué, while under an IRP</strong>
<br />
Amid these developments and in a surprising move, the London meeting saw
the GAC give yet another Advice to the ICANN board concerning DCA
Trust's application on .africa, an application which is currently going
through ICANN's Independent Review process (IRP) created by ICANN and
set forth in its Bylaws.<br />
<br />
In reality, the IRP is a process for independent third-party review of
Board actions. DCA Trust initiated an IRP seeking that an independent
third-party panel adjudicate the rights that DCA has asserted in its
Notice of IRP, and in particular, the right to have its application
treated fairly, transparently, and with due diligence by ICANN in
accordance with ICANN's Bylaws, Article of Incorporation, and the gTLD
Applicant Guidebook. The IRP is currently ongoing and the discussions
and Panel discussions are hosted both on ICANN and DCA site <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/icann-related-2/independent-review-process-dca-vs-icann/">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Where the New gTLD Program is concerned, the role of GAC requires the
representatives to understand the gTLD Applicant Guidebook, the ICANN
Bylaws and the IRP process contained therein, a process which as noted
is independent of both ICANN and the applicants. <strong>From the
questions raised in the GAC Advice and in the available transcripts of
the various GAC meetings during ICANN 50 and during past ICANN meetings,
it is our deep concern that ICANN allows the GAC to intervene in
ICANN's evaluation and delegation of new gTLDs without ensuring that the
GAC representatives actually understand ICANN processes.</strong>
<br />
<strong>Lack of Proper Education of GAC members</strong><br />
<strong> </strong>
<br />
A lack of proper education is the clear explanation for certain GAC
members urging ICANN to truncate the IRP and/or compromise the
independence of the proceeding, which is according to ICANN, an
applicant's only method of legal recourse. Based upon the GAC's recent
actions and advice, DotConnectAfrica has also raised various questions
to ICANN which are of the public interest.<br />
<br />
<strong>ICANN has a duty to educate the members of the Internet
community at large as well as the members of the GAC themselves, as part
of its obligation to act in a transparent and accountable manner.</strong><br />
<strong> </strong>
<br />
It is on this basis and others which we incorporated in our full GAC
response that we felt strongly that the GAC Advice given to ICANN during
ICANN 50 in London demonstrated both the African Union's inappropriate
efforts to determine the outcome of the applications for .africa and
ICANN's improper acquiescence to the GAC's demands. We strongly urged
ICANN not to accept this advice.
<br />
<strong>In addition, ICANN must prevent that a GAC member use its
position on the GAC as a tool to promote its own interest, as the
African Union has attempted to do with respect to .Africa, by prompting a
GAC advice for ICANN to delegate .africa to the AU-backed applicant
competing with DCA Trust.</strong><br />
<strong> </strong>
<br />
In summary, we objected to the GAC's advice as improper and showing a
failure on the part of ICANN to adequately educate and inform GAC
representatives. We expect ICANN to decline to follow the London GAC
Advice with regard to .africa, consistent with its obligations under the
Bylaws and other documents governing ICANN and the IRP.<br />
<br />
Our response was detailed and the full response can be found <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/DotConnectAfrica-Trust-GAC-Response-August-3-2014.pdf">here</a> [PDF]. Additionally for those following the IRP, the direct links can also be found <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/icann-related-2/independent-review-process-dca-vs-icann/">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<strong>By <a class="blue" href="http://www.circleid.com/members/5906/">Sophia Bekele</a>,
CEO of DotConnectAfrica. Ms. Bekele is a former ICANN generic Names
Supporting Organization (gNSO) Council policy advisor & contributed
to policy over the new gTLD programme & IDNs. She was also policy
advisor to various UN Agencies on ICTs. Founder and spearhead of the <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/">Yes2DotAfrica campaign</a>.
Bekele is a business and corporate executive, an international
entrepreneur, a thought leader in Corporate and ICT Governance,
international policy, Business Strategy, Internet, ICT &
development. Her Profiles on <a href="http://www.sophiabekele.com/">sophiabekele.com</a> / <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Bekele">wikipedia</a>.</strong><br />
<br />
CircleID link: <a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20140814_call_for_icann_to_educate_and_not_mislead_gac/">http://www.circleid.com/posts/20140814_call_for_icann_to_educate_and_not_mislead_gac/</a><strong><br /></strong>dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-50169613891663603612014-07-24T23:24:00.001-07:002014-07-26T03:40:11.866-07:00DotConnectAfrica Trust contributions to the ICANN Draft Five-Year Strategic Plan (FY16 – FY20)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZwM7XwgYw-DXVei603fIilEK42gbkfLksAak9BddW5O6_W2uc4r4G1MC3p7erdhcOeIackm4FQQ7sg6nj1zM4Tld3DR3yD5NeC7Jy0Kii_KPEZU7aBRcjaXszsJVqHWXJAxx78muipZU/s1600/dotconnectafrica+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZwM7XwgYw-DXVei603fIilEK42gbkfLksAak9BddW5O6_W2uc4r4G1MC3p7erdhcOeIackm4FQQ7sg6nj1zM4Tld3DR3yD5NeC7Jy0Kii_KPEZU7aBRcjaXszsJVqHWXJAxx78muipZU/s1600/dotconnectafrica+logo.jpg" height="200" width="193" /></a></div>
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DotConnectAfrica submitted its contribution in response to
the call to create ICANN's new, overarching vision and long-term strategic
plan. The input and perspectives are critical to ICANN’s processes. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The Public comments were on the <a href="https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/draft-strategic-plan-2016-2020-10apr14-en.pdf" target="_blank">Draft ICANN Five–Year Strategic Plan (FY16 – FY20)</a> [PDF,
1.10 MB] through June 2014. </div>
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According to ICANN this is </div>
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“Built on community input
received throughout an extensive, public strategy conversation, the Draft
Strategic Plan proposes a new Vision, reiterates ICANN's existing Mission, and
describes five focus areas with Strategic Objectives and Goals. Each goal
includes proposed, strategic outcomes, risks, measures and phasing over five
years. ICANN is seeking general feedback, as well as input on the proposed
measurable outcomes for the Focus Area Goals. Your comments will help inform
the final ICANN Five–Year Strategic Plan.” </div>
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<br />
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DotConnectAfrica
appreciates and promotes the Multistakeholder approach in developing strategies
and policies for a better future of internet governance and have continuously
contributed to the Internet Governance debates, since the inception of the
idea.</div>
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<i>April 09 2014:</i> DCA's
contributions to the ICANN draft Strategic Plan
of ICANN of FY16 – FY20 Read <a href="http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-stratplan-draft-09apr14/pdfV1b1dnkzrA.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>:
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>July 18 2014:</i> DCA’s
comments published on the ICANN Initial Report of the draft Strategic Plan
of ICANN of FY16 – FY20 Read <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/DCAs-comments-on-ICANN-Initial-Report-of-Public-Comments-to-the-draft-Strategic-Plan-of-ICANN-of-FY16-FY20.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/report-comments-stratplan-draft-18jul14-en.pdf" target="_blank">here</a></div>
<br />dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-80756705930288996942014-07-03T04:43:00.000-07:002015-09-01T04:47:28.095-07:00Thank You GNSO - From the SHE.africaThe recent announcement at the ICANN 50 London, by all stakeholder
groups and constituencies comprising of ICANN's Generic Names Supporting
Organization (GNSO) to endorse a joint statement in support of the
creation of an independent accountability mechanism <em>"that provides
meaningful review and adequate redress for those harmed by ICANN action
or inaction in contravention of an agreed upon compact with the
community"</em> is a very welcome development to the Multistakeholder framework.<br />
<br />
It is well known to the ICANN community that myself and the various
internet organizations that I represent have supported this model since
its inception and we have campaigned for it all over Africa and
globally.<br />
<br />
It is in following the currently available ICANN accountability process
that DotConnectAfrica (DCA) has chosen to file for an Independent Review
Process (IRP), despite a very expensive process and in hopes to seek a
resolution. We also expect, if not yet verify, this process will allow
the basic principles of transparency, accountability, probity and equity
to prevail.<br />
<br />
The IRP is a proceeding provided for in Article IV, Section 3 of the
ICANN Bylaws, by which any person materially affected by a decision or
action of the ICANN Board may request that the action be reviewed by an
independent third party for consistency with the ICANN Bylaws and/or
Articles of Incorporation. DCA filed an IRP because we were not allowed
to complete processing to the end of Independent Evaluation (IE) by
ICANN, as a result of GAC Objection, which we stated was <em>"unfair, discriminatory, and lacked appropriate due diligence and care" as well as "anti-competitive".</em><br />
<em> </em>
<br />
The GNSO is a policy advisory body which advises the ICANN Board on
global public policies that guide the development of the Internet,
including the gTLD policy and processes affecting such TLDs as .asia,
.com, .net, .org and the policy development work on new gTLD (generic
Top Level Domain names).<br />
<br />
I was appointed as a policy advisor on GNSO in 2005 when the New gTLD
programs was just taking off and I know the painstaking deliberation we
had to formulate a fair, competitive, transparent and equitable policy
development process over the outcome of the gTLD guidebook and I will
not take it in vain. I have since been an ICANN citizen and an active
participant in its process, and currently put in a position to test its
accountability.<br />
<br />
Our organization DCA is a non-profit corporation and .africa gTLD
applicant, yet was referred to during ICANN 50 as a "SHE". It was
particularly surprising to hear the reference made by the CEO of ICANN
Fadi Chehadi during a Press Conference at the just concluded London
ICANN International meeting <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsGZolSaJQA#t=811">referring to DCA's application as a "SHE"</a>.<br />
<br />
The CEO's comments that DCA has "Rights" to the IRP was a welcome
clarification and a wake up call to any special interest group that may
think the "African continent" is only represented by them.
<br />
Despite, I thought it would be to the public interest, to list out the
multiple errors made by the ICANN CEO in defense of ICANN's
accountability process, using the .africa as an example. The CEO of
ICANN:
<br />
<ol>
<li>Incorrectly referred to our application as an individual
applicant, which is untrue, as ICANN guidebook does not accept
"Individual" applicants. One has to be a Corporation to apply.</li>
<li>Incorrectly referred to DCA as a "SHE", whereas DCA is a Corporation that has no gender identity.</li>
<li>Incorrectly stated that DCA is challenging the "entire AUC" in the IRP, whereas the IRP is about ICANN's actions.</li>
<li>Incorrectly suggested that DCA is challenging the "entire AUC" as if
the AUC is a legal applicant to the .africa gTLD, which they are not.</li>
</ol>
Allow me to use this forum to remind the global public that DCA is a
.africa applicant, and we applied on behalf of its global constituency
and we made sure in our application that we stated that we are not
serving any "specialized community". It is also widely known now that we
have passed all criteria by the independent evaluators, as it relates
to our financials, technical and operational competencies.<br />
<br />
And yet, ICANN agreed to stop processing DCA's application based on GAC
advice put forward by the AUC, which was effectively the only competitor
for .africa thanks to its relationship with UniForum/ZACR, the other
applicant for .africa. In other words, ICANN allowed the AUC to use its
position as an intergovernmental organization to quash DCA's application
and ensure that ZACR's application would proceed without competition.
At a minimum, this is the subject of the IRP that DCA is currently
pursuing against ICANN.
<br />
I will not lay out here all the issues that are in dispute, but anyone
who would like to see how this IRP is proceeding — including ICANN's own
statements as to what the IRP is and is not — should take a look at the
parties' <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/icann-related-2/independent-review-process-dca-vs-icann/">submission</a>.<br />
<br />
Recall I wrote to Congress, on a matter that now has become a serious
issue of Internet Governance and transition plan of ICANN. You can
dissect one process from another to conquer and divide, but the
principles of accountability and transparency in any organization remain
the same around the world.<br />
<br />
Therefore, I ask all of you fellow GNSO constituencies to continue to be
vigilant, and leave no stones unturned to make sure that ICANN decision
makers are held accountable in their decision makings. There is a
saying that you make the bed, therefore you lay in it, and so let us not
lay in a bed of thorn.
<br />
Finally, in support of the recent speech I presented to young girls on
ICT Girls day this past April, and quoted as saying "Internet is a SHE",
behold I pray then that ".africa be a SHE".<br />
<br />
<strong>By <a class="blue" href="http://www.circleid.com/members/5906/">Sophia Bekele</a>,
CEO of DotConnectAfrica. Ms. Bekele is a former ICANN generic Names
Supporting Organization (gNSO) Council policy advisor & contributed
to policy over the new gTLD programme & IDNs. She was also policy
advisor to various UN Agencies on ICTs. Founder and spearhead of the <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/">Yes2DotAfrica campaign</a>.
Bekele is a business and corporate executive, an international
entrepreneur, a thought leader in Corporate and ICT Governance,
international policy, Business Strategy, Internet, ICT &
development. Her Profiles on <a href="http://www.sophiabekele.com/">sophiabekele.com</a> / <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Bekele">wikipedia</a>.</strong><br />
<br />
CircleID post: <a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20140703_thank_you_gnso_from_the_she_dot_africa/">http://www.circleid.com/posts/20140703_thank_you_gnso_from_the_she_dot_africa/</a><strong><a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20140703_thank_you_gnso_from_the_she_dot_africa/" target="_blank"> </a></strong>dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-45174821840443719072014-03-28T01:21:00.000-07:002014-04-23T04:02:37.523-07:00DotConnectAfrica Trust contributions to the NETmundial Conference April 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8W8HZ33N_7CbqDo5cD6c5k8JXGGKs2KEhO6but105SCgVOVXWt3HMxshS2ND6Gw8SzwbaE3iWbomS3H_6HF49GYG44ewH4WFkzkQXfzwQ2ALmsdc4YB79R_im2PBHzvmqpGjSu8k6Biw/s1600/netmundial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8W8HZ33N_7CbqDo5cD6c5k8JXGGKs2KEhO6but105SCgVOVXWt3HMxshS2ND6Gw8SzwbaE3iWbomS3H_6HF49GYG44ewH4WFkzkQXfzwQ2ALmsdc4YB79R_im2PBHzvmqpGjSu8k6Biw/s1600/netmundial.jpg" /></a></div>
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DotConnectAfrica
has sent its contribution to the global internet governance conference on March
2014. This meeting will focus on the elaboration of principles of Internet
governance and the proposal for a roadmap for future development of this
ecosystem on the Multistakeholder model and its effectiveness in the changing
Scope and Oversight Roles of ICANN in Internet Governance and DNS Management.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The Global
Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance will focus on
crafting Internet governance principles and proposing a roadmap for the further
evolution of the Internet governance ecosystem. The meeting is scheduled
for this week April 23rd and 24th 2014 in Sao Paulo, Brazil and will be live
webcast enabling remote participation. The meeting follows an initiative
proposed by CGI.br and /1net. #netmundial2014.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The goal of
the MetMundial is to consolidate proposals the goal of bringing together
representatives of civil society, private sector, academia and technical
community to establish strategic guidelines related to the use and development
of the Internet in the world, NETmundial was concept into committees format,
each one with representatives of the involved stakeholders, distinguished
experts, aiming to give guidelines and organize the meeting.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The meeting
is organized in a partnership between the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee
(CGI.br) and /1Net, a forum that gathers international entities of the various
stakeholders involved with Internet governance.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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DotConnectAfrica
since its inception in 2006 has been an active part of the DNS industry and
have continuously contributed to the Internet Governance debate, be it one led
by organizations like the ITU WCIT Draft of the future ITRs in <a href="http://www.itu.int/en/council/cwg-internet/Pages/display-mar2014.aspx?ListItemID=23">November
2012</a> and <a href="http://www.itu.int/en/council/cwg-internet/Pages/display-mar2014.aspx?ListItemID=23" target="_blank">ITU CWG-Internet</a>: Public Consultation of March 2014, the African Union <a href="http://dotafrica.blogspot.com/2013/10/dotconnectafrica-comments-to-draft.html">Cyber
Security Draft Convention</a> in October 2013 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and conferences like the 2013 Transform Africa
Heads of State Summit <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in Kigali Rwanda <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on <a href="http://dotafrica.blogspot.com/2013/11/dotconnectafrica-contributes-to-new.html">New
SmartAfrica Manifesto to Accelerate Socio-Economic Development</a>.
DotConnectAfrica appreciates the Multistakeholder approach in developing
strategies for a better future of internet governance.</div>
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Please see our contributions <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Contribution-by-DotConnectAfrica-Trust-to-the-NetMundial-Conference-March-2014.pdf" target="_blank">here</a></div>
dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-62660827332661044222014-03-21T06:24:00.001-07:002014-03-21T06:24:24.972-07:00DotConnectAfrica Comments on the Kenya Connected ICT Masterplan 2017<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3lADWQiIkP4M5Ot0Eo7fNKSTdQPKrUrNZYKgHGp8TlInV0CEf-oSoOkSuxMcdF3nwNfEBd2rq649TKC-BbUboZ76dxBbVej-OPw3Hbb9L6K6NLtF9EGAknwTf_shLmfRXuU89YaWV3WE/s1600/Kenya+ICT+Board.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3lADWQiIkP4M5Ot0Eo7fNKSTdQPKrUrNZYKgHGp8TlInV0CEf-oSoOkSuxMcdF3nwNfEBd2rq649TKC-BbUboZ76dxBbVej-OPw3Hbb9L6K6NLtF9EGAknwTf_shLmfRXuU89YaWV3WE/s1600/Kenya+ICT+Board.jpg" /></a></div>
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The Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology
(ICT) invited stakeholders for a public consultation forum on the Connected
Kenya ICT Masterplan 2017. The forum was held on 20th March 14 at the Kenya
School of Monetary Studies to provide an opportunity to Share views on the
draft document<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the ICT Master Plan .</div>
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<br /></div>
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The Masterplan, was first launched in February 2013 is a
five (5) year plan and details the government ICT led strategy. It endeavors to
cover the vision 2030 pillars as well as focus on other functional
areas. View Full Document on <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/212456855/KICTB-Connected-Kenya-2017-Master-Plan" target="_blank">http://www.scribd.com/doc/212456855/KICTB-Connected-Kenya-2017-Master-Plan</a></div>
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In November 2013, a National ICT Master plan taskforce
was put together to review the current Connected Kenya 2017 ICT master plan and
are about to complete this task. DotConnectAfrica Trust a Kenyan based
company endeavored to contribute its ideas and submitted the comments to the
forum. DotConnectAfrica and its Principal and Members have in the past have
worked or been advisors with International organizations giving advice on
various developmental issues as well as legislations and policies.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The outcome of the review process is expected to be a
comprehensive new document that will guide the management of ICT in the
country.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Read our <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/DotConnectAfrica-Contributions-to-2017-Connected-Kenya-ICT-Master-Plan.pdf" target="_blank">comments here</a>:</div>
dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-31465918098767559742014-03-21T01:03:00.000-07:002014-03-21T01:08:56.334-07:00DotConnectAfrica Contributes to the ITU CWG-Internet: Public Consultation (March 2014)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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On 10 July 2012, the ITU Council resolved that the Council
Working Group on international Internet-related public policy issues
(CWG-Internet) would hold online consultations for all stakeholders on certain
policy issues to be decided by the Group. Council also resolved that all
stakeholders could submit their responses to a reflector set up by the ITU and
that all responses received from stakeholders would be posted, without edits,
to the CWG-Internet website. <br />
<br />
On 4 March 2014 the Council Working Group decided that Open Consultations would
be convened on the following issue: </div>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Recognizing the scope of work of ITU on
international Internet-related public policy matters, <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2vBccZ3kkKjZljq3_yak0EBOu-llEz7fMxM0JKmCko7KY9P7C-Z6mlYCpiRRFesbo9f-L6dPhPr8IzrPUua-Zuu86GMriClDotzhM0eRlvrMAroG_HVY7fEPk_KCdkh5l95DgI9YxA54/s1600/ITU+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2vBccZ3kkKjZljq3_yak0EBOu-llEz7fMxM0JKmCko7KY9P7C-Z6mlYCpiRRFesbo9f-L6dPhPr8IzrPUua-Zuu86GMriClDotzhM0eRlvrMAroG_HVY7fEPk_KCdkh5l95DgI9YxA54/s1600/ITU+logo.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
represented by the
list of topics in </span><a href="http://www.itu.int/en/council/cwg-internet/consultations/Documents/Council-2009-Resolution1305Annex1.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Council 2009 Resolution 1305 Annex
1</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> which was established in
accordance with decisions of ITU membership at the Plenipotentiary
Conference, the Council Working Group on International Internet Related
Public Policy <b>invites all stakeholders to provide their position on
following question :</b><br />
<br />
Q1. What actions are to be undertaken by governments in relations to each
of the international Internet-related public policy issues identified in
Annex 1 to Resolution 1305 (adopted by Council 2009 at the seventh Plenary
Meeting)?" </span></li>
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DotConnectAfrica and its Principal and Members have in the
past has worked or been advisors with International organizations such as
Organization for Africa Union (OAU) aka Africa Union, United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa UNECA), and International and regional organizations such
as the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), Internet Corporation of Assigned
Names and (ICANN), The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), The
Internet Society (ISOC), Internationalized Domain Resolution Union (IDRU),
Internet Business Council for Africa (IBCA), and various private sector
technology companies in Africa and internationally, with a view to increase
synergy that encourages all stakeholders to participate in this dialog, in
particular the African Diaspora. </div>
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<br /></div>
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In 11 July 2012, the ITU Council decided that the Draft of
the future ITRS be made publicly accessible for an open consultation process,
where all stakeholders could express their views and opinions on the content of
the Draft of the future ITRs or any other matter related to WCIT.
DotConnectAfrica as a concerned stakeholder in the ICT sector of the African
continent submitted several recommendations to that effect. DCA's contribution
has been published at <a href="http://www.itu.int/en/wcit-12/Pages/public.aspx">ITU's
Public Views and Opinions</a> page</div>
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DotConnectAfrica takes this opportunity to submit its
comments to the ITU <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Council Working Group on
international Internet-related public policy issues (</span>CWG-Internet :
Public Consultation (March 2014). Read our <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/DotConnectAfrica-Contributions-to-ITU-CWG-Internet-Public-Consultation-_March-2014_.pdf" target="_blank">comments here</a></div>
dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-71869176734068203992014-03-14T03:25:00.000-07:002014-03-14T03:25:33.829-07:00DotConnectAfrica celebrates 25 years of WWW since invention<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Twenty-five years ago, precisely in
1989, the World Wide Web was just an idea from Tim Berners-Lee at the CERN lab
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DotConnectAfrica an early advocate
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innovation. The internet is a platform that has given individuals and business
a useful tool to manage day to day activities.</span></div>
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birth of WWW let us endeavor to create more innovative opportunities for the
young people to build their skill and change the world.</span></div>
dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-63970749214324031712014-02-07T04:22:00.001-08:002014-02-07T04:22:24.256-08:00DotConnectAfrica Contributes to ITU’s Strategic Plan for 2016-2019 <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQx49Rm0t9N2IeBA-haiOEkUPEFK-jftG2PJU90VQ-MTGRhgMEnba7suLXsuVhXmfjLEBZErzui1COYGgSIJ4B-0mPpdyxqe0OVNeLlar3PpnTmsVDZsGRRjep2GQTgPXaVSL1TR6jqs/s1600/itu+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQx49Rm0t9N2IeBA-haiOEkUPEFK-jftG2PJU90VQ-MTGRhgMEnba7suLXsuVhXmfjLEBZErzui1COYGgSIJ4B-0mPpdyxqe0OVNeLlar3PpnTmsVDZsGRRjep2GQTgPXaVSL1TR6jqs/s1600/itu+logo.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The <span class="ms-rteThemeForeColor-4-4 ms-rteFontSize-2">I</span><span class="ms-rteThemeForeColor-4-4 ms-rteFontSize-2">nternational Telecommunication Union</span> Council launched a public consultation process
on the development of a new ITU Strategic Plan for 2016-2019, which will be
approved at ITU’s next <a href="http://www.itu.int/en/plenipotentiary/2014">Plenipotentiary
Conference</a>, to be held in Busan, Korea, in October 2014.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DotConnectAfrica has in support of the multi stakeholder approach contributed the strategic plan in
response to the call.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DotConnectAfrica Trust is an independent, non-profit and
non-partisan organization that is based in Port Louis, Mauritius (Reg ID.
CT8710DCA90) with its registry operations located in Nairobi, Kenya. Its main
charitable objects are: (a) for the advancement of education in information
technology to the African society; and (b) in connection with (a) to provide
the African society with a continental Internet domain name to have access to
Internet services for the people of Africa as a purpose beneficial to the
public in general. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The ITU <a href="http://www.itu.int/en/council/wg-sfp/Pages/default.aspx">Council Working
Group for the Elaboration of the Draft Strategic Plan and the draft Financial
Plan for the Union for 2016-2019</a> is mandated to develop a coordinated draft
of this strategic plan. To do this well, it is vitally important to consider
everyone’s opinions, ideas and proposals on where ITU should prioritize its
efforts in the post-2015 era.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to the ITU, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“This
public consultation is a great opportunity for all voices to be heard, and
demonstrates ITU’s openness, transparency and inclusiveness in its planning
processes. ITU – with its commitment to connecting the world – continues to
help to bring everyone online, ensuring that the global communications
infrastructure runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible, and enabling
everybody to access the benefits of ICTs and assisting in mitigating new
risks.”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 11 July 2012, the ITU Council decided that the Draft of
the future ITRS be made publicly accessible for an open consultation process,
where all stakeholders could express their views and opinions on the content of
the Draft of the future ITRs or any other matter related to WCIT.
DotConnectAfrica as a concerned stakeholder in the ICT sector of the African
continent submitted several recommendations to that effect. DCA's contribution
has been published at <a href="http://www.itu.int/en/wcit-12/Pages/public.aspx">ITU's
Public Views and Opinions</a> page.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DotConnectAfrica strongly believes in the engagement of all
stakeholders in the preparation of the ITU 2016-2019 Strategic Plan. Other
similar significant contributions by DotConnectAfrica include the <a href="http://dotafrica.blogspot.com/2013/11/dotconnectafrica-contributes-to-new.html">New
SmartAfrica Manifesto to Accelerate Socio-Economic Development.</a> , <a href="http://dotafrica.blogspot.com/2013/10/dotconnectafrica-contributes-to-agenda.html">Agenda
2063</a> of the Africa Union<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and <a href="http://dotafrica.blogspot.com/2013/10/dotconnectafrica-comments-to-draft.html">Draft
African Union Convention on the Establishment of A Credible Legal Framework For
Cyber Security In Africa October 2013</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See link to the contribution <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/DotConnectAfrica-Contributions-to-ITUs-Strategic-Plan-2016-2019-Jan-2014.pdf" target="_blank">here</a></div>
dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-84564626453250752602013-12-20T04:39:00.000-08:002015-09-01T04:41:56.342-07:00From Wikileaks of 2012 to Snowden's NSA Leaks of 2013: Implications for Global Internet Governance2012 will always be remembered as the Year of Wikileaks. Similarly,
2013 shall also be remembered as the year that Edward Snowden, a
computer security specialist and former CIA employee and National
Security Agency contractor, leaked classified information regarding the
NSA global surveillance programs.<br />
<br />
Whilst Wikileaks was about US diplomatic cables, the Edward Snowden
disclosure of classified NSA information to private media organizations
such as the UK Guardian newspaper has had graver implications for global
Internet privacy. The NSA leak presented the United States of America
as a country that practically spies on everybody in a most
indiscriminate manner, including its own allies.<br />
<br />
It was revealed that
the President of Brazil, Ms. Dilma Rouseff had been spied upon by the
USA; a dangerous revelation that compelled her to cancel a planned
official visit to the United States of America. The German Chancellor,
Dr. Angela Merkel also complained that her mobile phone had been hacked
into, and the 'usual suspect' had been listening into all her
conversations. The German Government was indignant and complained
directly to the US Government. The EU also sought clarifications from
the United States. Most foreign leaders demanded that US spying must
stop after it was revealed by the Guardian that 35 world leaders had
been spied upon after their telephone communications were tapped.<br />
<br />
Brazil had to take the matter to the United Nations General Assembly and
collaborated with Germany in October to draft a resolution on the US
spying allegations that would guarantee the privacy of electronic
communications. The consensus resolution on "the right to privacy in the
digital age," was adopted on 19th December 2013. It calls on UN Member
States to "review their procedures, practices and legislation on the
surveillance of communications, their interception and collection of
personal data, including mass surveillance, with a view to upholding the
right to privacy by ensuring the full and effective implementation of
all relevant obligations under international human rights law." This
seems to be the only coordinated reaction by the international community
to the US global spying and surveillance activities.<br />
<br />
But the revelation that the US Federal Government has expanded its
global electronic surveillance program and has been collecting diverse
types of information including email, chat, video-conferencing, file
transfers, etc. supplied by Internet companies such as Google, Facebook,
Apple, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, YouTube, etc. These companies are often
forced to comply since it is lawful under US laws for them to cooperate
with National Intelligence Agencies. The US-based Internet and Telecoms
companies (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.) ordinarily cannot
refuse to provide data upon the request of US national security agencies
against the backdrop that increased surveillance activities by US
National Security operatives are justified by heightened global
counter-terrorism efforts that are aimed at discovering and disrupting
terrorist threats.<br />
<br />
Thus, anything that is happening on the Internet, especially on the
Social Media space is no longer private. These recent revelations have
clearly shown that Internet user privacy has been significantly
undermined and public confidence and trust on the Internet as a
communications platform has been considerably eroded.<br />
<br />
It is expected that these issues would remain topical throughout 2014
and beyond, as the future of Global Internet Governance is debated. The
voices of those calling for a paradigm shift in the architecture of
Global Internet Governance towards one that deemphasizes the centrality
of US-based institutions will no doubt become more strident. The NSA
leaks and the allegations of widespread international spying activities
by the United States of America, including access to millions of data
records obtained from Internet and telephone companies, have seriously
undercut US moral authority as the custodian of Internet privacy, civil
liberties and human rights. The countries that have been clamoring for a
new internet Governance model that is led by the UN would try to
buttress their case by citing US global Internet surveillance program
and global spying activities.<br />
<br />
The independent panel that was setup by the US Administration to review
the surveillance programs recommended that some restrictions should be
placed on NSA spying activities. During 2014, the global community will
be closely monitoring the commencement of implementation of policy
reforms regarding the US surveillance programs by the NSA.<br />
<br />
<strong>By <a class="blue" href="http://www.circleid.com/members/5906/">Sophia Bekele</a>,
CEO of DotConnectAfrica. Ms. Bekele is a former ICANN generic Names
Supporting Organization (gNSO) Council policy advisor & contributed
to policy over the new gTLD programme & IDNs. She was also policy
advisor to various UN Agencies on ICTs. Founder and spearhead of the <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/">Yes2DotAfrica campaign</a>.
Bekele is a business and corporate executive, an international
entrepreneur, a thought leader in Corporate and ICT Governance,
international policy, Business Strategy, Internet, ICT &
development. Her Profiles on <a href="http://www.sophiabekele.com/">sophiabekele.com</a> / <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Bekele">wikipedia</a>.</strong>dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-36744689138343612752013-11-03T23:47:00.000-08:002013-11-03T23:47:39.188-08:00DotConnectAfrica contributes to New SmartAfrica Manifesto to Accelerate Socio-Economic Development.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
The conference was attended by over 1,500 delegates and
Seven African Heads of State including among others Presidents of Kenya,
Uganda, Gabon, and Burkina Faso. Other delegates included Ministers and
CEO’s of blue chip firms.<br />
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDJNJOtJ3gzwU04ckiJAstnao9i2IZXmQ8hgODbwjWoze88ScSQl_2IEuF02WT3St85KsvvXlRwylu-7BcV3VtAZJdAMVbZN8W_22lDTAA8T1zT8qvuAEbN2DiJ0UncJqiCavMTht-_8/s1600/transform-africa-heads-of-state-summit-2013-kigali-rwanda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDJNJOtJ3gzwU04ckiJAstnao9i2IZXmQ8hgODbwjWoze88ScSQl_2IEuF02WT3St85KsvvXlRwylu-7BcV3VtAZJdAMVbZN8W_22lDTAA8T1zT8qvuAEbN2DiJ0UncJqiCavMTht-_8/s320/transform-africa-heads-of-state-summit-2013-kigali-rwanda.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Transform Africa Heads of State Summit 2013, Kigali Rwanda</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The summit was Co-hosted by President Paul Kagame and Dr. Hamadoun Toure, the
Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), with the
aim of pooling together International participants to set a new agenda for
Africa to leapfrog development challenges through the use and uptake of
Broadband and related services.<br />
<br />
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Six years ago in 2007, Rwanda took the lead and mobilized
the whole continent and the world around through ‘Connect Africa Summit’ and
that agenda has spread across the globe where there is now a Connect Asia,
Connect Americas among others.<br />
<br />
The summit focused on increasing and improving content affordability in a bid
to move Africa from a content generating continent rather than one that just
consumes, entrepreneurship and local capacity were also deliberated upon. Good
governance has also been identified as part of the catalysts of development.
ICTs as the latest focus platform were classified as an enabler and not a
standalone system.<br />
<br />
The four-day high level event was held under the theme, “The Future Delivered
Today” will devise ways on how Africa can leverage broadband to transform
communities, governments and the private sector. It is organized by
Rwanda a country that is passionate in its quest for change and is leading
Africa in ICT and not only formulating but executing developmental strategic
blue prints.<br />
<br />
Dr. Hamadoun Toure, the Secretary General of the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) applauded the summit saying “this encapsulates
the tremendous spirit of optimism and confidence which I see right across this
great continent of ours”. He went on to “ stress the importance of these
three different stakeholders – communities, businesses and governments”<wbr></wbr>
and emphasized once again that all three are absolutely crucial players
if we are to achieve the substantial social and economic progress this
continent deserves.<br />
<br />
Speaking at the conference, the President of Kenya H. E Uhuru Kenyatta said ICT
is no longer a luxury but a powerful tool that will help address most of the
problems facing Kenya and Africa at large. “We are determined to ensure
that our people fully benefit from the advantages to ICT and related
technology,”<wbr></wbr> adding that “ICT is being used in security, checking
corruption and promoting quality education, Innovations require young minds.
Broadband is one way of propelling Africa to prosperity.”<br />
<wbr></wbr><br />
<b>Ms. Sophia Bekele,</b> speaking at the "Infrastructure"<wbr></wbr>
session, gave update on the journey of DCA's current project .africa Domain,
saying " Our organization has been very much a part of the
International conference that was first launched as ConnectAfrica 2007, when we
introduced this very important Pan African initiative, to provide Africa an
online digital identity. This is evident from the list of projects still
hanging as part of the ITU commitment on the ConnectAfrica website. <a href="http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/connect/africa/2007/commitments/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.itu.int/<wbr></wbr>ITU-D/connect/<wbr></wbr>africa/2007/<wbr></wbr>commitments/<wbr></wbr>...</a>.
search "dotafrica": At the time we committed 100k USD and 6
years later, we have raised over 1million US dollars and campaigned all over
Africa to create awareness and the benefit to all African peoples and
organization. We have since been credited by the African people and the African
and International Media for our excellent work, over & over again".<br />
<br />
Asserting her organization's position in the summit, she said <i>"Our organization
has pioneered this initiative and we want to register for the record that this
Summit also acknowledges and registers our success. <b>DCA is an African
company that has met and exceeded its ConnectAfrica 2007 commitments</b> and 6
years later is Transforming Africa through ICT. We want the Summit to
acknowledge our Success."</i><br />
<br />
In yet another session, Bekele posed questions and made comments on what should
be included in the “<a href="http://transformafrica2013.org/IMG/pdf/smart_africa_manifesto_2013_-_english_version.pdf" target="_blank">Smart Africa Manifesto</a>”, an ICT Vision championed by Rwanda
Ministry, as an outcome to the conference. “It is a very topical issue
that will be much more relevant in near future will be, what is Africa's
articulated position on Global Internet Governance and Policy vs-a-vis the
present divergence of opinion that has become rather evident; whether
continuing with the status quo driven by US-based institutions or facilitating
a change to the UN/ITU led model as proposed by some countries?”, asked Bekele.<br />
<br />
She also asserted “There needs to be a structured involvement of Youth and
Women in ICT within the foundations of a strategy. There is a strong need
to encourage women and youth to embrace ICT. Where technology had a base
in engineering, which attracted mostly men in the past, now women can get
involved in the marketing and social media, a growing segment of ICT.
Finally, Public Private Partnerships should be encouraged with balanced
and open transparent bidding avenues”.<br />
<br />
Rwanda's Minister for Youth & ICT, Philbert Nsengimana called for the
implementation of the manifesto and ensuring the success of the SmartAfrica
agenda. "Let's make the dream of 'SmartAfrica' become true. SmartAfrica
will become a reality very soon." He said. <b>The new manifesto is built
on five principles:</b> To put ICT at the centre of our national socio-economic
development agenda, To improve access to ICT especially Broadband, To improve
accountability, efficiency and openness through ICT, To put the Private Sector
First, To leverage ICT to promote sustainable development.<br />
<br />
DotConnectAfrica is confident that the future of <b>Africa is secured today</b>
by ensuring that proper systems of governance is set up in order to encourage
technology development that will transform Africa. Africa is full of
potential and through such initiatives as <b>generation.africa</b> and <b>miss.africa,</b>
launched by DCA already, more youth and women will be empowered to drive
the continent to a new level.<br />
<br />
Participants hope to monitor progress through the Smart Africa Alliance, a
partnership between participating African states, the Africa Development Bank,
the World Bank, the ITU, and the private sector.</div>
dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-75177184082857415952013-10-25T02:03:00.000-07:002013-10-25T02:04:16.381-07:00DotConnectAfrica Comments to the Draft African Union Convention on the Establishment of A Credible Legal Framework For Cyber Security In Africa October 2013<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUIq-D3jIm2OUh2H51rhmtsySAM2No88nmO70jF7jhv_d1nsHMMoaqqrYT2aTt1am1XbnWj1Lp__Y_NCrEyrLOdUc3m5g35STO7inwOo8znJIrxpWMv1o4g0EhCRnrPsR8VdFTDEWiNdU/s1600/dotconnectafrica+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="dotconnectafrica logo" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUIq-D3jIm2OUh2H51rhmtsySAM2No88nmO70jF7jhv_d1nsHMMoaqqrYT2aTt1am1XbnWj1Lp__Y_NCrEyrLOdUc3m5g35STO7inwOo8znJIrxpWMv1o4g0EhCRnrPsR8VdFTDEWiNdU/s200/dotconnectafrica+logo.jpg" title="dotconnectafrica logo" width="173" /></a></div>
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<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEdEkcNEtSgMo9y8C8FhVErh0dIfNsJ_8vaaRGzf8uBN7LtSmDuVeJx-vDo581369KXisD1VmUKiNC6DgUWOD8aDxzlGEiVFRH7-S45-RjVtQ6PQcAVY9u6Ywbf1sMLsSkPMAd543cKHw/s1600/african+union.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEdEkcNEtSgMo9y8C8FhVErh0dIfNsJ_8vaaRGzf8uBN7LtSmDuVeJx-vDo581369KXisD1VmUKiNC6DgUWOD8aDxzlGEiVFRH7-S45-RjVtQ6PQcAVY9u6Ywbf1sMLsSkPMAd543cKHw/s200/african+union.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DotConnectAfrica is a
not-for-profit, non-partisan organization that has</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
its base of operation in
Nairobi, Kenya and headquartered in I/F River Court 6th Denis Street Port
Louis, Mauritius, Africa, is a millennial organization that has the African
Vision embedded in its inception and looks to create a continental domain and
registry that will not only revolutionize but also create a platform that will
nurture all other facets of African socio-economic development.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DotConnectAfrica appreciates the
subtle efforts that are being made daily by the governments in partnership with
private organizations to better the internet technology platform as a means of
bridging the digital divide and as such has participated in several similar
processes such as the improvement of the International telecommunications
Regulations that were being discussed in December 2012 at the World Conference
on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in <i>Dubai</i>, United Arab
Emirates.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The <a href="http://au.int/en/cyberlegislation" target="_blank">Draft Convention</a> should lay a
background for the African states to review their legislations on cyber
security. ICT is becoming a key element and player in the development of a
nation and more importantly day to day running of institutional mandates.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Businesses play a key role in
deriving and generating revenue that is used to run governmental affairs, this
affects how tax regimes and systems must be properly instituted to match the
changing commercial sector that is increasingly dependent on ICT and most
importantly mobile online transactions.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Africa is growing into this
important technology, ICT comes with several critical issues that must be
addressed for proper operations that can curb issues such as cyber crime that
includes fraud, impersonation, spam among many others. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Interventions that are of a
continental or global levels that require signing of such conventions must be
properly drafted and understood by all the stakeholders, this includes the
governments, businesses, academia and citizens, this will provide a harmonized
treaty that will at least not overlook critical existing individual government
legislations nor contradict them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Electronic commerce
organization, personal data protection, cyber security promotion and cyber
crime control are the most important factors of the online economy and while
it’s critical to create harmonized continental legislation it’s important that
the personal data and privacy is protected as the bottom line.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DotConnectAfrica has been
spearheading the proposed new Top Level Domain (TLD) .africa (DotAfrica)
Initiative since 2006. And has placed an application for DotAfrica to the
Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a US-based
institution that is at the apex of Global Internet Governance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We believe that multistakeholder
discussions will help create the best legislations for the governments as well
as continent and globally. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">See the comments <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/DotConnectAfrica-Comments-to-the-Draft-African-Union-Convention-on-the-Establishment-of-A-Credible-Legal-Framework-For-Cyber-Security-In-Africa-October-2013.pdf" target="_blank">here </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Link to the Draft Convention <a href="http://au.int/en/cyberlegislation" target="_blank">here</a> </span></div>
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dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-67814754387273134412013-10-24T04:58:00.001-07:002013-10-24T04:58:12.833-07:00DotConnectAfrica Contributes to the Agenda 2063 of the Africa Union <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQfRsLMf88Ko33WBRpSvJ1mGuJUi4gMzKU2O2kqlFt9xfzm554YAD1T7UcOuRSx9-5UhtcZv55wk4fdbbgVNvbb6eELFbeyk4iEF-QNSObbuParrmdw0AmUQnTNGdJuOHc-HehRIOB6-g/s1600/dotconnectafrica+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQfRsLMf88Ko33WBRpSvJ1mGuJUi4gMzKU2O2kqlFt9xfzm554YAD1T7UcOuRSx9-5UhtcZv55wk4fdbbgVNvbb6eELFbeyk4iEF-QNSObbuParrmdw0AmUQnTNGdJuOHc-HehRIOB6-g/s200/dotconnectafrica+logo.jpg" width="193" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DotConnectAfrica has contributed to the ambitious future
roadmap whose vision for Africa is that of “An Integrated, prosperous and
peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in
the global arena”. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DotConnectAfrica is a not-for-profit, non-partisan
organization that has its base of operation in Nairobi, Kenya and headquartered
in I/F River Court 6th Denis Street Port Louis, Mauritius, Africa,is a
millennial organization that has the African Vision embedded in its inception and
looks to create a continental domain and registry that will not only
revolutionize but also create a platform that will nurture all other facets of
African socio-economic development. </div>
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<br /></div>
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In this regard, DotConnectAfrica (DCA) has been spearheading
the proposed new Top Level Domain (TLD) .africa (DotAfrica) Initiative since
2006. DotAfrica is one of the new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs)
that will be delegated into the root zone of the Internet Domain Name Structure
(DNS) by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a
US-based institution that is at the apex of Global Internet Governance. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu763Uke7qf9xicHXv0hYSpDG9PnSWhStF58RmCm7RsL7qACacQBBiQXyY2ybRuy0b61gb0fRBcTs0TlV0r2ukLWoILKb8lNrKSH82qzTx0jTkeBR-S7cRX6WsjFY2kFNDX0w-5bOhleI/s1600/agenda+2063+dotconnectafrica+AU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu763Uke7qf9xicHXv0hYSpDG9PnSWhStF58RmCm7RsL7qACacQBBiQXyY2ybRuy0b61gb0fRBcTs0TlV0r2ukLWoILKb8lNrKSH82qzTx0jTkeBR-S7cRX6WsjFY2kFNDX0w-5bOhleI/s320/agenda+2063+dotconnectafrica+AU.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
According to the Agenda 2063 <a href="http://agenda2063.au.int/en/vision">Vision and Priorities website</a>, the
main elements of “Agenda 2063” at the operational level are/will be outlined.
At its heart, this new roadmap, emphasizes the importance to success of
rekindling the passion for Pan-Africanism, a sense of unity, self-reliance,
integration and solidarity that was a highlight of the triumphs of the 20th
century.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DotConnectAfrica has in its agenda initiatives that are
aimed at creating a connected Africa.DCA understands that the youth and women
are the greatest assets of any organization or community and as such the most
formidable way to catalyze growth is to partner to increase ICT’s expertise and
reach to these groups.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DCA intends to utilize surplus proceeds from the registry
operation accruing to the Trust Fund for Charitable projects. Funds
will be regularly allocated to different corporate social responsibility
programs. Specific projects will be identified, and supported. Such
programs will include The Miss.africa program is a gender-focused initiative
targeted mainly at female youth audiences in Africa to increase their personal
involvement in early technology use and adoption with a view to improving their
digital self-awareness and empowerment, and overall self-esteem and
Generation.africa is a youth focused program launched by DCA to empower a new
generation of Internet users in Africa using its Generation.africa theme.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DotConnectAfrica has in the past participated with several
global and Continental organizations to front the amazing ability of internet
technology to bridge the digital divide and as such believes that the synergy with
organizations such as the Africa Union, United Nations Economic Commission for
Africa UNECA), and International and regional organizations such as the
Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and
(ICANN), The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), The Internet Society
(ISOC), Internationalized Domain Resolution Union (IDRU) will create best
practices that will spur Africa’s tech future.</div>
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The link for the contribution <a href="http://agenda2063.au.int/en/sites/default/files/Contribution%20by%20DotConnectAfrica%20Trust%20to%20Agenda%202063%20by%20African%20Union%20October%202013.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> , <a href="http://www.dotconnectafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Contribution-by-DotConnectAfrica-Trust-to-Agenda-2063-by-African-Union-October-2013.pdf" target="_blank">PDF</a><a href="http://agenda2063.au.int/en/sites/default/files/Contribution%20by%20DotConnectAfrica%20Trust%20to%20Agenda%202063%20by%20African%20Union%20October%202013.pdf" target="_blank"> </a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-12869363250744991832013-03-27T02:46:00.002-07:002013-03-27T04:54:45.460-07:00ICANN CEO optimistic while discussing New gTLD Milestones and Deadlines<br />
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" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="author vcard fn">Fadi Chehadé ICANN CEO</span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12937" style="background-color: white;">
March 20, 2013, The ICANN CEO <span class="yiv248624154author" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12945">Fadi
Chehadé <a href="http://blog.icann.org/2013/03/new-gtld-milestones-and-deadlines/" target="_blank">gave a video report discussing the current new gTLD process</a> its milestones
and the deadlines that have been set. Throughout his talk, the CEO was
confident and optimistic about the developments that have been achieved so far
and more so after he took over the reins of the organization that manages the
DNS.</span></div>
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12949" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal;">
<span class="yiv248624154author"><br /></span></div>
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12889" style="background-color: white;">
<span class="yiv248624154author" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12888">He gave a report of his global trips that
he has managed to be on these past months and especially mentioned Africa, the
continent that ICANN has worked hard and has put steps forward to increase
relations and activities that hopefully will help increase the DNS business
sector that is still growing. This he says has given him incredible enthusiasm
for the new gTLD program.</span></div>
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12949" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal;">
<span class="yiv248624154author"><br /></span></div>
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12954" style="background-color: white;">
<span class="yiv248624154author" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12888"></span><br />
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12895" style="background-color: white;">
<span class="yiv248624154author" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12927">The CEO talked about how it’s going to
affect the world and the anticipation with which all stakeholders were looking
forward to an expanded DNS, like entrepreneurs looking to expand their ideas,
the commitment of those who want to express themselves in their own scripts
like the Chinese and Arabic users, governments looking to expand their economies
in the planet.</span></div>
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12951" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal;">
<span class="yiv248624154author"><br /></span></div>
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12981">
<span class="yiv248624154author" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12980"><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12979" style="background-color: white;">Kenya was mentioned as an example of a
country that has focused on the internet as a key element of its economies,
where 20% of its GDP is based on ICT a remarkable state, South Africa known for
mining is also big on the internet business. </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12976" style="background-color: white;">
He was pleased that ICANN is on track and within its
timelines ,mentioning the Drawing URS Contention sets and this week the first
batch of the initial evaluation panel results were released in order of the
prioritization draw.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12952" style="background-color: white;">
The trademark clearing house he said is also ready to take
on the registration of the new trademarks
which is expected to begin on March 26, 2013. The Strawman solution and
the immense numbers of public comments that aided in making decisions that
affect the process, such as implementing the 30 day period for each sunrise of
a new gTLD, among others</div>
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12896" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12953" style="background-color: white;">
He promised that all milestones will be in place and that
all the target dates will be achieved. That will culminate to the delegation of
gTLDs <span class="yiv248624154yshortcuts" id="yiv248624154lw_1364359906_5"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1364374399_1">on April 23<sup>rd</sup></span></span>, he requested that there is need for a common
stand that will help in hitting the set targets</div>
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12975" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv248624154MsoNormal" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1364359885280_12954" style="background-color: white;">
He concludes that “the excitement about the new gTLDs is
global and is upon us and I urge all of us to keep that focus in mind and to
work together without cutting corners but rather with collegiality, with genuine
common interest, always from the bottom up, always involving everyone with
public interest and the growth in DNS
balanced properly so that we can be proud of what we achieved in these weeks”</div>
<br />
View the video below </div>
</div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="200" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P8eqFSyD_Ts" width="270"></iframe>
dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-37135119534354911512013-01-04T05:05:00.001-08:002013-01-04T05:21:56.113-08:00DotConnectAfrica’s Reflections on the WCIT-12 Process<div class="ha">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">DotConnectAfrica Trust<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>being an independent, non-profit and non-partisan organization that is based in
Nairobi Kenya and a Stakeholder in the Internet development and also
an new gTLD of the applicant “.africa” string. We are an organization
whose main charitable objects are: for the advancement of education
in information technology to the African society; and in connection with to
provide the African society with a continental Internet domain name to
have access to Internet services for the people of Africa as a purpose
beneficial to the public in general.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS-DwtUAF8kR13cr3it1JQBStkfzcTEl2NMjWl4WtEfT4c89_v--w" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="rg_hi uh_hi" data-height="238" data-width="211" height="200" id="rg_hi" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS-DwtUAF8kR13cr3it1JQBStkfzcTEl2NMjWl4WtEfT4c89_v--w" style="height: 238px; width: 211px;" width="177" /></a><span style="font-weight: normal;">DotConnectAfrica has always
encouraged all stakeholders to participate in this dialog, in particular the
African Diaspora. In our observation and reflections of the <a href="http://www.itu.int/en/wcit-12/Pages/public.aspx" target="_blank">Dubai WCIT 2012</a>
process we wish to observe that the WCIT conference though much
anticipated failed to achieve its goals of successfully providing new ITR’s.
The meeting proceedings came below the expectations of majority of the ITU member
states. Many came expecting dialogue and proper communication mechanisms to
provide free flow of knowledge and information but that was never to be.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Among the minimum issues that
Internet community worldwide expected to be wisely managed are that WCIT would
steer clear of the Internet governance and content and that there would be
proper balance of all voices to no avail despite the assurances of the ITU
Secretary General.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The intensity at which the proposals
touched on the internet threatens the very existence of this diverse and free
resource. DotConnectAfrica observes the involvement of the Multistakeholder
approach in all internet related issues and encourages that it must be adopted
if the continued thriving of the internet is to be upheld.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">DCA encourages that any other
discussions that concerning internet governance must be properly managed ,
organized and facilitated in a manner that will not endanger the gains that
have been achieved at the expense of a few.</span></span></div>
dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-57402026560434838172012-12-11T06:44:00.000-08:002012-12-11T06:44:14.707-08:00A 397 - 0 vote : US Congress passes a new resolution to opposie UN Internet takeover.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisCNJwst9Qfi1DavVYb9ilFxnLzyEvX1Ei349BLh9WeLFpZJ8jnh3w7inR_rTQqSX79i7yczOY2s9SaljMxRYLgxeoAgx_LbPRktPlRRDqs7447HATxNXhadh5Eoz5kPe7dwhNRNCZDbc/s1600/WCIT12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisCNJwst9Qfi1DavVYb9ilFxnLzyEvX1Ei349BLh9WeLFpZJ8jnh3w7inR_rTQqSX79i7yczOY2s9SaljMxRYLgxeoAgx_LbPRktPlRRDqs7447HATxNXhadh5Eoz5kPe7dwhNRNCZDbc/s200/WCIT12.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a unanimously 397 to 0 Vote in favour of a resolution
by the US House of Representatives urging the U.S. government not to give the
United Nations' International Telecommunication Union (ITU) control over the Internet.
The WCIT conference that started last Monday ends on December 14.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to the House's website, the bill passed by the
U.S. Senate in September emphasizes the importance of the Internet to the
global economy, saying that "<i>it is essential that the Internet remain
stable, secure, and free from government control.</i>"<br />
<br />
The house’s adoption of the resolution was intended to send a clear
message to the ITU a UN wing not to increase government control over the
Internet during the World Conference on International Telecommunications
(WCIT)that is underway in Dubai. The <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112sconres50es/pdf/BILLS-112sconres50es.pdf" target="_blank">the adopted bill</a> read that the proposals by the UN body to
increase control over the Internet "<i>would undermine</i>" the current
organization of the internet "that has enabled the Internet to flourish “.
<br />
<br />
This is not the first time the House has urged the Obama's administration
in Washington to continue promoting a free universal internet devoid of any
governmental control. In June, the House Energy and Commerce Committee
passed another resolution telling the ITU <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/257965/house_panel_itu_should_stay_away_from_internet_regulation.html" target="_blank">to keep its hands of the Internet</a>. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI6Cv0Jp4gbqT7KSaiKaIwSiKJJXjYN2r61v446Usb9-bgWT5tyX2kX80eS-MJLFzmZ7Yapck5dVlkySnV5xFh1rq38TAxDRRorXpoR6-fOO5g6uEs1c8akz3yPswDyR-U9OY1XgBCrTI/s1600/Terry+Kramer,+U.S.+ambassador+to+the+World+Conference+on+International+Telecommunications+2012+(WCIT).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI6Cv0Jp4gbqT7KSaiKaIwSiKJJXjYN2r61v446Usb9-bgWT5tyX2kX80eS-MJLFzmZ7Yapck5dVlkySnV5xFh1rq38TAxDRRorXpoR6-fOO5g6uEs1c8akz3yPswDyR-U9OY1XgBCrTI/s200/Terry+Kramer,+U.S.+ambassador+to+the+World+Conference+on+International+Telecommunications+2012+(WCIT).jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="promoted-image-information caption">
<div class="promoted-image-caption">
Terry
Kramer, U.S. ambassador to the WCIT </div>
<div class="field field-name-image-credits field-type-text field-label-above field-bundle-photo">
<div class="field-label">
Credits:
</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div>
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Another government that is also wary of the ITU plans
alongside the USA is <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=P7-RC-2012-0498&language=EN" target="_blank">the European Commission</a> which put it clear last Friday it
was opposed to increasing the ITU's powers over the Internet during the
conference, following a <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=P7-RC-2012-0498&language=EN" target="_blank">vote by the EU Parliament loudly</a> calling for negotiators to
block such attempts.<br />
<br />
While many stakeholders in the Internet including companies <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/takeaction/whats-at-stake/" target="_blank">such
as Google</a> , organisations and governments are alarmed that the ITU will
increase its powers at conference, the ITU has insisted that the worried
parties have not understood what the WCIT conference can decide on saying that
conference cannot grant the ITU regulatory powers over the Internet, the
organization <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/113012-itu-goes-on-the-defensive-264693.html" target="_blank">emphasized on Friday</a>, adding that "it seems the
message is simply not getting through." <br />
<br />
<a href="http://internetdefenseleague.org/" target="_blank">Protests against
the ITU's move</a> have also attracted support from different quaters including
academia such as the Harvard Law Professor Jack Goldsmith. <a href="http://www.lawfareblog.com/2012/11/wcit-12-an-opinionated-primer-and-hysteria-debunker-2/#more-10219" target="_blank">Goldsmith in his detailed blog post</a> has attempted to debunk
what he called pre-WCIT "hysteria”.</div>
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<br /></div>
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DotConnectAfrica had also opposed such moves. The DCA
President in her <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>commentary the “<a href="http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs053/1102516344150/archive/1109716931171.html">Empire
Fights Back” </a> on internet freedom and governance, Bekele stated, The
battles lines are already drawn. “<i>An open, inclusive, participatory,
multi-stakeholder Internet goes beyond ordinary 'Internet
governance', and is really about whether people should be free in a
global society. It is all about the Universal Right to Freedom, and the
UN, the main guarantor of Human and People's Rights, should not be unwittingly
used as a tool to rein in that sacrosanct freedom bestowed on people everywhere
by a Free Internet in the name of an ITU-led and controlled Internet
governance architecture. Is it not
ironic that a multi-lateral UN-ITU led Internet governance
process is not aimed at guaranteeing a multi-stakeholder
Internet?</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Model that DCA openly support is the Multistakeholder
format where everybody has a voice and stake in the governance of the internet,
as fact reinforced by Bekele’s <a href="http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs053/1102516344150/archive/1109793953303.html">open
letter to the US Senate</a>, stating “<i>The Internet itself has proved to be a
very useful platform for bringing Africa into the mainstream of global
information and communication technology usage, and its gradual and increasing
availability is helping Africa to bridge the so-called 'Digital Divide</i>”.</div>
dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-90994449540340186962012-11-12T23:45:00.000-08:002012-11-12T23:45:41.745-08:00DotConnectAfrica E-Participates at the Baku IGF 2012 - Contributes to ITU Changes<em>The Seventh Annual The Internet Governance Forum that was held in
Baku, Azerbaijan from 6-9 November 2012 has finally come to a close.
DCA was not present physically but participated in various sessions of
the IGF meetings remotely.</em><br />
<em> </em>
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil2va5de9vuZSqjPKuR3TCE3udD0sY2itd2WOOJUljT3m_RIRq8lc2x3zflzeU10br-O06MZzmo5vpS6UNvC4TOD060OIhoBJMzBtOt2vNFhdTejov6PsLBmZ6aZz59tC9LD3GYYctjhw/s1600/Dotafrica+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil2va5de9vuZSqjPKuR3TCE3udD0sY2itd2WOOJUljT3m_RIRq8lc2x3zflzeU10br-O06MZzmo5vpS6UNvC4TOD060OIhoBJMzBtOt2vNFhdTejov6PsLBmZ6aZz59tC9LD3GYYctjhw/s1600/Dotafrica+logo.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUvLm4I0VO6zpBztvZDxDUB9U0iMoknLHsckHgmWuK5Mc6YSXpCxlpwRGc2lP627o3FFRkgm8mcUo4XdAM4DV2CwidkCod86SKAIbZsTImP_r0-iB-r6-LdUBgTxUkuBfAudzSWqvqkFU/s1600/12020601-igf-baku.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUvLm4I0VO6zpBztvZDxDUB9U0iMoknLHsckHgmWuK5Mc6YSXpCxlpwRGc2lP627o3FFRkgm8mcUo4XdAM4DV2CwidkCod86SKAIbZsTImP_r0-iB-r6-LdUBgTxUkuBfAudzSWqvqkFU/s1600/12020601-igf-baku.jpg" /></a>
The meeting's main theme was: 'Internet Governance for Sustainable
Human, Economic and Social Development'. Internet experts and advocates
from around the world attended the conference.
<br />
The Baku IGF comes at a time when major changes are happening to the
internet and telecommunications landscape. For example ICANN is
currently evaluating over 1390 applications that were made during this
year's new gTLD program.<br />
<br />
Other remarkable changes in the offing include the ITU changes for the
International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs). These regulations
have not been updated since 1988. A broad consensus was made on the need
to update the ITRs to comply with the 21st century's ICT landscape.
Therefore, in 11 July 2012, the ITU Council decided that the Draft of
the future ITRS be made publicly accessible for an open consultation
process, where all stakeholders could express their views and opinions
on the content of the Draft of the future ITRs or any other matter
related to WCIT.
<br />
DotConnectAfrica as a concerned stakeholder in the ICT sector of the
African continent submitted several recommendations to that effect.
DCA's contribution has been published at <a href="http://www.itu.int/en/wcit-12/Pages/public.aspx">ITU's Public Views and Opinions</a> page.<br />
<br />
DCA's submissions on ITU's ITRs looked at the various sections that need
to be critically analyzed to take account of coming changes. These will
include the current advancements to the Telecommunications sector
including Mobile and Internet. With the major technological changes that
have occurred, the world is looking at the World Conference on
International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) which runs from 3-14 December
in Dubai.
<a href="http://www.circleid.com/posts/20121112_dotconnectafrica_e_participates_at_the_baku_igf_2012/" target="_blank">Read More</a>dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-41405894673514188722012-11-01T02:48:00.001-07:002012-11-01T02:49:08.855-07:00DotConnectAfrica Participates in ICANN 45 Toronto Unveils new IBCA Initiative at ICANN Public Forum <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DotConnectAfrica at ICANN 45 Toronto.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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DotConnectAfrica had participated at the ICANN45 Meeting in
Toronto, in Canada. DotConnectAfrica which was represented by its Back-End
Registry Partner CentralNIC. DotConnectAfrica used the afforded presence of the
entire ICANN Global Community gathered at Toronto to also unveil the IBCA – Internet
Business Council for Africa –an initiative that it has independently developed
as a component of the ICANN Africa Strategy. The objective of the IBCA is to
increase and promote the participation of the African Private Sector, and the
Africa/Global non-governmental constituency (involved in Africa) in the ICANN
community and in Global Internet Governance.</div>
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The opening speech by the new ICANN CEO emphasized new
management delivery goals and objectives that are pivoted on Affirmation of
Purpose, Operations Excellence, Internationalization, and Multi-stakeholder
Model Evolution; to be driven by a new global leadership that is operating
based on a new management structure. Mr Clement who spoke on behalf of the
Canadian government emphasized that vast potential that the Internet is and how
it has transformed how the world communicates. He further outlined the efforts
of the Canadian government to ensure an open Internet and the free flow of
information, a key component to stimulating innovation, growth and
accountability.</div>
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The ICANN-45 Meeting in Toronto also saw the presentation of
the initial draft of the ICANN Africa Strategy by the Africa Strategy Working
Group (ASWG). This initiative is hoped to increase the activity of ICANN
in Africa and further press for more development oriented platforms in
advancing the multi stakeholder approach.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ICANN TORONTO</td></tr>
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The IBCA which was also introduced by DCA is an initiative
that will rally alongside the ICANN strategy . It’s a strategy that is meant to
run separately from and according to the DCA president Ms. Bekele : “<i><span style="color: #444444;">the
proposed IBCA initiative squarely and tangibly addresses an important issue
regarding increased African private sector participation at ICANN in a rather
straight-forward manner</span></i>”. ”<span style="color: #444444;"><i>This is what makes the IBCA proposal quite
compelling</i></span>“, she added.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DCA President Ms. Bekele at ICANN Toronto</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The ICANN 45 meeting was also a ripe opportunity that DCA
delegates met Dr. Tarek Kamel who is the Senior Advisor to the ICANN President
& CEO and also has the responsibility of leading the formulation of the
ICANN Africa Strategy. The meeting with Dr. Kamel was utilized by DCA Trust to
discuss the scope of the ICANN Africa Strategy, and after receiving the
necessary reassurances that DCA Trust can participate in the Africa Strategy,
DCA announced the IBCA initiative formally.</div>
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The Toronto meeting was a successful time for DCA who
actively participated in the deliberations that transpired. The venue was also
a welcome chance for the new gTLD program updates. The most recent activity
concluded is the Public Comments Period which featured the submission of 8,956
comments for the Evaluation/Review Panels. In addition, 127 Change Requests
were submitted by applicants, and 29 have so far been approved whilst 84 are in
review, and 14 would require follow-up with applicants. So far, 7 applications
have been withdrawn and no objections have been filed.</div>
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dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-26563224387473335952012-10-30T00:46:00.001-07:002012-10-30T00:48:52.131-07:00DotConnectAfrica Trust (DCA Trust) celebrates the launch of SophiaBekele.com<div style="text-align: left;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu_PX-ymJ58aH382NMtX1kWxF_1pS2F20k0GHrMSFssX06Je497yrgT_m2cb7_88YS0jNEAHvtuMClZA2nKi0tx0VEMPxNcB3aJHdK3L60j7DNntIMuAnVNLyfhnQ5br4N_hqOH5t4NK4/s1600/SophiaBekele.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu_PX-ymJ58aH382NMtX1kWxF_1pS2F20k0GHrMSFssX06Je497yrgT_m2cb7_88YS0jNEAHvtuMClZA2nKi0tx0VEMPxNcB3aJHdK3L60j7DNntIMuAnVNLyfhnQ5br4N_hqOH5t4NK4/s400/SophiaBekele.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ms. Sophia Bekele</td></tr>
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DotConnectAfrica Trust (DCA Trust) celebrates the launch of
the new professional website of its founder and CEO, Ms. Sophia Bekele (<a href="http://www.sophiabekele.com/" target="_blank">http://www.sophiabekele.com</a>).
The website and attempts to introduce as well as capture the professional
life and biography of Ms. Bekele who has pursed diverse corporate interests and
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Sophia Bekele is arguably one of
Global Technology and Internet Authorities. Having studied and worked in the
most technology vibrant State, in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley California
with Blue Chip organizations, then as an Entrepreneur with successful projects,
this daughter of Africa from (Ethiopia) has made great impact in the Technology
and the Business World.</div>
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A Woman with a future and a past,
Sophia is well known in the Global ICT and Internet Society in her efforts to
connect Africa to the rest of the World. With a long history of advocacy for
private sector participation in the development agenda for emerging economies
& Africa, and defining the role of governments through education as well as
holding them to high standards of accountability and transparency, Bekele has
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As We launch the website the entire DCA fraternity wishes
her success in all her present and future endeavors</div>
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You can have a look at the website and explore <a href="http://sophiabekele.com/" target="_blank">here </a><a href="http://sophiabekele.com/" target="_blank"></a></div>
dotconnectafricahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15057355373203740851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672090558044889529.post-36651968940950873342012-10-29T01:11:00.001-07:002012-10-29T23:59:42.908-07:00DotConnectAfrica attends AITEC 2012 Annual Summit.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;">DotConnectAfrica
was privileged to be among the delegates to the <a href="http://aitecafrica.com/event/view/81" target="_blank">AITEC Africa Summit</a> held at the
Oshwal Centre, Nairobi, 24-25 October .AITEC is the continent’s leading
business event organizer for the ICT sector, is celebrating 25 years of serving
Africa’s ICT community by holding a series of regional ICT Summits each year.
The Summit covers West, Southern and East Africa.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYFhZCt8R7XYKeNdIVgOANDALyyGhJc5JZWv8FbakB84ZJYDjQPJS_4VNC1_Fb8px7RUqxdxaprb9rXS8A5F_ecaw2AhSd7GYgCprktobCgeRV8IWJV9KdBgAXdeUW2MEffODYFulRp4c/s1600/DotConnectAfrica+at+AITEC+2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYFhZCt8R7XYKeNdIVgOANDALyyGhJc5JZWv8FbakB84ZJYDjQPJS_4VNC1_Fb8px7RUqxdxaprb9rXS8A5F_ecaw2AhSd7GYgCprktobCgeRV8IWJV9KdBgAXdeUW2MEffODYFulRp4c/s320/DotConnectAfrica+at+AITEC+2012.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>DotConnectAfrica at AITEC 2012</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;">The
Summit brought together speakers from all over the globe to discuss ICT with
the theme: <b>“Smart Cities > Smart Societies > Smart Enterprises”</b> and it
also included a market-leading business-to-business exhibition alongside the
extensive conference programme, whose focus areas were Data Security World
,Cloud Computing World ,Mobile Applications World Smart Exports: ICT-empowered
services.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;"> Africa
is gaining much ground in the ICT fiend and a such has become the focus of
world leading firms to develop and establish long standing business enterprise
relationships across the continent. This coupled with an extensive and
ambitious multiple fiber connectivity that has provided the much needed
broadband capacity to accommodate the rising need for bandwidth and favorable
speeds.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;">The
mobile sector is also largely the most advancing facet of the African internet
quest for attaining the levels of developed nations in this information age.
This comes clear even as the statistics show an exponential increase in the
number of mobile devices subscribers, this coupled with young innovators who
have risen to the task of developing locally compliant mobile applications to
serve the immediate needs of its market share.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;">While
giving his key note speech, The Permanent Secretary Ministry of
Information and Communications Dr. Ndemo stressed on the need for the
young people to be empowered so that they can be self reliant especially now
that more opportunities for developing local content and applications is great,
Speaking on the Smart cities, he noted the importance of developing such cyber
cities to match the rapidly changing internet landscape. This includes
Deploying ICT solutions to increase the quality of life for both urban and
rural populations while delivering improved services in healthcare, education,
agriculture and housing.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;">Issues
of Cyber Security were also part of great deliberations with the panelists as
well as delegates stressing on the importance of new focus in the development
of mechanisms to counter the rise of cyber threats, a fact that is more real
now than ever before. Cloud Computing was also a key topic with the experts
outlining the rising need for the cloud technology to be utilized,
delegates also learned on the implications and the need for a concerted effort
to analyze risks as well as benefits before deploying the cloud.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;">Another
important session included the “ICT Skills Gap Forum” whose eminent panelists
included industry , academia and Government experts who discussed extensively
on the rapidly dynamic workforce environment and how to fill the gap that
exists between the Academic and job sector. Since the workforce IT needs keep
changing. “<span style="color: #666666;"><i>It has therefore become imperative that academic institutions
actively engage with the private sector and government to be aware of what they
need to incorporate into their curricula in order to prepare their graduates
adequately for the job market</i></span>” said Sean Moroney, Chairman AITEC.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #666666;"><i>“There
is no doubt that universities and tertiary institutions are providing a large
pool of graduates. The problem however lies in the large disparity between
academia and work. Accreditation has therefore become key in this market”</i></span>
Concluded Kevit Desai, Chairman of the Linking Industry With Academia (LIWA)
Trust.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;">In
closing, the Minister of Information and Communications Hon, Samuel Phogisio
Concluded by thanking the conveners of the AITEC Summit especially recognizing
Mr. Moroney for working tirelessly for over 25 years to continuously organize
successful events to tackle changing ICT sector, he noted that more needed to
be done even as Kenya and indeed Africa and the world were embracing ICT </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;">DotConnectAfrica
looks forward to attending more AITEC summits and congratulates AITEC for 25
years of excellence.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;"></span></div>
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