Re: [atlarge-discuss] It could happen anywhere

["todd glassey" <todd.glassey@worldnet.att.net>]

Ron I would put it to the group that it is this commentary that seeks to
"inhibit" the growth of the Internet and not the South African's. What the
SA regime is tired of is putting up with having to be dot ZA. ICANN has
basically shat all over the third world and still refuses to put in place a
reasonable IP representation system or to address the fact that they are not
the only game in town.

Look - its simple math - you do it yourself and then tell us how it adds
up:"

    Q1    Who is responsible for what protocols are routed on the Internet?
ICANN? - Wrong the Network Operators.

    Q2    If the Government of SA wants to setup its own ROOT ZONE and offer
to its people the entirety of its OWN dot COM, NET, or ORG, who is going to
stop them? ICANN? WorldNet? So who then? --- The only answer here is that
they would need to come up with a way to bridge between Root Zones.

    Q3    If the SA IT Managers say to the manufacturers that they needed a
notation form/ solution for expanding DNS such that it can represent
multiple root zones simultaneously, they would respond "OK" and then
implement this? So the question is "Does anyone care if the IETF picks it up
at that point?", I think that the answer is no.

After all The PSO's are to be split off of ICANN as part of the reforming of
it anyway. My take is that if that is the case, then there is Study Group #2
of the ITU and they would love to handle this matter of adding Root Zones
and a protocol to manage it to DNS, I already checked.

    Q4    Perhaps then if ICANN cant get its act together to deal with the
limited Marque Types that work on the Internet, and to increase the
available domains, then what do we need them for anyway? Its groups like
NANOG where the rubber of operating the Internet meets the road.

So add them up - these are simple questions - and they all point to the same
place. That this Internet is not run by the ICANN, despite what anyone would
have you believe, and that we need to implement individual root zones and a
notation form to get us back and forth between them.

Todd Glassey

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Sherwood" <sherwood@islands.vi>
To: <atlarge-discuss@lists.fitug.de>
Sent: Saturday, June 08, 2002 12:14 PM
Subject: [atlarge-discuss] It could happen anywhere


Dear fellow at-largers:

    Today's report on the political battle over .za is copied below.

    The claim that the majority of South Africans do not have access to the
Internet, has nothing whatsoever to do with Domain Name management.  It is
simply political deception used to persuade the ignorant to accept
nationalization of that management.

    This could happen anywhere.  The first time that it does, the rot will
have started.  The only way to keep the Internet from becoming another
political franchise, subject to embargo and national exploitation is for it
to be controlled by a strong, organized, global, user based entity that
crosses all political and national boundaries.  This should be our wake-up
call and should define our mandate.

Ron Sherwood

S. Africa plans to control Net name
Controversy stirs over who will control '.za'
June 7, 2002 Posted: 10:39 AM EDT (1439 GMT)


June 7, 2002 Posted: 10:39 AM EDT (1439 GMT)


CAPE TOWN, South Africa (Reuters) -- South Africa's parliament gave initial
approval on Friday to a law designed to expand access to the Internet, but
which critics say could force the network to shut down in the country.

The Electronic Communication and Transactions Bill adopted by the National
Assembly gives legal status to Internet communications, contracts and
trades.

But it also proposes to take over the administration of South African
Internet domains, identified by the ".za" suffix in addresses, without
seeking the approval of the international authority that administers the
Internet roadmap.

Nkenke Kekana, chairman of the parliamentary committee that approved the
draft, told legislators the management of the Internet could not be left to
individuals.

"Change is imperative...We need a stable, representative and democratic
model of domain naming and allocation in our region," he said.

Opposition legislator Dene Smuts accused the government of nationalizing the
administration of the .za suffix that identifies all South Africa Web sites
and addresses, saying the government was obsessed with "empire building and
control."

Referring to warnings from Internet administrators that violation of
international conventions on domain name management could see the South
African section of the network shutdown, she told parliament:

"This bill fails to avert the danger that we will lose South Africa's major
connection to the Internet itself...This net grab simply nationalizes domain
name administration," she said before voting against it.

Domain names -- the ".com" and ".uk" type suffixes of addresses and Web
sites -- are the foundation of Internet navigation. They have been subject
to fierce competition with early users trying to claim addresses and domains
that might become valuable.

Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said the Bill would allow the
drafting of regulations to ensure that more and more South Africans would be
able to access the Internet.

"For e-commerce to make an impact on sustainable economic growth, all South
Africans should become active participants in electronic communication and
transactions," she said.

Equal access
Matsepe-Casaburri dismissed criticism of the proposed domain-name takeover,
telling parliament: "The sometimes hysterical and irrational debate on the
issue of the domain name...is indicative of mindsets that have not yet come
to terms with the democratic government in existence today."

The .za domain name is administered under a mandate from the international
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) by local
Internet pioneer Mike Lawrie.

Lawrie told Reuters earlier this week he was keen to be rid of the domain
name administration he has handled without pay for a decade, but insisted it
had to be done under ICANN rules.

He said a law making his administration illegal would conflict with ICANN
rules requiring him and the Internet community of South Africa to approve
redelegation of the role.

"If it becomes illegal for me to do the job under South African law and if I
am not authorized by ICANN to hand over the administration, the .za domain
will have to shut down until the issue is cleared up," he said in an
interview.

Lawrie oversees a series of computer files that are central to the South
African Internet roadmap and would have to hand these to any future
administrator. Without them, the South African network would have to be
rebuilt from scratch.

The bill proposes that Matsepe-Casaburri should appoint a panel to choose a
board for a new non-profit company that will take over the so-called
"namespace administration."

It does not provide for approval by ICANN, acknowledged around the world as
the global administrator of domain names.

The independent Media Africa group estimates around 2.4 million of South
Africa's 44 million people had access to the Internet by the end of 2000,
leaving most of the black majority out of the network.




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