Friday, November 20, 2009

IGF 2009: Concluding summary @ Sharm El-Shelkh


Sharm el-Sheikh, 18 November 2009 - The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) concluded today its fourth meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where it met from 15 to 18 November 2009 with calls from participants to extend the Internet Governance Forum beyond its current mandate. With more than 1800 participants from 112 countries, the 2009 Forum saw the largest attendance record since its inception in 2006. The participants reflected the diversity of internet users and came from governments, international organizations, the Internet community, the private sector, civil society and the media.

Discussions in Sharm el-Sheikh, chaired by Tarek Kamel, the Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology, examined ways to improve Internet access by all and promote local content and cultural diversity; ensure the safety of the Internet and fight cybercrime; manage key Internet resources such as the root server system, technical standards, interconnection and telecommunications, the domain name system and Internet protocol addresses. The meeting also discussed new issues related to the continued growth of social networks, and the ensuing governance issues that are emerging, in particular, the need for new approaches regarding privacy and data protection, rules applicable to user-generated content and copyrighted material, and issues of freedom of expression and illegal content. Parallel to the main sessions on these issues, more than 100 workshops, best practice forums, dynamic coalition meetings and open forums were held around the broad themes of the main sessions and the overall mandate of the IGF.

The Forum, which was set up with an initial mandate of five years that expire next year, extensively discussed the issue of the future of the Forum beyond 2010, the end of its current mandate of 5 years. Sha Zukang, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, who led formal consultations with Forum participants on the "desirability of the continuation of the Forum", stressed the centrality of the principle of inclusiveness and the need for continued discussions on public policy issues related to the Internet in some form. A report on these consultations will be presented to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who will then communicate his recommendation to the General-Assembly.

High ranking government officials who took the floor at the opening of the meeting agreed that the IGF should continue to meet beyond 2010, stressing that IGF had proven its usefulness. Support for the continuation of the Forum was expressed all through the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting and reiterated in closing statements by representatives from all stakeholder groups, including state officials, many of whom said they were already looking forward to the meeting which Kenya hoped to organize in 2011.

In his closing statement, the Chairman of the 2009 IGF meeting saw wide consensus on "the need for the continuation of the IGF process with the legitimacy provided by the U.N. umbrella as well as the dynamic nature of the event", which was very clear in Sharm el-Sheikh and needed to continue.

In a chairman's summary distributed at the end of the meeting, it was noted that many speakers emphasized the usefulness of the IGF as a platform for dialogue, free from the pressures of negotiations. Most of the speakers who supported improvements would like the IGF to refocus its attention on certain points such as international public policy issues; capacity-building; participation by developing countries; improved transparency; improved communications; improved remote participation; creating a data base for best practices; more visibility for outcomes, and possibly the ability to make recommendations. Many speakers supported a continuation of the Forum as it is, that is to continue the IGF as a multistakeholder platform that brings people together to discuss issues, exchange information and share best practices, but not to make decisions, nor to have highly visible outputs. Other speakers, while supporting a continuation of the IGF along similar lines to its current form, they called for some changes. The proposed changes ranged from small improvements to major changes in its functioning, such as adding provisions that would allow it to produce outputs and decisions on a multistakeholder consensus basis. Most of those who supported the continuation of the forum would like to do so for at least another five year term.


Next year's IGF meeting will be held in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 14 to 17 September.





Issued by the UN Department of Public Information


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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Nigeria Digital Sense forum 2009 - Communique

Nigeria Digital Sense Forum communiqué,

Thursday, November 5, 2009,

Ikoyi-Lagos, Nigeria.

Theme: “Internet Governance: Creating Opportunities for All Nigerians”

We, the participants of the Nigeria Digital Sense Forum held at the Golden Gate Ikoyi-Lagos on “Internet Governance: Creating Opportunities for All Nigerians” on Thursday, November 5, 2009, organized by Digital Sense Africa (DSA) an initiative of Remnek Kommunications Ventures (RKV) in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

We call to mind that a harmonized voice within the Nigerian Internet community is critical to the development of Internet in the country and the sub-region and the continent in entirety.

Also, we call to mind that harmonized voice among Nigerian Internet community will provide Nigeria the opportunity to have a united front before confronting the world at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) scheduled to hold in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt between November 15 and 18, 2009.

The forum identified security as a major issue of concern for the Nigerian Internet community.

Additionally, we call to mind that the global Internet Governance Forum afforded the Nigerian Internet community to come together alongside other communities from around the world to ensure optimization of Access, Openness, Security, Diversity and Internet Governance.

Equally, we call to mind that the release recently by the United States’ Affirmation of Commitment to the global internet community via the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN); is a welcome development that could endear the trust of those hitherto not comfortable with the arrangement which began with the US Department of Commerce (DoC).

Hence, in alignment with the outcome of the West African Internet Governance forum, held in Accra-Ghana, especially in the areas of encouraging African countries to take the issues of Internet Governance more seriously by ensuring engagement of stakeholders at IGF level.

Therefore:

1. It was agreed that members of the Nigeria Internet community must be encouraged to participate at the forthcoming Internet Governance Forum and actively too.

2. Make pronouncement with respect to the security of the Internet and discrimination thereof, especially meted out on honest and God fearing Nigerians who are more interested in engaging positively with the world on the Internet.

3. The discrimination against Nigeria’s based Internet Protocol (IP) address should stop because it is negatively affecting the majority of Nigerians who are confidently engaged on the Internet.

4. Both the government of Nigeria and Internet community in the country should strive in enlightening the populace and the world over on the keenness of the majority of Nigerians in deploying Internet for ICT for Development (ICT4D) growth.

5. Nigeria’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs), especially members of the ISP Association of Nigeria (ISPAN), Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), should connect without further delay with the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), so as to encourage local internet to remain local, which has multiplier effect, including saving money for both the ISPs and customers – the end-users.

6. Nigeria should canvass for a root server to be located in the country to further push and retain local traffic locally.

7. Also, members of the ISP Association of Nigeria (ISPAN), Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), should ensure compliance by ensuring registration of their domains in the country code Top Level Domains (ccTLD), .ng.

8. This will make the .ng commercially viable and eventually give the ccTLD the need popularity it needed to be feasible among equals.

9. Nigerian participants at the IGF 2009 must ensure that alienation of Nigeria’s IP address (IP blocking) is stopped and that Nigeria has the population to push its desire and voice to be heard in Egypt and at all conferences in relation to Internet and its governance even beyond IGF.

10. There is need to refocus Nigerian youths engaged in online fraud (cybercrime) otherwise known as ‘Yahoo, Yahoo’ by way of granting them amnesty followed with skilled training and adoption into the mainstream, in order to positively utilize their talents.

Enjoining Nigerian stakeholders to:

1. Ensure maximum participation at all times, at Internet Governance related forum.

2. Strengthening the partnership of the forum through collaboration with relevant Ministries, Departments and Agency of government, mostly at the federal level including the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Galaxy Backbone (GBB) Plc, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) among other public private partnership.

The Nigeria Digital Sense forum was proudly supported by Galaxy Backbone Plc, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, iWayAfrica Nigeria, New Horizons Ltd, Omatek Plc, Teledom Group, Telecom Answers Associates (TAA) and endorsed by Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) among others.

Digital Sense Africa, November 10, 2009


For full story: ITRealms Online

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Internet Governance 2009: IP blocking unacceptable to Nigeria – Stakeholders

Nigeria Internet community would canvass for the appropriate security regulation and application, mostly on Internet Protocol (IP) blocking at the on-going Internet Governance Forum (IGF) holding in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Participants at the recently concluded one-day Nigeria Digital Sense forum in a communiqué made available to ITRealms Online by the organizers, Digital Sense Africa (DSA) in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on the theme: “Internet Governance:
Creating Opportunities for All Nigerians” agreed that issues of Internet Protocol (IP) blocking on Nigeria IP addresses is not acceptable.

Thus, there is need to revisit the issue so as to avoid blocking of every IP address with link to Nigeria.
For full story: ITRealms Online

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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

IGF; Experts strategise for Nigeria's position

A one-day forum on Internet Governance: Creating opportunities for all Nigerians was held in Lagos, last week. CHARLES OKOH , who was there reports that Nigerian experts used the platform to strategise for the 2009 global Internet Governance Forum.


THE need to articulate a common position for the Nigerian delegation to the next Internet Governance Forum (IGF), taking place in Egypt in a fortnight, took the front burner, as Information and Communications Technology (ICT) stakeholders gathered in Lagos to brainstorm on the way forward.

The forum tagged Internet Governance: Creating opportunities for all Nigerians, the forum saw every speaker offering solutions on how best to table the nation’s interests at the IGF given the fact that the internet world is virtually at intersection on the way forward after the United States let go the control of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) recently.

Lobbying, the route to growth:
Speaking on the relevance of the forum the chairman at the occasion, Chief Chima Onyekwere, said the event could not have come at a better time, noting that the presence of students is an indication that in 20 years, many of them would be equipped enough to take charge in the ICT sector.

He called on associations within the sector to pursue advocacy and act as pressure groups and catalyst to bring about the needed change in the sector. Lobbying, he said, is important at this stage of ICT development in the country and only through that could the dreams of the sector be fulfilled.

IGF is multi-stakeholders:
On his part, the President, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), Mr. Lanre Ajayi, said that the IGF is a multi-stakeholders’ forum and that an agency of government should have taken charge of this pre-IGF forum, but said the organizers, Digital Sense Africa (DSA), should be commended for taking up the initiative.

Mr. Ajayi who spoke on NIG and Internet governance, said the IGF came as a result of pressure all over the world for autonomy of ICANN, which gave birth to the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunisia 2005, after the first phase was held in Geneva in 2003, metamorphosing into a yearly forum for solution on the governance of the internet.

He identified security, access, diversity, openness and internet governance as the areas on which discussions will be based at the forthcoming IGF slated to hold in Egypt and a failure by any nation including Nigeria to align itself with the aforementioned and adequately represented in these discussions will mean that other nations will decide for such a nation.

On diversity, he said, the issue will be that of language, wondering that the world over, there are about 3 billion people, and China accounts for over one billion, yet only English language has dominated Internet content. He also noted that on access, that every Nigerian must be connected as a right rather than a privilege.

Nigerians must take interest in .ng
For the Vice President, Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Mrs. Mary Uduma, the issue of the nation’s position on IGF is beyond the government or any single association, but a collective national issue. She highlighted the importance of the Internet, saying that the era of voice only in telecommunication diffusion is over and that the world is now focusing on ‘data.’

“Internet governance is not restricted to the activities of governments. Many different types of stakeholders have a role in defining and carrying out Internet governance activities and Internet Society (ISOC) for instance, has always been an active leader in such discussions. When governance is mentioned, there must be some conjecture of politics. Politics, we all are aware is a game of numbers. The purpose of this forum is possibly to articulate ways and means for Nigeria to wield overwhelming influence in Internet governance,” she pointed out.

Mrs. Uduma who spoke on Internet Governance: The role of NiRA noted that though it may sound scandalous but statistics as at March, 2009, indicated that Africa still lags behind with less than 1 million domain names under Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) in the region.

She warned that the United States (US) and the West will continue to wield the greatest influence in Internet Governance if the appetite for generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) is not curbed. Noting that ISOC positions, for instance, supports an open and globally accessible Internet.

IGF, is multi-stakeholder driven:

By the Tunis agenda, she said, the IGF should be multilateral, multi-stakeholder, democratic, and transparent, with all stakeholders playing their appropriate roles. And most importantly, IGF is a negotiating forum but not a decision-making body. Instead, the idea is for IGF to be constituted as a neutral, non-duplicative, and non-binding process.

“It would have no involvement in day-to-day or technical operations of the Internet. It is to be a place where issues could be explored in an open environment,” she said, stressing that in practice, IGF has proven to be a place where issues are ‘conditioned’ through a developmental process.

On the activities of NIRA, she said it was set up to play a very critical role in the Domain Name System (DNS) and as managers of the Nigerian country code top level domain (ccTLD), .ng. This stakeholder-led association, Mrs. Uduma said, has the oversight function of what portends to be the largest registry in Africa going by the nation’s population index in the continent.

“But it is foregone that in the final analysis, a successful registry would not be attained as a result of the share magnitude of the country’s population. It would take diligent planning, finance and execution,” Mrs. Uduma stressed.

She further said NIRA is ready to position .ng as the leading ccTLD in Africa and ultimately, one of the foremost domains in the world, because the cost of registering domains under this platform is very cheap. “We are poised to build a pace-setting environment where the usage of the domain name service will be harmonious, and inherently become a model system in the industry,” she said.

NiRA, she said, is committed to become the administrators of and the non-governmental self-regulatory body for the .ng ccTLD and its associated sub-level domain as well as promoting the operational stability and utility of the .ng ccTLD by ensuring cost effective administration, development and establishment of policy frameworks for the advancement of .ng.

IXPN enthrones cheap access:
The Chief executive officer, Internet eXchange Point Nigeria (IXPN) Limited, Mr. Muhammed Rudman, dwelling on ‘IXPN: Creating Opportunities for all Nigerians,’ said the concept of an Internet exchange point is a physical infrastructure through which Internet service providers (ISPs) exchange Internet traffic between their networks locally.

“An IXP interconnects Internet service providers (ISPs) in a region or country, allowing them to exchange domestic Internet traffic locally without having to send those messages across multiple international hubs to reach their destination,” he said.

Before now, he said, a message would travel from one part of the country to Europe and America before reaching its destination which is in another part of the country.
“Imagine travelling to Lagos, London, New York, finally to arrive at Ibadan at a high cost, low speed, small capacity and low reliability,” he asserted.

… Saves money:
On the benefit of Internet eXchange points to the nation, Rudman said, it saves money, traffic going overseas, which entails transit charges paid to the upstream ISP; reduces foreign exchange and capital flight as the money stays in local economy and provides better local infrastructure and services for customers

Others, he outlined to include customers pay less for Internet access, therefore, more customers sign up, better business and enhance local connectivity and improve internet experience of end users and creates new revenue opportunity as customers use the Internet for more products, services, and activities.

On the way forward, Rudman said his office is collaborating with NgNOG to connect all higher educational institutions in Lagos, to connect to the exchange point towards the establishment of National Research & Education Network (NREN); Private Public Partnership (PPP) in the establishment of other IXPs across the country and inter-IXP backbone link; localization of Google, Microsoft to name a few as well as deployment of Content Distribution Network (CDN), for instance, Akamai ; Massive campaign for local content development and interconnection of all West African IXPs.

7-point agenda for IGF:
Equally speaking, the Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) Mr. Gbenga ‘Sesan advocated, what he called the 7-Point Agenda for IGF. These, he listed to include “Access, diversity, openness, security, critical Internet resources, development and capacity building.”
He said, building opportunity for young people would involve new generation skills, such as web 2.0; facebook, twitter to name a few.

“Who says there are no jobs? There are jobs, there are just no skilled people to take them,” he declared, stressing that capacity building is not just in technology skills but business skills and attitude.

Mr. Sesan who spoke on ‘Internet Governance and Nigerian youths’ recommended that every misdirected young cybercriminal is a potential human resource, who could be engaged in order to redirect such energies.

Why pre-IGF is vital:

Speaking earlier, the organizer of the event and executive director, Digital Sense Africa (DSA), Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke said the purpose of the forum is to act as a rallying point for the nation’s internet stakeholders in raising and addressing salient issues concerning the ICT sector with particular reference to the internet governance-related issues.

She said apart from providing a platform for stakeholders to articulate a stand on IGF, the relevance of fighting poverty across the continent with the instrumentality of ICT was also a motivating factor.

“Poverty in Africa is wide spread and without the ability to communicate, the continent would remain poor and isolated, thus lacking the means to participate in the global society especially for women and youths,” she said.

She also identified poor power supply, lack of economic power, lack of enabling laws and the inability to understand the enormous potentials inherent in technology with reference to the internet, as some of the obstacles on the way to greater internet access in the country.

Just as she commended the likes of Galaxy Backbone plc, iWayAfrica Nigeria, MTN Nigeria, Teledom Group and New Horizons for finding it worthy to partner her DSA on this laudable programme to move the nation forward.

Above all, the Nigeria Internet community has taken the bull by the horn at the Digital Sense forum, but the next step is to ensure that Nigeria is well represented at the IGF 2009, especially from the government.


.... Making sense out of digital revolution!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Akunyili, Ndukwe lead speakers @ Digital Sense forum


The chairperson of the Bureau of African Ministers of Communications and Information Technologies (ICT) and Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili would on Thursday this week in Lagos, declare open the annual Nigeria Digital Sense forum.

The event which has been slated to hold at the Golden Gate Restaurant, Ikoyi-Lagos, would also have the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe as a keynote speaker focusing on the theme of the forum, Internet Governance: Creating Opportunities for All Nigerians.

Disclosing this, the Executive Director, Operations, Digital Sense Africa (DSA), Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke said it is heartwarming that the honourable minister, Prof. Akunyili, would be at the event by accepting to honour the forum, which is the first of its kind in the country.

According to her, the forum aims at galvanizing ICT stakeholders and the Nigerian Internet community particularly to harmonize relevant voices towards having a national position at the forthcoming global conference on Internet, tagged the Internet Governance Forum, holding in Egypt later in November.

She recalled that Nigeria emerged the chairperson of the Bureau of African Ministers of Communications and Information Technologies (ICT) under the auspices of the African Union (AU) Commission at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-Telecom Africa 2008 at the Cairo International Conference and Exhibition Centre (CICC).

The election of Nigeria into this position, industry observers had said was in recognition of nation’s influence and current standing in ICT performance in the sub-region, even as the sector liberalization in Nigeria, has triggered an enabling environment provided by federal government based on the bid to enshrine fair and transparent regulatory framework within the telecommunication industry.

Confirming Akunyili’s participation at the event, she said a letter to DSA from the Federal Ministry of Information and Communications, endorsed by the Special Assistant to the honourable minister, Mrs. Mary Ikoku, stated that Prof. Akunyili has graciously accepted to be present at the occasion.

In addition, Mrs. Nweke said that the EVC, NCC, Dr. Ndukwe would present the keynote address, on the theme: Internet Governance: Creating Opportunities for All Nigerians, while the Vice President of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Mrs. Mary Uduma would dwell on ‘The Role of NiRA’ in creating internet opportunities for Nigerians, just as the Regional Manager, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Ms Anne Inne Rachel would take participants on Internet Governance, Africa and ICANN’s position.

Equally the Managing Partner of Technology Advisors, Mr. Basil Udotai, she said would speak on the impact of law in Internet governance, while the chairperson, Inter-ministerial Committee on the Outcome of World Summit on Information Society, Mrs. Ibukun Odosote, would give account of the journey so far, just as the President of the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), Mr. Lanre Ajayi would unveil the functions of the group in getting thus far.

Lots of chief executives of Internet Service Provider (ISP) companies and internet enthusiasts have signed up for the forum, even as MTN Nigeria Communications Limited and iWayAfrica have concluded arrangements to showcase their various internet-based products to the participants.

Digital Sense Africa is an initiative of Remnek Kommunications Ventures; Information and Communication Technology (ICT) analysts, public relations consultants, with continental media affiliates as part of its enlightenment strategies to engage Nigerians for sustainable deployment and utilization of technologies in order to make sense out of the revolution.

... Making sense out of digital revolution!