LIRNEasia » Internet Governance

Shamistra blogs IGF

Rohan Samarajiva — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 08:23:10 +0000

Unfortunately we arrived a little late for this session because the opening ceremony and opening session dragged on for an extra half an hour. By the time we grabbed a quick, yummy lunch of “pao de queijo” from the coffee shop and checked out the IDRC booth, we were about twenty minutes late. I regret missing these first couple of minutes because Ms. Helani Galpaya of LIRNEasia was wrapping up her talk and one of her recommendations was the use of mobile phones as an alternative method of accessing the Internet. As I hope to discuss this topic further in the paper I am expected to write at the end of the conference, it would be have indeed been an useful presentation for me. I guess I will have to track her down later… : )

Patents holding back progress in the ICT sector

Rohan Samarajiva — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 12:27:19 +0000

We have generally tried to focus on the fundamental issues of access to ICT infrastructure, and not the esoteric issues of Internet governance. However, after two and half years, we are beginning to think of broadening the scope a little. The anti-competitive uses of intellectual property have so far been discussed on this blog only in relation to attempts to claim a patent on the way the Sinhala language is standardized for the computer. Here is another aspect.

A Patent Lie – New York Times

Vonage developed one of the first Internet telephone services and has attracted more than two million customers. But last year, Verizon — one of Vonage’s biggest competitors — sued for patent infringement and won a verdict in its favor in March.

The Gates memo predicted that a large company would “patent some obvious thing,” and that’s exactly what Verizon has done. Two of its patents cover the concept of translating phone numbers into Internet addresses. It is virtually impossible to create a consumer-friendly Internet telephone product without doing that. So if Verizon prevails on appeal, it will probably be able to drive Vonage out of business. Consumers will suffer from fewer choices and higher prices, and future competitors will be reluctant to enter markets dominated by patents.

Internet or internet?

Rohan Samarajiva — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 20:15:00 +0000

The significance of capitalizing the Internet (which LIRNEasia religiously does) and latest effort to decapitalize it and bring it under the thrall of international bureaucracy:

What’s in an ‘i’? Internet governance – Technology & Media – International Herald Tribune

When David Gross heard last month that the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency, wanted to lower-case the word Internet as a matter of official policy, he did not know whether to be alarmed or amused.

“We immediately thought, ‘Gee, what’s up with that?’” Gross, the coordinator for international communications and information policy at the U.S. State Department, said by telephone from Washington last week. “Who made the decision and on what basis? We didn’t have a clue if this was something insignificant or significant.”

But some others among the 2,100 participants at the union’s highest-level strategy meeting, which convened for three weeks in November in Antalya, Turkey, were more certain. They saw the move as the latest in a long-running effort by the organization to control the Internet, this time through a subtle yet symbolic imprint on the most powerful communications and commercial tool of the 21st century.

LIRNEasia researcher at International Workshop on Building an Information Society: Road to Tunis, Dhaka

Ayesha Zainudeen — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 09:19:47 +0000

LIRNEasia’s past researcher Chanuka Wattegama will be making a keynote address at an Internet Governance and Telecom Regulation session at the International Workshop on Building an Information Society: Road to Tunis that will take place on October 23-25 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.Some of the material in his talk will be based on some of the findings of LIRNEasia’s current research that Chanuka was involved in while he worked with us.

Chanuka was the lead researcher on a LIRNEasia project to Benchmark National Telecom Regulatory Authority websites of the Asia-Pacific Region, and recently took up a post at Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme in Colombo.

UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP) Releases ORDIG Policy Brief and Input Paper on Internet Governance 7 June 2005

Indi Samarajiva — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 04:17:40 +0000

Voices from Asia-Pacific: Internet Governance Priorities and Recommendations:

After almost ten months of research and activities, UNDP-APDIP’s Open Regional Dialogue on Internet Governance (ORDIG*) has produced a two-part report entitled, “Voices from Asia-Pacific: Internet Governance Priorities and Recommendations” – consisting of 1) the ORDIG Policy Brief and Executive Summary, and 2) the ORDIG Input Paper for the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

These documents stem from months of consultations involving stakeholder groups from the public and private sectors, as well as civil society.

ORDIG consulted over 3,000 stakeholders through sub-regional meetings, jointly organized with UNESCAP and others; a region-wide online forum that allowed for open and candid discussions on the issues; and a region-wide, multi-lingual, issues-based online survey that looked at the Internet governance priorities of the region.

The resulting two reports are the synthesis, consolidation, and reading of the voices from the Asia-Pacific region. They outline the principles and dimensions that make up the framework for building recommendations, which are provided in the documents at two levels – general and specific recommendations.

Issues and recommendations covered in the Infrastructure dimension are access costs, VOIP, and wireless networks. Issues and recommendations covered in the Logical dimension are DNS management, IP address management, and technical standards. Issues covered in the Content dimension are content pollution (spam, viruses, spyware, etc.) and cybercrime. Issues covered in the Social/Developmental dimension are culture diversity and participation.

The “Voices from Asia-Pacific: Internet Governance Priorities and Recommendations” documents were shared with and endorsed by delegates at the High Level Asia-Pacific Conference for the World Summit on the Information Society, in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran (31 May-2 June 2005).

Furthermore, these reports will be provided to the WGIG at their upcoming Fourth Meeting (14-17 June 2005), as the Asia-Pacific input for the Working Group’s deliberation.

For all documents, please go to:

ORDIG Policy Brief

http://igov.apdip.net/ORDIG_Policy_Brief.pdf

ORDIG Input Paper

http://igov.apdip.net/ORDIG_Paper.pdf

ORDIG Survey Report http://igov.apdip.net/ORDIG.Survey.Report.pdf

ORDIG Forum Summary http://igov.apdip.net/undp-apdip%20forum%20summary.pdf

Contact:

Phet Sayo, UNDP-APDIP Programme Specialist, phet@apdip.net

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* ORDIG is an initiative of UNDP’s Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP), in collaboration with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), and the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC). It was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.