On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 7:41 PM, McTim <[email protected]> wrote:
First of all, the docis factually inaccurate on a few minor points.
I would say more than a few inaccurate points :-)
I would also dispute Section 2 of the doc, specifically that more
"equitable management of the domain would aid rural ICT development or
"facilitate articulation of the views of Uganda". Grasping at straws
IMHO.
Not only is it clutching at straws but I find this document a long shot
at
something that is not quite fully thought through. Aside from a lot of
inaccurate information, the proposed way forward, in my opinion screams
two
things; Government take over of .ug and someone somewhere is trying to
get
Uganda to conform to what some of the other EA member states [have
done]/[are doing] without putting into consideration why they did it, how
they did it and whether it is working.
This document highlights the fact that a survey carried out by UCC
revealed
that they registration and renewal of domains were too expensive, an
attribute that has been put over CFI, forgetting that most people in
Uganda
do not go directly to CFI to purchase their domain names or renew them,
but
use a third party to do this for them. I have not seen the survey
document
to analyse what questions were asked, but was this taken into
consideration?
Uganda has just woken up to the fact that one can own a domain name and
do
what they want to do with it. While at an ISP, a quick report from the
nameservers revealed that most Ugandans registered domain names that were
either a .com, .org or a .net, despite there being an option to choose .
or.ug, .co.ug or any other *.ug sub-domain they may have desired. A large
percentage of Ugandan businesses that have registered domain names
prefer to
use non-Ugandan TLD. Much as the trend is changing, this is a fact.
I don't understand why there is a perceived "need" to separate policy,
operational and regulatory roles in .ug management. I also don't
understand why the proposal specifically states this "need", then
completely ignores it in creating a single body that does all three.
I would be happy to have a private, non-profit entity operating the
ccTLD, just not one completely dominated by government entities. My
opinion is that governments have far too much influence in Internet
related policy making as it is. We shouldn't invite them to control
any more than they do (regulatory and tax environments, censorship,
privacy laws, etc, etc).
In Kenya, the KeNIC is a near perfect model of ccTLD management. It's
only flawed in that the government has too large a role (if i want to
operate a 2nd level domain for example [mctim.ke], I need a license
from the CCK).
In my opinion, CFI have done a great job and continue to do a great job
at
managing and maintaining .ug. Any thing that involves the Ministry of ICT
and UCC playing a key role on controlling an Internet resource makes me
shudder. If at all there needs to be a change of management and
maintenance
of .ug, it should be with a body that has no ties to or involvement of
the
government. Leave .ug in the private sector. The most that I may desire
to
see is probably a system that will have competitors bid for management
and
maintenance of .ug but without any involvement of UCC or the Government.
This seems to be a rather ham-fisted power play by the UCC, the bottom
line is that Noah as Tech Contact, and Charles as Admin Contact have
to agree to the re delegation. If i were running the .ug registry, i
would reject this proposal out of hand. It doesn't protect
CFI/UOL/EAHD interests, and I don't see that it serves the greater
interests of the UG Internet Community. I see it as serving ug gov't
interests.
There is no greater interest of the UG Internet community in this
document.
Sorry, but UCC itself hosts its site in New York. Lets see UCC show
support
for the local Internet Community and bring its site back to Uganda to
have
it hosted here. If we are talking about improving Internet in Uganda, the
ccTLD is the least of your worries. Infrastructure is lacking in Uganda.
There is no plan for it. I dare say, even the GOVT fibre that many hoped
would ease the price is not working and you are chasing after the ccTLD
of
Uganda to "Promote growth and development of ICTs in rural and low income
areas and Facilitate articulation of the views of Uganda relating to
internet use, at both local and international fora"? Common, try
something
else!
If the UG gov't/UCC/MoICT really wanted to grow the Internet in UG,
they would focus on access (gov't fiber anyone) issues and not on .ug.
Naming conventions have nothing to do with cost or diffusion of
Internet Access.
I say all this with the greatest respect for the folk who have been
pushing for changes to the .ug regime. I just think we have much more
important issues to focus on, and I am one of those who feel that
ccTLD admin is not a sovereign right of a nation state.
I hope to see you all at the EAIGF.
--
Cheers,
McTim
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
route indicates how we get there." Jon Postel
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