Re: AfriNIC ITU Interview

Adiel Akplogan <adiel-srhSouXfoj/[email protected]> Fri, 23 May 2014 16:05:35 +0400
Newsgroups	gmane.org.operators.ioz
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
Hello all,

Here is my view, which I have already shared with the community at the eve of 2013 AGMM and elections (where Andrew was candidate as well). So nothing new here:

On May 19, 2014, at 15:27 PM, Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston-BSRtEhqjsGzhIMfW0+CuwQC/[email protected]> wrote:

>   Nishal requested that I give my opinion/thoughts on the interview given
>   by Adiel at WCIT in December 2012.
> 
> 
>   So, here it is.
> 
> 
>   I have issues with this interview because of the following things:
> 
> 
>   At 1:05 or there about, Adiel states that the revision of the ITR is
>   critical and a fundamental step to the future of the Internet.  This
>   was never raised with the membership base, it MAY have been raised in
>   meetings between AfriNIC and Governments, but having gone through the
>   AfriNIC members list, this was not discussed.  AfriNIC is a ground up
>   organization, it operates by community consensus (see the policy
>   development process as an example), and the statement spoke for the
>   community without mandate.

In my mandate I use my good judgement to speak for the good of the organisation. If an organisation cannot trust its CEO to speak with good judgement, I will wonder what such position is about. 

>   At around 1:30 Adiel states that the ITR is a fundamental tool for
>   regulation in the African market, again, by what consensus?

Wether you agree to what the reality is or not it is still the reality, so saying it does not change anything. If you talk and speak to governments and regulators in our region you will understand how a document like that form an essential part of their policy making process. It is not because we do not like it or what is in that we should not state what the reality is. I fundamentally believe that AFRINIC has the responsibility to recognize these situation to be able to correct what need to be corrected by working WITH all stakeholders not AGINST them. We have to be seen as neutral and at equal distance to all. Our membership is not only made of Operators, but we also have many governments and regulators as AFRINIC members.

>   At 1:35 he states that regulation has an important role to support
>   development of Internet in our region.  Let me point out that in the
>   South African context, it was deregulation of the telecoms industry
>   that opened the door for fiber, self-provisioning, lower costs and a
>   multitude of changes.  The support of governments further regulating
>   the internet leaves me concerned.

As already explained to you, that statement no where calls for further government regulation nor does it distinguish any country from another. “Deregulation policy“ is a form of Regulation. Every country has a regulatory framework. In such framework some countries have a great deal of measure to favour equitable, fair and open competitions that will support permissionless innovation (because that is what we are talking about here, not an anarchy environment right?) Unfortunately some (and many in our region) don’t. So if we can help does who don’t to take the appropriate measure, why not? I see nothing wrong there. And it is not staying away from them and shouting that will advance our view, but working with them.

>   While at 1:45 odd he did state that the AfriNIC goal was that the
>   revision stays within that spirit.  Except, that spirit was never
>   expanded on.  Taken in context of the previous statements, it *sounds*
>   like he was saying that the revisions of the ITR need to support
>   regulations that encourage development, and if this is the case, I
>   cannot argue against the point, since it goes without saying that SOME
>   regulations do need to exist, however, the interview itself leaves
>   itself wide open to misinterpretation if that is indeed what was meant.

That is the interpretation you want to sell. Just listen to the next sentence which clarifies what I meant by “in that spirit”.

>   At around 2:20 Adiel also stated that the success of the revision is
>   key to AfriNIC, and this worried me, especially considering that the
>   proposed revisions had been rejected by a LARGE portion of
>   representative countries for a variety of reasons, one of which is that
>   could actually do a lot of harm.

You have not followed the process so you cannot make such statement. Revision related to Internet and further regulation have indeed been rejected, but the ITR is not only about Internet and there are other proposed changes which make sense. To be note that, the Interview was done way before the end of the meeting where no revision nor any text has has been approved. So this is not about the final text but about the process.

>   In summary, I for one am not a fan of heavy regulation.  

Neither do I. And people who know me and follow what I do know that.  

> I am not a fan
>   of the ITU attempting to get involved in Internet governance either.  

Neither do I. And people who know me and follow what I do know that. If it wasn’t the case AFRINIC will not be where it is today doing what it does.

> I have always believed that the Internet has enjoyed the growth and
>   success it has had through a relatively regulation free environment.

No one will dispute that.

>   But my largest issue with this interview is that it states things on
>   behalf of the AfriNIC community that I argue were not discussed within
>   the member forums, and with AfriNIC being a ground up organization, I
>   believe that AfriNIC needed to be given a mandate by its members before
>   making the statements made, and that was not done.

At every AFRINIC meeting we have an open Internet Governance panel and the input and contribution of the community has been clear enough to guide me as CEO in my statements (you can ready many of them refute all you are saying here online). We have alway raised these matters at our meetings where member actively express their view, which in fact are not different from mine. I have the privilege of being part of some of the first who ran a private ISP in Africa in the 90s (and in a very French speaking countries)  so you have nothing to teach me about Internet governance, negative impact of heavy handed regulation or why it is important for an organisation like AFRINIC to be neutral and out of reach of government control.

I hope these clarify things. To your information the board has made and read a statement about this last year when you raise the issue.

- a.


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