Frederick Noronha on Fri, 26 May 2000 09:53:36 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> India: Left out of Internet governance? |
FOR LARGE SECTIONS OF HUMANKIND, INTERNET COULD BE A NO-GO ZONE by Frederick Noronha CHENNAI, May 26: In the alphabet-soup of the Internet, huge countries like India and China are virtually invisible. Cyber- evangelists here are worried over the marginal role of large nations in bodies that play a key role in Internet governance. Key Internet power-users from academia, industry, government and elsewhere recently met in this South Indian city to discuss poor representation of countries like India on Internet-governance institutions like the IETF, IANA, ICANN, PNG, APNIC, APRICOT, APTLD. These international bodies decide the fate of the global information superhighway. But, reflecting the poor penetration of the Internet in India till recently, and also worldwide imbalances in economic power, interests from Third World countries have very little say in their functioning. Meeting here recently, a range of Net enthusiasts heard of the importance of participation in these bodies, to take care of national and regional interests. Tamil Nadu State Council For Higher Education vice-chairman Dr. M Anandakrishnan stressed the need for forming an Internet Forum in India. Later, Ms Y.J.Park of the Singapore-based i-DNS.net, outlined the role of various international organisations involved in Internet Governance. She regretted that two huge nations -- India and China, which cover practically one-third of the globe's population -- were practically not seen in any of these fora, and expressed the hope that a proposed Internet forum would ensure greater participation from India in all international fora related to Internet Governance. Other members present complained of the very limited access to Internet in India, quantity as well as quality-wise. They highlighted problems associated with registering domain names, including its cost. Each Internet web-site needs to have its own unique domain-name registered, and complaints have come up more strongly of late that the Indian procedure for the same is cumbersome, costly and time-consuming. This leads to a loss of huge foreign exchange from those going Westwards to register 'domain names'. Chennai's Internet power-users also felt strongly about the "absence of adequate tools and technologies for Indian Language use on the Net, including standardisation at various levels". International bandwidth is still also costing India very dear. Inadequate awareness of global developments in this domain threatens to leave India far behind in this strategic race, it was also noted. Likewise, the need to be present in various international fora, and put forward India's views and requirements to ensure that national interests are fully taken care of was stressed. Following the meeting, it was discussed that a national forum for the Internet, with full representation from all regions as well as sections, should be formed. "This independent forum will allow for free discussion of all important aspects, to aid in the formulation and implementation of correct plans and policies at all levels -- bringing out all dimensions involved in an issue," commented Madras Institute of Technology (Anna University) design engineer M K Saravanan. This forum plans to "systematically follow" all the global developments of bearing to India, and propose apt responses to ensure that national interests are properly taken care of. "This is especially true in critical areas such as availability of domain names for our present and future needs," said Saravanan. It was also felt that such a body could ensure an Indian role in key global meets and deliberations linked to Internet Governance. It is expected to be launched by September 2000. (ENDS) FURTHER DETAILS FROM: mksarav@mail.mitindia.edu # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net