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Re: [ga] South African .za ccTLD administrator takes drastic action to prevent government takeover
At 11:36 PM 6/14/2002 +0800, Jim Ayson wrote:
>Thanks for the explanation but the news report makes it appear there are
>only two parties affected, the ccTLD administrator and the South
>African government. Where does the South African Internet community fit
>into all this, what has been their stand so far, pro or anti
>nationalization? The ccTLD administrator after all is supposed to be a
>trustee working on behalf of the community . That element seems to have
>been missing from news coverage of the issue. Has there been any one
>posting from South Africa about this?
ah, ok. This South African news report just answered my question on
community representation, it appears Lawrie was in the process of
transferring domain administration anyway from "one man rule" to an
Internet user group (Namespace ZA). Also it says he recognizes the
authority of ICANN in deciding on redelegation procedures. Looks like the
Reuters piece on Yahoo was a little on the sensationalist side.
see
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/0,1113,2-7_1199167,00.html
Excerpt:
Lawrie and Namespace ZA, an organisation of prominent internet users formed
to take over the domain name's administration from him, are opposed to the
Electronic Communications and Transactions Bill approved by the National
Assembly on Friday.
They claim the bill, which still has to pass through the National Council
of Provinces and be signed by the president, gives the government too much
control over the administration.
"I agree totally with the government that one person shouldn't control it,"
Lawrie said.
The problem lay with the degree of government control for which the Bill
provided, he said.
Lawrie said he might be accused of being a disloyal South African for
taking the latest step, but he feared the consequences of the takeover by
the authority stipulated in the Bill.
Widespread support
He said those who passed the Bill clearly did not have the necessary
understanding and if someone without the necessary knowledge was allowed to
take over his computer, that might jeopardise the internet in South Africa.
"If they tell me to do wrong things that they don't understand, there might
be a serious problem."
Lawrie, who insists that he would not do anything himself to collapse the
internet, nevertheless said he would not hand over the administration to an
entity with which he was not happy.
This, however, he could only do as long as he had the support of the
internet community. He believed he had widespread support.
"The domain administrator operates with the trust of the community. He
doesn't own the domain."
Lawrie said that if it was believed he did not serve the interests of the
community, those concerned could notify the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
He would not be able to block any steps taken by ICANN.
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jim ayson / jim@philmusic.com / www.philmusic.com
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