[AfrICANN-discuss] Tr : ITWebAfrica Story - Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.Africa

Seun Ojedeji seun.ojedeji at gmail.com
Sun Aug 26 22:14:17 SAST 2012


Hello Niel

On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 8:33 PM, Neil Dundas <neild at dundas.co.za> wrote:

> ....DotConnectAfrica (DCA) wanted to apply for the .africa gTLD but they
> made error on their application and instead applied for .dotafrica.
>
Your statement above clarifies and answer several possible question which
indeed lead to one major question asked by Mwenda.

Thanks


> 2. Is there a difference between a geoTLD and a communityTLD? Where do
>
> .africa and .dotafrica fall?
>
>
> Yes there is a difference, especially in terms of how they have been
> regulated in the Applicant's Guidebook. In a nutshell, you CANNOT get away
> from the fact that .Africa is a geographic TLD.
>
> A more detailed analysis:
>
> Paragraph 2.2.1.4.2 (section 2-16) of the Applicants’ Guidebook prescribes
> that certain applied-for-strings may qualify as “Geographic Names” and must
> therefore be accompanied by documentation of support or non-objection from
> the relevant governments or public authorities. In particular, the
> guidebook requires at least 60% of the relevant national governments in a
> region to provide documentation in support of new applications for
> geographic strings and there must be no more than one written statement of
> objection.
>
> Africa is a clearly designated geographic region as defined in the UNESCO
> “Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical
> sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings” list. In this
> regard the designation of the official AUC endorsed dotAfrica (.Africa) TLD
> string application, submitted by UniForum SA, as a geographic name is
> therefore technically and procedurally correct. UniForum SA is confident
> that the "geographic evaluation process" that its application is subject to
> provides sufficient checks and balances for the protection of interests and
> rights of African governments and the pan-African community.
>
> The issue as to whether DCA’s application for the .dotAfrica string
> (1-1165-42560) will constitute a geographic name as outlined in the
> Applicant’s Guidebook is uncertain, notwithstanding the fact that DCA
> itself has designated the application as a “geographic name”. According the
> Applicant’s Guidebook (section 2-17) “Strings that include but do not match
> a Geographic Name will not be considered geographic names as defined in
> section 2.2.1.4.2 and therefore will not require documentation of
> government support in the evaluation process.”
>
> UniForum contends that DCA’s .dotAfrica string application, although not a
> direct match to the AFRICA geographic name, is so confusingly similar that
> it must be regarded as a geographic name for purposes of evaluation. It
> must consequently be subjected to the criteria and rules applicable to the
> evaluation of geographic names, including government support.  In
> particular we contend that the addition of the “dot” in DCA’s .dotAfrica
> application does not sufficiently differentiate it from UniForum SA’s
> dotAfrica (.Africa) geographic string application and will therefore
> confuse the public.
>
> [BTW: The above has been posted as a public comment against the DCA
> application]
>
>
> 3. Must AfricaInOneSpace be a registered organisation? Are there any
> consequences if it is not registered?
>
>
> UniForum SA (AfricaInOneSpace) is a non-profit organization incorporated
> in South Africa since 1988. It has been administering the CO.ZA domain
> name space since 1995. It has a long and well established track record as a
> technical registry provider.
>
> 4. Should the AU endorse one side between .africa and .dotafrica? And
> if it has endorsed one party, what are the grounds for it to recant
> that endorsement?
>
>
> .Africa is a geographic name and therefore requires government support in
> terms of the Guidebook. African Heads of State have mandated the AUC to
> setup the structures and modalities to facilitate the application and
> administration of the .Africa gTLD, which the AUC has done through and open
> and transparent Expression of Interest (EOI) process and which has resulted
> in the endorsement of UniForum SA. Refer top the following links for
> further details:
> - Clarification by AUC on .Africa gTLD:
> http://www.au.int/en/content/africa-union-commission-clarification-dot-africa
> - Endorsement of UniForum SA:
> http://africainonespace.org/downloads/AUC_ZACRLetterofAppointment.pdf
>
>
>
>
> Regards
> Mwendwa Kivuva
>
> On 25/08/2012, Pierre Lotis NANKEP <lnankep at yahoo.fr> wrote:
>
>
>
> For the interest of the whole community, it would be desirable that
> Uniforum  gives us some comments into the DCA article below :
>
>
> --
> Pierre Lotis NANKEP
> IT Engineer / ANTIC
> Web : http://www.antic.cm
> Email (Pro) : pierre.nankep at antic.cm
> GSM : +237 77 66 10 07
>
> ----- Mail transféré -----
> De : DCA Exclusive Commentary <press.africa at dotconnectafrica.org>
> À : lnankep at yahoo.fr
> Envoyé le : Samedi 25 août 2012 7h11
> Objet : ITWebAfrica Story - Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.Africa
>
>
> Having trouble viewing this email? Click here
>
>
>
> Press Contact:
> Thomas Kamanzi, Newsletter Editor
> tkamanzi at dotconnectafrica.org
>
>               DotConnectAfrica
> www.dotconnectafrica.org
>              DotConnectAfrica
> 25 Aug 2012
>
> DCA's Commentary on ITWebAfrica Story
> The 185,000 Misunderstanding on .africa
>
>
>
>
> To:       The Editor-in-Chief,  ITWebAfrica
>   We thank you for your recent article  (Re: 'The $185,000 dotafrica
> internet domain name 'misunderstanding'?' located at
>
> http://www.itwebafrica.com/internet/334-africa/229830-the-185000-dotafrica-internet-domain-name-misunderstanding
> ).
>   Even though your published story written by Mr. Gareth Van Zyl is
> quite balanced, we wish to use this opportunity to provide some relevant
> comments that would help to further elucidate this issue for the interest
> of
> your readers and the global Internet and African publics.
>
> We believe that it is also pertinent to respond to the comments made by Mr.
> Neil Duncan Dundas of UniForum SA trading as ZA Central Registry, who also
> happens to be a director of DNS (Pty) Ltd., African Registry Consortium
> (ARC) and is now the public face, fronting the .Africa new gTLD application
> that was submitted on behalf of the unregistered AfricaInOneSpace.
> Not A Community TLD Application
>
> One very important issue that needs to be immediately clarified is that the
> .Africa new gTLD application submitted by UniForum ZA Central Registry
> (Application ID: 1-1243-89583) is not a Community TLD application.  The
> attempt that is being made to position or characterize the application as
> the official African Community application that is sanctioned by the
> African
> Union Commission and about '40' African countriesis a veryegregious and
> fraudulent misrepresentation.
> LetDCA Trust be on one side as Ali Babaand let UniForum ZA Central Registry
> and its so-called partners represent the forty (40) thieves, and the
> outcome
> of this saga can be easily predicted.
>
> One only needs to see the published parts of UniForum's application and
> their answers to Question numbers 19 and 20 to verify that UniForum
> deliberately failed to acknowledge any Community in their official answers
> to ICANN.   The global Internet public should know this:
>
>   Question No. 19 an  unequivocal  "NO"
>  In their answer to Question No. 19 ("Is the application for a Community
> based TLD?"), they unequivocally stated "No".
>  Mission & Purpose of Proposed TLD
> In describing the Mission and Purpose of their proposed gTLD (Question No.
> 18), UniForum have noted inter alia: "The ZACR and its partners in Africa,
> representing governments, ccTLD administrators, the technical and user
> communities, share a collective vision of establishing and running a
> successful, African-based registry operation for the benefit and pride of
> Africa. "
>  How could such a bold statement indicating a diverse community partnership
> be truly reconciled with their blank answer to Question 20(a)?
>
> Answers to Q 20 (a) to (f) - Blank
>  (a) Provide the name and full description of the community that the
> applicant is committing serve; UniForum intentionally left it blank, thus
> indicating that they have not actually named any  community that they claim
> to be committing to serve in their new gTLD application for .Africa.
>
> Interestingly, UniForum also left their answers to the following important
> Community TLD-related questions blank:
>
> The question  No. 20 (b) - (e) which immediately follows:
>
> (b) Explain the applicant's relationship to the community identified in
> 20(a).
> (c) Provide a description of the community-based purpose of the applied-for
> gTLD.
> (d) Explain the relationship between the applied for gTLD string and the
> community identified in 20(a).
> (e) Provide a complete description of the applicant's intended registration
> policies in support of the community-based purpose of the applied-for gTLD.
> Policies and enforcement mechanisms are expected to constitute a coherent
> set.
> (f) Attach any written endorsements for the application from established
> institutions representative of the community identified in 20(a). An
> applicant may submit written endorsements by multiple institutions, if
> relevant to the community.
> DCA Trust strongly believes that the application submitted by UniForum is
> an
> outright misrepresentation and fraud.   According to the published parts of
> their application, all the pertinent questions relating to a Community TLD
> have been answered with a blank (Nos. 19, 20 (a) - (e); meanwhile, they
> keep
> waving a purported Letter of Appointment from the AU Commission whilst
> trying to identify their application as belonging to the African Community
> based on their relationship with African Internet Community Organizations.
>
> ICANN Evaluation cannot be Fooled
>
> UniForum cannot fool the ICANN Evaluation with this very silly and
> dishonest
> gimmick. If they have actually submitted an application on behalf of the
> African Community according to their putative, or rather specious, letter
> of
> support from the African Union Commission, then they should have been
> confident enough to truthfully answer question Nos. 19, 20 (a) - 20 (e),
> and
> reconciled same to their stated Mission & Purpose.  Therefore, their claim
> that they have the support of African country governments cannot be
> substantiated, since the African Governments have been misled to provide
> support for an African Community TLD application, but none was actually
> submitted to ICANN based on the answers provided to question numbers 19 and
> 20 by UniForum in their .Africa new gTLD application.
>
> Letters of Support from 40 African Countries
>
> Moreover, if the boastful claims of letters of support from "over forty
> (40)
> African countries" are actually coming from the country code Top-Level
> Domains (ccTLD), since the AfTLD (African Top-Level Domain) has lent its
> name and support to the UniForum new gTLD application for .Africa, DCA
> Trust
> will also challenge the involvement of AfTLD and whatever role that they
> are
> playing in assisting UniForum to garner questionable letters of support
> from
> African ccTLDs.  DCA believes that the role of the ccTLDs should be
> strictly
> limited to managing and administering the country code TLD, and should have
> no involvement whatsoever in the management and administration of a
> continental Top-Level Domain such as .Africa. .   If the Internet
> Governance
> Model does not allow the ccTLDs to own a Continental gTLD, we do not
> believe
> that the same African ccTLDs should be involved in any cooperative
> framework
> with UniForum SA to apply for, and own the new .Africa gTLD.
>  The Individual African ccTLDs cannot participate at the country-code level
> and also at the continental level.
>
>   Looming Threat of African Countries
> Objecting DCA Application    Accordingly,  the threat implied by Neil
> Duncan
> Dundas that some African countries have stated their intention
> (communicated
> through ZACR) to object to the DCA application for .Africa is unfounded and
> lacks merit,   since such an Objection will be treated as   frivolous.
>
> The African countries can only participate in a Community Objection
> procedure against DCA, but i  n a situation where no African Community TLD
> application was actually submitted for the .Africa gTLD by UniForum, how do
> they intend to validate such an Objection?        DCA believes that this is
> just an empty threat, and Mr. Neil Dundas and his cohorts should now be
> held to account by the African country governments and the African Union
> Commission to explain the egregious fraud that UniForum has perpetrated by
> misrepresenting their application; to wit, obtaining specious support for
> an
> African Community TLD application from the AUC, but failing to indicate a
> relationship with any community in the official answers contained in their
> .Africa new gTLD application submitted to ICANN.
>
> African governments should NOT have a case against DCA-
> Instead they should withdraw support from UNIFORUM
>
> Once the African governments discover that they really have no case against
> DCA Trust, they will start withdrawing their support from UniForum.  DCA
> therefore stands ready to defend itself against any form of Objection. Mr.
> Neil Dundas should save his personal integrity and reputation and that of
> the organization that he represents by explaining to the global Internet
> Community and African Governments that have supported UniForum's .Africa
> gTLD  application, why he deliberately failed to submit a DotAfrica
> (.Africa) new gTLD application on behalf of the African Community.  After
> all, if African country governments have provided any form of support for
> an
> African Community TLD application, they should also make sure that one was
> actually submitted to ICANN.
>
> The same way Ali Baba managed to expose and defeat the dishonesty of the
> forty (40) thieves is the same way DCA Trust will expose and defeat
> UniForum's dishonesty over the matter of DotAfrica, after which there will
> be no misunderstanding anymore over the DotAfrica Internet domain name.
> We thank you for your attention.
>
> Yours sincerely,
> DCA Public Communications Team
> Nairobi, Kenya
>
> Related Articles on UNIFORUM,  founders of ARC and AU EOI/RFP Process:
>
>    -Exclusive Commentary from DCA: AFTLD seeks mandate to manage .africa
>    -Rejoinder: Official Response: Kevin Murphy- DOMIANINCITE -Only ICANN
> should decide on .Africa
>    -DCA Exclusive Commentary:A Moral Victory: "The Structure" - The
> Internet
> Kill Switch for Africa
>    -DCA Press Briefing :African Union & UNIFORUM SAshould beware of Wrong
> Doing
>    -DCA: Yes2dotAfrica Campaign say "NO" to African Union RFP  (11/23/2011)
>    -Say "NO" to the Masquerade 'African Agenda' for Dakar and the Illegal
> Cabal Supporting It!
>    -Say NO to DotAfrica CABAL (Whither DotAfrica amidst Confusion,
> Promiscuity and...)
>    -Say NO to African Registry Consortium  (ARC)
>    -Beware: DotAfrica has been hi-jacked by new gTLD cuckoos
>     -DCA REJOINDER:African Union requests proposals
> for.africa domain registry
>    -Yes2DotAfrica Campaign say "NO" to African Union "EOI"
>    -DCA Alarmed over AU Unofficial mandate over dotafrica registry
>    -DCA REJOINDER: African Union and the .Africa debate
>
> Related Articles on .africa (DotAfrica) issues:
>
>    -Say "NO" to the Masquerade 'African Agenda' for Dakar and the Illegal
> Cabal Supporting It!
>    -You Asked, We Clarified: The Justification for our NO Campaign
>    -Say NO to DotAfrica CABAL (Whither DotAfrica amidst Confusion,
> Promiscuity and...)
>    -Say NO to African Registry Consortium  (ARC)
>    -Our Score Card- Regarding our NO Campaign
> -Beware: DotAfrica has been hi-jacked by new gTLD cuckoos
> -DCA REJOINDER: Misleading and Unfair reportage on dotafrica - The Daily
> Champion Newspaper
> -The Daily Champion: AFTLD, DCA battle for the Soul of DotAfrica
>    -The Daily Champion: Ministers seek framework for DotAfrica Project
>    -DCA REJOINDER:African Union requests proposals
> for.africa domain registry
>    -ComputerWorld Kenya: African Union requests proposals for .africa
> domain
> registry
>    -DCA Response to AU TaskForce/Infrastructure & Energy "Briefing Note on
> .africa"
>    -Yes2DotAfrica Campaign say "NO" to African Union "EOI"
>    -African Union Yanks .Africa Bid Support - Seeks Registries
>    -DCA Commentary: Response to the African Union Commission Communiqué
>    -Say "NO" on Nii Quaynor, Vice Chair of African Union ".africa" Task
> Force
>    -"Corruption" claims as .africa fight heats up.
>    -DCA Alarmed over AU Unofficial mandate over dotafrica registry
>    -DCA to Challenge AFTLD on DotAfrica Domain
>    -DCA REJOINDER: AfTLD seeks mandate to manage .africa
> -ComputerWorld Kenya: AfTLD seeks mandate to manage .africa
> -Yes2dotAfrica Campaign Successful at ICANN 40, SanFrancisco, CA
> -Vote 'NO" on AfTLD to manage the .africa TLD
> -Competition for .africa heats up
> -DotAfrica project alleges Sabotage from AU
> -DCA REJOINDER: African Union and the .Africa debate
> -ComputerWorld Kenya: African Union Joins the .Africa debate
> -Vote "NO" to Candidate Pierre Dandjinou for ICANN Board
> -Yes2dotAfrica campaign announced in Kenya
>
> Make your comments or hear what others have to say:  click here...
>
>  Before Africa does
>
>  "brand.africa"let it do
>
> "goodgovernance.africa"
> Excerpt from Key Note Address: DCA Executive Director at AITEC ICT Summit
> French Press
>
> Join Our
>
> Taking Africa to the Promised  land!
> ....one Country at a time!!
> ---------------
>   Join our PanAfrican Social Media followings:
>
>     DotAfrica;  DotAfrique;  DotAfriqya
> DotAfrica; DotAfrique;  DotAfriqya
> DotAfrica Videos
>  Sign the petition for "Yes2dotAfrica"  here
>
>  __________________________________________
>
> Our  Fulfilled Promise
> Our increasing successes and accomplishment so far!!
>
>  DotConnectAfrica  ...Connecting the dots in Africa  ...Bridging the
> Digital
> Divide
>
> Our Campaign Archives
> Our Press Room  www.dotconnectafrica.org
>
> support at dotconnectafrica.org
>
> . BizCommunity covers DCA's"yes2dotafrica" campaign: "Dot Africa campaign
> to
> brand continent"more...
>
> . Radio Netherlands Worldwide: A Dotafrica Generation soon to be
> born:more...
>
> . Sophia Bekele DCA founder and former ICANN gNSO policy advisor was noted
> byThe Economist, Sept 15, 2010, as "leading the dotafrica initiative":  Can
> "Africa" get a make-over? more...
>
> . Brains behind .africa,Diplomat East Africa more...
>
> . DCA is endorsed by African Union (AU), the Economic Commission for
> Africa(ECA), and the Internationalized Domain Resolution Union (IDRU)
> DCA in the News more.
>
> About DotConnectAfrica:
>
> DCA is a not-for-profit, non-partisan org incorporated in Mauritius Africa
> &
> will sponsor, establish & operate a TLD registry with global recognition &
> regional significance dedicated to the needs of Pan-African &African
> community. DCA Reg.ID.CT8710DCA90
> Press Contact:Thomas Kamanzi, Newsletter
> Editortkamanzi at dotconnectafrica.orgDotConnectAfrica,
> www.dotconnectafrica.org
>
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-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Seun Ojedeji,
Federal University Oye-Ekiti
web:      http://www.fuoye.edu.ng
Mobile: +2348035233535
**alt email: <http://goog_1872880453>seun.ojedeji at fuoye.edu.ng*
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