[Afrispam-wg] call for comment 2

[SM]

At 21:08 27-09-2008, Jean Robert HOUNTOMEY wrote:
>What do you suggest?

The subscribers on this mailing list have technical skills.  I 
suggest looking into how they can make use of them to address the 
problem from that angle.  We can focus on what we know best and make 
a difference there instead of going for a global approach where we 
lack the skills and the resources.

Graham and Jean Robert have put in time and effort in producing this 
report.  But it's not only up to them.  The working group should 
contribute as well or else it's not operating as one.  If the 
community does not feel the need to take part then it's better to 
kill the effort.  Bear in mind that this won't make the problem go 
away; it will only get worse and there will be more hurdles to overcome then.

The rest of the world will take note of what the community does and 
decide that it's easier to block outgoing SMTP for the entire AfriNIC 
region as there is no interest in dealing with the spam 
problem.  History shows that it does not affect mail operators from 
other regions if they have such a block.

>If I am operator A and I am a relay on the Region in many cases I 
>can be a problem for you operator B.
>Many scenari0 are possible.

Operator A and Operator B must both see that it's in their mutual 
interest to collaborate and solve the problem.  The challenge is not 
lack of knowledge.  It is lack of collaboration and the absence of a 
sense of community.

>But don't wee need to make them aware of this?

Yes, we do.  It's better for us to fully understand the problem and 
propose specific remedies instead of laws that cannot be enforced or 
for laws that have a negative impact on civil society.

A few weeks back, a message about a conference was posted to a 
mailing list.  Was it spam?    This is one of the grey areas which 
law makers won't understand.

>Most of african countries doesn't even have a law about Digital content

They will be pressured by developed countries to enact such laws for 
reasons unrelated to spam. :-)

>I was dicussing in July with a lawyer in Cote d'Ivoire and it seems 
>that because of the lack of specific laws they passed things like 
>scams under criminal act.

The Internet has only provided age-old crimes with a new 
communication medium.  It doesn't change the nature of the crime; 
it's still a scam.  The only sticking point may be evidence 
gathering.  I prefer not to stray from the topic by getting into that.

>Added to that some organization are taking the law issue seriously 
>in consideration.
>http://www.interpol.int/Public/TechnologyCrime/WorkingParties/Default.asp#africa
>http://www.interpol.int/Public/TechnologyCrime/WorkingParties/Africa/5thMeeting/Resolution.asp

That's good as these organizations may have the means to address that 
part of the problem.  By the way, they seem more focused on dealing 
with criminal issues instead of spam.  There is a difference between the two.

>Our goals here Is to identify the issue and area of work and to give 
>a shout of appeal for the need to look around these 3 fields.

There is more room for failure by adopting a broad mandate.  We can 
either give a shout of appeal and wait another two years to see that 
it has no effect or else take some short steps and tackle specific 
problems.  Again, this won't work without the cooperation of the community.

>AfriNIC can now choose to have people work on some specifics  issues or not.
>Eg: for the issue related to Afrnic as Registry, it can be decided 
>to produce some best practices for people taking ressources from Afrinic.

This is not AfriNIC's problem to solve.  Please don't put the 
responsibility on AfriNIC as they can only act as enablers.  The spam 
problem falls outside their core mission.  There is nobody to 
delegate the problem to.

Why does Africa ask for a voice in Internet governance when it 
doesn't even have the technical know-how or the will to solve 
Internet related problems within the continent?  There are 
organizations that have donated money and equipment and have provided 
training.  But there's a limit to what they can do.  I'm sure there 
are a lot of people within the continent who can contribute.  The 
rest of the world cannot help unless these people take a step forward.

Regards,
-sm