[Community-Discuss] "Fighting Internet Shutdown" - Any Role for AFRINIC?

[sm+afrinic at elandsys.com]

Hi Andrew,
At 14:39 14-04-2017, Andrew Alston wrote:
>But it raises a question – annd its one I've 
>been debating at length online with multiple people.
>
>AfriNIC – completely neutral ttechnical body
>AfriNIC – political organisation with a technical function
>AfriNIC – A hybrid of both of thhe above?
>
>Because that impacts how we view things – and it 
>impacts the role that the organisation shoould be playing.

Afrinic is responsible for the distribution of 
number resources.  It is a company with a policy 
function.  The recent debate is about whether a 
RIR can take back the resources of a government 
because of a political decision of that government.

>So – for the sake of debate –

I did not receive any reply from the president of 
the local ISOC chapter when I asked about 
internet shutdowns.  There hasn't been much 
interest in the human rights issues during that 
debate.  Three companies in the region 
participated in the recent debate.  There weren't 
any comments from organizations with an interest 
in human rights.  I'll conclude that there aren't 
any organizations in the region which are interested in that.

If Afrinic directors claim to speak about the 
internet for this region, the company will have 
to decide whether it has the moral and ethical 
responsibility to get involved in 
internet-related issues affecting the users in 
the region.  Some of those internet-related 
issues are political, e.g. a government blocked 
internet access to content from the opposition.

Regards,
S. Moonesamy