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<p class="MsoNormal">Hi everyone,</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Internet shutdowns is a topic that I am interested in so
much and have been involved in research, drafting statements sent to government
officials, have spoken in various avenues and have written pieces for websites,
blogs, journals, etc. I consider myself being an advocate of an open and
accessible internet to all. I am opposed to any form of disruption over the
network including Internet shutdown whatever the reason.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For those of us who have little knowledge on this, I would
suggest two links:</p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style=""><span><span>-<span style="font:7pt "times new roman"">
</span></span></span>One which is a report on the State of Internet
freedoms in DRC (my country): <a href="http://cipesa.org/?wpfb_dl=234">http://cipesa.org/?wpfb_dl=234</a></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style=""><span><span>-<span style="font:7pt "times new roman"">
</span></span></span>And a blogpost I recently wrote for CIPESA on
the same issue: <a href="http://cipesa.org/2017/03/the-evolution-of-internet-shutdowns-in-dr-congo/">http://cipesa.org/2017/03/the-evolution-of-internet-shutdowns-in-dr-congo/</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am also a believer that we need concrete actions (more
than just statements) to help our governments understand that for no reason,
they should shutdown the Internet. In DRC, we are at 4% Internet penetration,
yet we have experienced Internet shutdown more than 4 times, being one of those
African countries that have been seriously touched (Cameroon is now leading). And
we felt the effect of being disconnected to all communications including SMS,
Internet, etc. It is harmful!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was one of those who sent praises to AFRINIC for issuing a
statement condemning Internet shutdowns and I am glad as a community, we have
been thinking on some practical measures that will, hopefully, force our
government to no longer consider Internet shutdown whenever they are trying to
hide something. I would like to congratulate the authors of this proposal but I
am not yet in support of the measures they have suggested because, to sum up my
point here, <i>this will cause so much damage to those entities that will not
benefit from resources though they are not associated with the decision (which
is a Gov decision most of the times) to shutdown the Internet</i>.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I note so many other people including Seun have mentioned this
in this thread.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After reading the proposal, I have the following comment
which are leading my worry in supporting this proposal as it is:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>We need measures that will only affect the entity ordering
the shutdown (the Government then the Regulator). In my country for example, it is the Regulator
who is executing an order that came from the Gov. If we decide to not deliver resources
to other entities (Schools, research centers, etc), be they related to the Gov,
we will be doing more bad to them as they will simply be victims.</i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am glad the authors are all from ISPs (if I am not
mistaken), which is a good sign. In this debate across Africa, there were close
to no statement or action from ISPs with regards to Internet shutdown though
they are the ones executing, in most cases, the decision to turn it off, a
request they receive from the Regulator. In most cases, they have no means to
say no given the fact that they have signed an agreement (MoU) with the Gov to
abide by any request from the Gov including network disruptions (this is
applicable in DRC as per the report I previously shared).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I do believe there is more ISPs can help with in the battle
against Government ordered shutdowns and if something like this can be added to
this policy, that will be helpful. One of the possibilities are to engage the
Gov. in a win-win discussion. You guys are doing business with the Gov. and you
lose money whenever there is shutdown. There is a way you can find an agreement
with the Gov. and discuss the fact that you cannot continue losing money when
there is no appealing reason to shutdown the Internet. We have ISPs as AFRINIC
members, this is something they can think of and come up with a proposal (with the support of the community).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If ever this proposal goes further, I would suggest these
measures to ONLY affect the Regulator (not sure if they are also members of
AFRINIC but they might) rather than any entity owned or related to/by the
Government. We will be doing more harm than good.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Arsene </p>
</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>------------------------<br>*<b>Arsène Tungali</b>*<br></div>Co-Founder & Executive Director, <span><i><a href="http://www.rudiinternational.org" target="_blank">Rudi international</a></i>,</span><br>CEO,<i> <a href="http://www.smart-serv.info" target="_blank">Smart Services Sarl</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.mabingwa-forum.com" target="_blank">Mabingwa Forum</a></i> <br>Tel: +243 993810967<i><br></i></div><div>GPG: 523644A0<i><br></i></div><div><u>Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo</u><i><br><br></i></div><div><a href="http://tungali.blogspot.com/2015/06/selected-for-2015-mandela-washington.html" target="_blank">2015 Mandela Washington Felllow</a> (YALI) - ISOC Ambassador (IGF <a href="http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/education-and-leadership-programmes/next-generation-leaders/igf-ambassadors-programme/Past-Ambassadors" target="_blank">Brazil</a> & <a href="http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/education-and-leadership-programmes/next-generation-leaders/Current-Ambassadors" target="_blank">Mexico</a>) <font face="monospace,monospace">- <a href="http://afrisig.org/afrisig-2016/class-of-2016/" target="_blank">AFRISIG 2016</a> - </font><a href="http://tungali.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Blogger</a> - ICANN Fellow (<a href="https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2014-07-18-en" target="_blank">Los Angeles</a> & <a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/marrakech55-attendees-2016-03-14-en" target="_blank">Marrakech</a>).<i> </i>AFRINIC Fellow<i> </i>(<a href="http://www.afrinic.net/en/library/news/1907-afrinic-25-fellowship-winners" target="_blank">Mauritius</a>)<i> - </i><a href="http://www.igfsa.org/" target="_blank">IGFSA Member</a> - Internet Governance - Internet Freedom.<i> </i><br><br>Check the <a href="http://cipesa.org/?wpfb_dl=234" target="_blank">2016 State of Internet Freedom in DRC report</a><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">2017-04-12 15:20 GMT+02:00 Mukom Akong T. <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mukom.tamon@gmail.com" target="_blank">mukom.tamon@gmail.com</a>></span>:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">**wearing NO hat**<br><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><span class="">On 12 April 2017 at 14:02, Barrack Otieno <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:otieno.barrack@gmail.com" target="_blank">otieno.barrack@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><p>Hi Mukom,</p>
<p>Understood, i raised this point because i am aware of the fact that it has not been easy to get the Afrinic Government working group going and this could be a great area of engaging this group since most of the shutdowns can be attributed to lack of knowledge by key actors and sheer ignorance.</p></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div>The job of building capacity with governments is important and definitely will continue - not just from AFRINIC, but also from other stake-holders - irrespective of the outcome of this proposal. But that's a side issue.</div><span class=""><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><p> As a key stakeholder it would be great idea to include them in this conversation.</p></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div>I don't see any attempt to exclude them. The AFRINIC PDP is open to all. Each and every person that has ever been to the AFGWG knows about this mailing list and how to take part in it. I'm hoping that they are following and we'll be seeing contributions from them soon (some already have responded)</div><div><br></div><div>My point was that there's no room in the PDP for the community to wait ad-infinitum for a response from them. </div><span class=""><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><p> The proposal is well intentioned but the outcome might be in the interest of proponents of Internet shutdowns.</p></blockquote><div><br></div></span><div>It would greatly enhance this discussion if you could state how this will be in their interest. </div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div><br></div></font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="m_-653890403956293644gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><br>Mukom Akong T.<br><br><span style="font-family:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(51,51,51);margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mukom" target="_blank">LinkedIn:Mukom</a> </span> | twitter: @perfexcellent <div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;line-height:17px;color:rgb(51,51,51)"><form action="https://www.linkedin.com/profile/vanity-name-submit" name="m_-653890403956293644_UNIQUE_ID_SafeHtmlFilter_vanityUrlForm" method="POST" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit" target="_blank" onsubmit="try {return window.confirm("Ces informations seront envoyées vers une page externe. \nVoulez-vous continuer ?");} catch (e) {return false;}"><ul style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;list-style:none;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit"></ul></form></div>------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------<wbr>------------------<br>“When you work, you are the FLUTE through whose lungs the whispering of the hours turns to MUSIC" - Kahlil Gibran<br>------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------<wbr>-------------------<br></div></div></div>
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