<div>Arnaud </div><div><br></div><div>Kieren McCarthy is a well known author and commentator on Internet issues.</div><div><br></div><div>He follows various lists.</div><div><br></div><div>This was a public policy proposal. Nothing to stop an external party from picking it up.</div><div><br></div><div>So please don't impute the authors of the proposal just because someone wrote an article.</div><div><br></div><div>Mike</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div>On Thu, 13 Apr 2017 at 2:27 PM Arnaud AMELINA <<a href="mailto:amelnaud@gmail.com">amelnaud@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div><div><b>English :</b> <br><br><span id="m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_-7941744395602423035gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-result_box" class="m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_-7941744395602423035gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-" lang="en"><span class="m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_-7941744395602423035gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-">Dear member of the community, What is the aim of the authors and the initiators of this Article ???</span><br><span class="m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_-7941744395602423035gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-"><br>Do
they have the right to share a process that has not yet been adopted
externally, still coming from a member of the Board of Afrinic, is
unacceptable, is there no longer any limit</span> <span class="m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_-7941744395602423035gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-">In AFRINIC, that the different leaders take their respononsibilities and remind to the order the indelices</span><br><br><span class="m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_-7941744395602423035gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-">The
name AFRINIC has been engaged in this article, even though the subject
in question has not yet ratified by the community of AFRINIC or the
BOARD.</span></span></div><div><br><br><b>French :</b> <br><a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/" id="m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-logo" target="_blank">Chers membre de la communauté, Quel est le but visé par les auteurs et les initiateurs de cet Article ??? </a><br></div>Ont-il le droit de faire part d'un processus non encore adopté à l'extérieur, venant encore de la part d'un membre du Board d'Afrinic c'est innacceptable, n'y a-t-il plus de limite à AFRINIC, que les différents responsables prennent leurs respponsabilités et rappellent à l'odre les indélicats. <br><br></div>Le nom d'AFRINIC a été engagé dans cet article alors même que le sujet en question ne soit ratifié par la communauté d'AFRINIC ou par le BOARD. <br><br><br><span id="m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-result_box" class="m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-" lang="en"><span class="m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-"></span></span><div><div><a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/" id="m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-logo" target="_blank">
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<h1>No more IP addresses for countries that shut down internet access</h1>
<h2>Afrinic considers punitive policy for errant governments</h2>
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<span class="m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-dateline">
12 Apr 2017 at 19:54,
</span>
<a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/Author/2886" title="Read more by this author" class="m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-alt_colour m_-7606495515594450495gmail-m_6790597793664735875gmail-dcl" target="_blank">Kieren McCarthy</a>
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<p>Governments that cut off internet access to their
citizens could find themselves refused new IP addresses under a proposal
put forward by one of the five global IP allocation organizations.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.afrinic.net/en/community/policy-development/policy-proposals/2061-anti-shutdown-01" target="_blank">suggested clampdown</a>
will be considered at the next meeting of internet registry Afrinic in
Botswana in June: Afrinic is in charge of managing and allocating IP
address blocks across Africa.</p>
<p>Under the proposal, a new section would be added to
Afrinic's official rules that would allow the organization to refuse to
hand over any new IP address to a country for 12 months if it is found
to have ordered an internet shutdown.</p>
<p>The ban would cover all government-owned entities and
others that have a "direct provable relationship with said government."
It would also cover any transfer of address space to those entities
from others.</p>
<p>That withdrawal of services would escalate if the
country continued to pull the plug on internet access. Under the
proposal: "In the event of a government performing three or more such
shutdowns in a period of 10 years – all resources to the aforementioned
entities shall be revoked and no allocations to said entities shall
occur for a period of 5 years."</p>
<p>The proposal was sparked by a recent increase in the
number of complete nationwide shutdowns of internet service – something
that has been a cause of increasing concern and ire within the internet
infrastructure community.</p>
<h3>The start</h3>
<p>The trend started during the Egyptian revolution back in 2011 when authorities killed the entire's country <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/01/egypt_last_net_lost/" target="_blank">web access</a>
prior to a big protest march. Employees of ISPs and mobile phone
companies reported troops turning up at their homes and pointing guns at
their families in order to enforce the shutdown.</p>
<p>Until then, many governments had assumed it was
largely impossible to turn off internet access to their entire nation.
Soon after, government departments educated themselves about AS numbers
and internet routing and started using their power to set up systems
that would allow them to order the shutdown of all networks from a
central point.</p>
<p>While some countries only used this ability in the
more dire circumstances – riots or terrorist attacks – shutdowns quickly
started being used preemptively and for political reasons.</p>
<p>Bangladesh <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/18/bangladesh_shuts_down_its_internet_for_an_hour/" target="_blank">switched off</a>
its entire country's net connectivity prior to the sentencing of former
government leaders for war crimes. Then Iraq started shutting down the
entire country for several hours at a time in order to <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/17/iraq_shuts_down_internet_to_prevent_exam_cheating/" target="_blank">prevent exam cheating</a>.</p>
<p>While these were enormously frustrating, the shutdown
typically lasted only a few hours. But then Cameroon decided to cut off
the internet for weeks – and targeted specific communities. The
country's southwest and northwest provinces were taken offline following
violent protests: a decision that had a hugely damaging impact on its
"Silicon Mountain" startup zone, and also took down its banks and ATMs.</p>
<p>In India, the number and frequency of internet shutdowns has sparked a new <a href="http://internetshutdowns.in/" target="_blank">protest movement and website</a> that tracks them.</p>
<p>The situation has grown so dire that the United Nations got involved and <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/01/un_officially_condemns_internet_shutdowns/" target="_blank">officially condemned</a>
the practice at a meeting of the Human Rights Council back in July.
Despite opposition from a number of countries – including China, Russia,
India and Kenya – a resolution passed forbidding mass web blockades.</p>
<h3>Plan</h3>
<p>The reality, however, is that there is nothing to
prevent governments from shutting down the internet and very little
anyone can do in the face of a determined push from the authorities.</p>
<p>But now the techies are fighting back. The Afrinic
proposal has been put forward by the CTO and the Head of IP strategy for
Liquid Telecommunications – a large pan-African ISP – as well as the
CEO of Kenya's main ISP Association. As such it is a proposal that many
are taking seriously.</p>
<p>"While the authors of this policy acknowledge that
what is proposed is draconian in nature, we feel that the time has come
for action to be taken, rather than just bland statements that have
shown to have little or no effect," they wrote, noting that "over the
last few years we have seen more and more governments shutting down the
free and open access to the internet in order to push political and
other agendas."</p>
<p>Whether governments like it or not, they are reliant
on the provision of IP address to expand their networks and digital
economy, and Afrinic is the only organization that can realistically
provide them. If the policy does get passed, it would almost certainly
act as a strong deterrent for government ministers to shutting down
internet access.</p>
<p>But there are a wealth of problems with the idea, not
least of which would be the determination of what represents an
internet shutdown. The authors put forward a suggested definition:</p>
<blockquote>An internet shutdown is deemed to have
occurred when it can be proved that there was an attempt, failed or
successful, to restrict access to the internet to a segment of the
population irrespective of the provider or access medium that they
utilize.</blockquote>
<p>That wording is likely to be very heavily
scrutinized. And it would require someone or group to make a
determination that it has happened – which would likely become a
politically charged decision. And none of that considers the fact that
national leaders are unlikely to accept punitive terms being placed
against them by a third party.</p>
<p>In short, it is a huge political headache. But it may
also be one that only the internet community is capable to taking on
and winning. The next few months will see whether the 'net community in
Africa is willing to take on the challenge for the greater good. ®</p>
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