Topbar

ITWeb - The Technology News Site

LIMITED OFFER
Subscribe
to Brainstorm Magazine for R199.95 today and get 11 issues PLUS a FREE APC Biometric Password Manager (valued at over R450.00) absolutely FREE.
Click here.

back to the ITWeb home page Sales infoBrought To You By
SEARCH 
INTERNET
more in internet...  

advertisement


Loading...
FINANCIAL
more in financial...  
COMPUTING
more in computing...  
BUSINESS
more in business...  
ENTERPRISE
more in enterprise...  
NETWORKING
more in networking...  
TELECOMS
more in telecoms...  
CHANNEL
more in channel...  

advertisement

Back to the IT in Government Home Page 17 November 2003 
Å  IT in Government
Mbeki wants domain names discussed
BY PAUL VECCHIATTO, ITWEB CAPE TOWN CORRESPONDENT
[Cape Town | ITWeb, 17 November 2003] - The issue of administering Internet domain names should be discussed at next month's world information summit in Geneva, “otherwise the world continues to be governed by California law”, says president Thabo Mbeki.

Mbeki addressed a media conference yesterday, after a meeting of the President's International Advisory Council (PIAC) that deals with IT issues relating to this country's and Africa's development.

“We need to discuss the possibility of putting in place a multilateral mechanism for Internet governance and the summit is a good place to do it,” Mbeki said. “It may be the current way it is governed through ICANN is the best way, but this has to be examined.”

The World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) is due to be held in Switzerland from 10 to 12 December. The issue of Internet governance has been a major sticking point between government and non-government organisations in the run-up to the event.

Many of the poorer nations such as Brazil, SA, Saudi Arabia and China would like to see the administration of Internet domain name registrations moved from the public private company ICANN, which is incorporated under California law, to a multinational organisation such as the United Nations. However, the US and the European Union staunchly support the ICANN model.

Speculation within some international media is that the poorer countries may try to coordinate joint action, as they did at the recent World Trade Organisation talks in Mexico, to get the more developed countries to agree to their demands.

According to Department of Communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, at the same news conference, the WSIS will address a number of other issues that have developed into sticking points between the more developed and less developed of the world's economies. These are human rights, the protection of intellectual property, Internet security, the media and the Internet, and financing to get poorer countries up to speed with connecting to the Internet.

“Internet governance is just one issue that will have to be discussed,” Matsepe-Casaburri said.

SA will have three delegations going to the WSIS, although the exact number of people has not been decided yet. There will be government, civil society and business delegations.

The government delegation will contain representatives of the other two delegations and from a number of government departments.
  MORE INTERNET NEWS
  Obama declines job?
  Obama takes the Web by storm
   MOST POPULAR
  MTN, Neotel boost national capacity
  Neotel network takes a knock
  Fifa careful on Satyam troubles
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Vecchiatto is ITWeb's Cape Town correspondent. He can be contacted on (011) 807 3294 or at paul@itweb.co.za.
 

Quick Print
Send to a friend
Send to a cell phone
Personal Archive

Register | Learn more...
Latest Blogs:
TownBoy
TownBoy-“Mobile Mumbles - Part 2”(Weapons of Mobile Destruction
Bullfrog
I am bestowed by the ironies of my life.....
jelo
The OpenSource Hoohah
www.blogit.co.za
Give us feedback

ITWeb Events Calendar
2010
> Virtualisation & Cloud Computing
21-22 July | The Forum, Bryanston
This conference is designed for enterprise IT professionals who want to understand how to better manage the virtualised environment and also learn about the various categories of cloud computing and what the implications of moving to the cloud are for their business.
> MobileBiz
28-29 July |  Vodaworld, Midrand
Attend this conference and you will explore the potential of the mobile business platform for B2B and B2C applications, as well as the significant technical and managerial challenges.
> SMEXA
3-4 August | The Forum, Bryanston
SMEXA is the only forum of its kind in SA, bringing you the best ITSM trends and solutions information available, and providing an opportunity to evaluate the various solutions available, in a hands-on environment.

to the top of this page

Copyright (c) 1996 - 2012 ITWeb Limited. All rights reserved.

Would you like to see your news here? Contact us for more details at itnews@itweb.co.za

Striata Rackspace Sophos BBG Technologies