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developm</title></head><body>
<div>All,</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Below is the combined list of a set of issues (from previous
posts) that Suresh an I seem to feel would be worthy of discussion,
and better yet, action, by members of the group. This is clearly
a subset of such issues, but it's an important subset.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Suresh has responded with a bunch of initiatives that he has been
involved in along these lines. I've been involved in a variety
of others; see for example http://www.internetpolicy.net/. It
could be useful to appreciate contributions that others have
made.</div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote>* Last mile unbundling</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>* Monopoly internet service and its pitfalls</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>* Regulators who favor the government owned telco over
private players</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>* Monopoly suppliers of international bandwidth who fleece
local ISPs</blockquote>
<blockquote> (how many satellites or cables would the typical
LDC have access to)</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>* Local ISPs who need capacity building to use their
existing resources</blockquote>
<blockquote> (And who don't trust each other enough to peer at
an exchange point)</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>- Appropriate policies for consumer protection for
Internet</blockquote>
<blockquote> transactions, both national an
international</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>- Fair and equitable licensing regimes for ISPs consistent
with</blockquote>
<blockquote> general business licensing processes at the
national level</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>- Regulation that encourages, or better yet, requires cost
based</blockquote>
<blockquote> pricing of Internet access</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>- A level playing field between incumbent telcos and
international</blockquote>
<blockquote> Internet gateway providers on the one hand and
independent ISPs</blockquote>
<blockquote> on the other hand</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>- Ability of ISPs to form their own international gateway
connections</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>- Issues of filtering content at the national
level</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>- Permissive policies for anonymous
communication</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>- Acceptability of tools (such as encryption tools)
for</blockquote>
<blockquote> protecting confidentiality of
communication</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>- Net neutrality with respect to traffic type, e.g.
VoIP</blockquote>
<blockquote><br></blockquote>
<blockquote>- Strong anti-spam legislation, effective implementation
and</blockquote>
<blockquote> vigorous prosecution, including enabling national
authorities</blockquote>
<blockquote> through training and facilities the ability to
identify</blockquote>
<blockquote> prosecute and convict spammers</blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<div>I commented earlier that these are issues that by and large unite
civil society, the Internet community, and the business community.
If so, that's a major plus. They are issues of policy that can
be addressed in parallel in all countries of the world, and the goal
of addressing them is to make the Internet available, accessible,
affordable, useful and more secure than would otherwise be the case.
IMHO these are the kinds of issues that not only should be discussed
here, but are directly actionable at the national level.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Is there any disagreement with this?</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Is there any interest in this within this group?</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Are other members of this group mobilizing action in these
directions?</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I'm not disputing the value and the strength of words and ideas.
As Barack Obama said in one of his earlier speeches when he was
accused of just giving good speeches, " ... JUST WORDS?! 'We hold
all people to be created free and equal ....' JUST WORDS? ...
!" So perhaps it would also be useful to know the extent to
which the words and the discussion expressed internally within this
group have had a significant effect on Internet governance
issues.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>It is easy to talk on-line about issues at the international
level that have little if any connection with the real individual user
experience in, say, developing countries. But is it worth doing
-- as opposed to really addressing in an actionable manner the
issues above, and others, that really impact development?</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Reactions to the above are welcome.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>George</div>
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