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<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=510205715-11052011>In
this context I think that it is useful to try to stretch our CS thinking back
before the neo-liberal onslaught wrecked havoc with the role of the state in
attempting to ensure equity/universailty in areas such as telecommunications and
transport. In Canada at least, a very great component of the political
and regulatory history of the late 19th and 20th centuries had to do
with developing the means to manage and control predation in the areas of
technology advance in the late 19th century--electricity, transport,
telecommunication--to ensure some degree of rate (and service) balancing (and
non-discrimination) as between regions and individual consumers(as well in
certain instances extended to universality of access). In Canada
this produced nationalized railways, a national airline, a national
broadcaster, nationalized electricity suppliers, nationalized telecommunications
carriers in certain provinces and very highly regulated
telecoms at the national level.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=510205715-11052011></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=510205715-11052011>I
believe there were similar developments in many other national
jurisdictions.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=510205715-11052011></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=510205715-11052011>The
technology developments and globalization of service provision in a number of
areas of the late 20th century obviated the need for certain of these state
sponsored service provision leading to deregulation and
privatization, although almost certainly not as much as neo-liberal
ideologists have managed to convince/coerce governments and
electorates.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=510205715-11052011></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=510205715-11052011>However, the same techology advances in certain
areas--global communications, virtual public space, the global knowledge
sphere--have resulted in a shifting of the need for regulation/management in the
public interest to the global and away from the national (just as the
developments of the late 19th and early 20th shifted them from the local to the
national).</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=510205715-11052011></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=510205715-11052011>That
we don't have institutional or regulatory mechanisms in place (yet) to manage
these is not, I think, because of their nature but rather because of political
immaturity in managing at the global level and from the fierce resistance
(including or even especially at the ideological level) from those who are
benefiting from their current monopoly positions (quite parallel I would
think to the railway etc. robber barons of the 19th century).
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=510205715-11052011></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=510205715-11052011>Mike</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px" dir=ltr>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr lang=en-us class=OutlookMessageHeader align=left><FONT size=2
face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
governance@lists.cpsr.org [mailto:governance@lists.cpsr.org] <B>On Behalf Of
</B>parminder<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, May 11, 2011 1:56 PM<BR><B>To:</B>
governance@lists.cpsr.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [governance] Re: FW: [OIA] MS
& Skype?<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><BR><BR>On Wednesday 11 May 2011 01:25 AM,
Stephane Bortzmeyer wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE cite=mid:20110510195507.GA28533@sources.org type="cite"><PRE wrap="">On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 07:49:24AM -0700,
Michael Gurstein <A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E href="mailto:gurstein@gmail.com"><gurstein@gmail.com></A> wrote
a message of 51 lines which said:
</PRE>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><PRE wrap="">I'm not exactly sure how/where this should be covered in IG
discussions but even from a purely self-interested CS perspective
there is an absolute need to begin to work towards some sort of
global institutional/regulatory framework to ensure the preservation
of a public interest in a global virtual public space and public
capacity for very low cost IP enabled international communications
(a la skype).
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><PRE wrap="">I fail to see why the fate of the private company Skype, which
produces a closed software using undocumented proprietary protocols
could be a subject for CS.
</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>In the same way as Google of the closed algorithm is
difficult to ignore as a subject by civil society. Is there anyone here who
doesnt use google? Would MS and Google merging be not a big issue for all us?
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite=mid:20110510195507.GA28533@sources.org type="cite"><PRE wrap="">I agree that "preservation of a public interest in a global virtual
public space" and "very low cost IP enabled international
communications" are good goals. But Skype is the very counter-example
of what we should aim for. </PRE></BLOCKQUOTE>I agree that is the point. But
what do you think we should aim for. Not only as our IP based communication
system, but also as our search engine, and our social networking site,
as out payment gateway ......<BR><BR>The solution lies both in encouraging
alternative practises, models and software/ applications, but as much in right
regulatory frameworks. It would never to be possible to get what we seek
without the later. That for me is one of the biggest IG issue around today.
parminder <BR><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite=mid:20110510195507.GA28533@sources.org type="cite"><PRE wrap="">Specially, the fact that the source code is
hidden from its users is there to hide shameful practices such as
enrolling users as "supernodes" without asking their advice or even
informing them (see
<A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E href="http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t727931-skype-fixed-supernodes-list.html"><http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t727931-skype-fixed-supernodes-list.html></A>
and the list in
<A class=moz-txt-link-rfc2396E href="http://cryptolib.com/ciphers/skype/skype_servers.txt"><http://cryptolib.com/ciphers/skype/skype_servers.txt></A>).
So, if CS is interested in "preservation of a public interest in a
global virtual public space", it should push the use of open protocols
for instant messaging and voice over Internet (XMPP and SIP), not to
encourage closed software.
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<P style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0cm"><FONT color=#666666><FONT face=FlamaBook><FONT
size=2><SPAN lang=en-US><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal">Parminder Jeet
Singh</SPAN></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT color=#666666><FONT
face=FlamaBook><SPAN lang=en-US><BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
color=#666666><FONT face=FlamaBook><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=en-US>Executive
Director<BR>IT for Change <BR>NGO in Special Consultative Status with the
United Nations ECOSOC</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman, serif"><SPAN lang=en-US><BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT
color=#666666><FONT face=FlamaBook><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=en-US><A
href="http://www.ITforChange.net/">www.ITforChange.net</A><BR>Tel:+91-80-2665
4134, 2653 6890. Fax:+91-80-4146 1055<BR><IMG alt=""
src="cid:510205715@11052011-32DC" width=132
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