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<p>That is as wild a leap in inductive reasoning as it has been my
dubious privilege to see on this list. <br>
<br>
And an over estimation of what civil society is capable of in this area. <br>
<br>
--srs (htc one x)<br>
</p>
<br><p>
<p>On 3 April 2013 7:14:24 PM Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy@ciroap.org> wrote:</p>
<blockquote type="cite">
<head></head><div><div><div>On 31/03/2013, at 17:35 PM, Nick
Ashton-Hart <<a
href="mailto:nashton@consensus.pro">nashton@consensus.pro</a>>
wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote
type="cite">+1</blockquote><blockquote
type="cite"><div><br></div><div>On 29 Mar 2013 13:57, "McTim" <<a
href="mailto:dogwallah@gmail.com">dogwallah@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:</div><div>On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 11:43 PM, Jeremy Malcolm
<<a href="mailto:jeremy@ciroap.org">jeremy@ciroap.org</a>>
wrote:</div><div><br></div><div>> Because the technical community
keeps acting against the broader public</div><div>>
interest</div><div><br></div><div>Public interest as you see it, but it
seems they have of course been</div><div>responsible for ALL of the
evolution of the highly inclusive IG</div><div>systems over many
decades. These systems have created the
most</div><div>successful, open and inclusive communications platform
in history.</div></blockquote><br></div><div>The network at my office
was put together by a local firm called Abadi IT. They did a
great job, I really can't fault them on it. It was more than just
plugging cables together, they did some custom development for us too
(using free open source software, which I insist on). We rely on
them heavily to manage the technical aspects of our connection.
And they're nice people. Their head engineer, Firdaus,
invited me to his wedding last year.</div><div><br></div><div>But we
have cause to be worried about the governance of this network. In
the lead-up to the general election (Parliament was dissolved today in
fact), here have been veiled threats against NGOs, especially on their
use of online communications. Threats have been made to invoke
laws against those who "spread false information" through blogs.
Just last week, a new independent online radio station, Free
Malaysia Radio, was subject to a DDOS attack. Pro-opposition
websites have also been targetted. Bugs have been planted, and
websites hacked. Earlier this year Malaysia's most respected
human rights NGO, Suaram, was targetted in a series of government
attacks on both their physical and online
infrastructure.</div><div><br></div><div>Firdaus insists that he can
manage such threats to our network through his
"highly inclusive systems", which appear to be an online bulletin board
and a monthly meeting of the local technical community that takes place
in the back room of a restaurant ("in which anyone can participate", he
assures us).</div><div><br></div><div>Nonetheless, we take to thinking
that the time has come for us to look beyond Firdaus and his
colleagues. The issues and forces involved are now much bigger
than they can handle. Maybe we need to get together with some
other NGOs to create a broader public interest platform through which
we can challenge the government to uphold our rights online. We
might involve human rights NGOs like Suaram, maybe the Centre for
Independent Journalism, invite the police and other government
ministries to join us in dialogue, along with representatives of the
opposition parties. We would invite representatives of Internet
providers too. And of course, we would invite Firdaus due to his
technical expertise.</div><div><br></div><div>But Firdaus might get a
little jealous of this sudden demotion, from the person who built our
network from scratch, to somebody who now is just one stakeholder
involved in its ongoing management. He might feel such umbrage at
this that he gets together with some mates from the registry that
handles our domain and some engineers at our ISP, to block the
formation of our nascent platform, claiming that
"the network we built for you was the most successful, open and inclusive that you ever had".
If the platform is formed nonetheless, he might ensure that he is
appointed to chair its meetings, would stack those meetings with his
friends, and ensure that no resolutions are made other than those that
support their own technical work.</div><div><br></div><div>Thankfully,
Firdaus wouldn't do this. He realises that just because he
built the network doesn't make him any special claim of authority
or expertise over every aspect of its governance. But then again,
Firdaus isn't isn't a Director of ISOC.</div></div><br><div>
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style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">-- </span><br
style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p
style="font-size: 9pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><b>Dr
Jeremy Malcolm<br>Senior Policy Officer<br>Consumers International |
the global campaigning voice for consumers</b><br>Office for
Asia-Pacific and the Middle East<br>Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang
Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia<br>Tel: +60 3 7726
1599</p><p
style="font-size: 9pt; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "></p><p
style="font-size: 9pt; ">WCRD 2013 – Consumer Justice Now! | Consumer
Protection Map: <a
href="https://wcrd2013.crowdmap.com/main">https://wcrd2013.crowdmap.com/main</a> |
#wcrd2013</p><p></p><p
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<br></blockquote>
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