[governance] Striking the right balance between private and public interests on the Internet

[McTim]

Hi Jovan,

On 12/5/05, Jovan Kurbalija <jovank at diplomacy.edu> wrote:<snip>

> -          while keeping in mind some broader concepts, such as "global
> public good," the debate should focus on concrete issues ( e.g. a few
> months
> ago Djibouti was disconnected from the Internet due to a business decision
> by the bandwidth provider based in the United Arab Emirates;


I am not sure this is true.  Google shows me nothing about this incident,
but WHOIS shows lots of interesting data.  5 mins of research tells me that
France Telecom AND the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation both provide
connectivity to Djibouti Telecom (if the records are up to date).  All one
needs to do is look at the IP address space registered to Djibouti Telecom
and the routing records in the WHOIS
database(s).<http://ripe.net/fcgi-bin/whois?ADJIB%2dMNT>

*aut-num*:      AS30990
as-name:      ADJIB-AS
descr:        DJIBOUTI TELECOM - Internet Service
remarks:      import:       from AS5511 accept ANY
remarks:      export:       to AS5511 announce AS30990
remarks:      import:       from AS8961 accept ANY
remarks:      export:       to AS8961 announce AS30990
org:          ORG-DTS1-AFRINIC
admin-c:      MIM4-AFRINIC
<http://www.afrinic.net/cgi-bin/whois?searchtext=MIM4-AFRINIC&form_type=simple>
tech-c:       IOA1-AFRINIC
<http://www.afrinic.net/cgi-bin/whois?searchtext=IOA1-AFRINIC&form_type=simple>
mnt-by:       ADJIB-MNT
<http://www.afrinic.net/cgi-bin/whois?searchtext=ADJIB-MNT&form_type=simple>
changed:      hostmaster at ripe.net 20040908
changed:      hostmaster at afrinic.net 20050205
remarks:      data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
source:       AFRINIC


If it is true, it's probably because they didn't pay their bill to Emirates
Telecommunications Corporation (AS8961) AND they didn't have failover link
to FT in place.  A simple traceroute indicates that FT is now their
upstream.

In that case, it seems that Djibouti Internet users are at the mercy of
their monopoly telecom if they have only one international gateway.  This is
a policy issue that WSIS should have addressed more clearly (allowing
competition and removing anti-competitive regulations).

a possible
> multilateral arrangement should specify that private operators who provide
>
> the only national link to the Internet should engage in broader
> consultations before they disconnect countries from the Internet;


I think a better way would be to provide more than one link.  It is easy to
do this cheaply and quickly via VSAT.  Again, remove regulatory hurdles.

some fund
> or international mechanism should be established for reacting to
> situations
> when a country is in danger of being completely disconnected from the
> Internet).
>

I think this is the wrong way to look at it. Countries are NOT connected to
the network, network operators are. If the laws/regs in Djibouti only allow
one international connection this is then the problem.  it makes no sense to
me to create a fund/structure/mechanism to address this, when it can be done
via a simple regulatory change allowing the use of more than one
ASN/international gateway.  Not only can they use a VSAT link, but IIRC they
have a submarine cable landing in Djibouti.  If true, this is clearly the
fault of Djibouti Telecom and the gov't of Djibouti for not provisioning a
truly multihomed connection.


> see you in Malta.


hope so!


--
Cheers,

McTim
$ whois -h whois.afrinic.net mctim
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