[governance] India's communications minister - root server misunderstanding (still...)

[Roland Perry]

In message <7FB6AE34-A8CF-468B-814A-5B735A659E20 at virtualized.org>, at 
22:50:40 on Wed, 1 Aug 2012, David Conrad <drc at virtualized.org> writes
>> (Times of India, interview
>> <http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-30/edit-page/32924041_1_internet-governance-internet-corporation-root-servers>)
>
>I will admit I find the level of knowledge demonstrated in the
>responses from a "minister of state for communications and
>information technology" in that interview quite distressing.
>For those more attuned to political realities than I, how should
>the 'technical community' go about improving the level of
>understanding of the basic systems used by the Internet?

It's relative straightforward, and is done by numerous interest 
groups[1] in other fields much more extensively than by the ITC.

Critics call it "lobbying" but the more enlightened call it "outreach".

There are numerous outlets for this, one of which is the preparations 
and delivery of the IGF, but there are many other opportunities, for 
example within relevant ITU groups, at the OECD, at ECOSOC and others 
too numerous to mention.

As far as I'm concerned, one of the tricks is to try to fit in, rather 
than stick out. And as one seasoned Brussels lobbyist advises "always be 
there, and never be late".

And I don't mean just standing up and trying to influence the outcome of 
meetings (always tempting in a multistakeholder environment, but doesn't 
work so well as an outsider at membership meetings), although that is 
occasionally a useful tactic if it's seen as constructive by the other 
participants.

I mean briefing and informing the participants particularly rival 
lobbyists (some people find that odd, but it works) the government 
representatives and where possible their ministers.

Right on topic, in 2001 I recall taking a newly appointed UK ministry 
official on a tour of Telehouse in London, showing him the K root server 
box, and explaining what it did (and more importantly what it didn't do, 
and why no-one would notice if I were to unplug it for a few seconds). 
In the rack next door were some Nominet [.uk] servers and down the 
corridor the main LINX suite, so we talked about those too.

Around the same time I had some formal and informal meetings with the 
UK's "Internet Minister" which had a direct effect on the implementation 
of some privacy regulations, and across the road I went and explained to 
a Home Office minister what a url was (at 8am in the morning!), so he 
could be happy about some traffic data definitions being worked into a 
new lawful intercept law.

Between 2005 and 2010 I performed a similar role for RIPE NCC, and took 
my roadshow worldwide.

More recently I've been educating the authorities in the UK about the 
harm that comes from Internet trolls and Facebook stalkers, but would be 
happy to advise any relevant interest groups on how to raise their 
profiles and reduce the level of misinformation in circulation.

And if you want someone to attend a meeting and put your point of view 
forward in a constructive manner, so people say "now that you've taken 
the trouble to explain this to us, in terms we can understand, obviously 
we entirely agree) I can do that too.

[1] That's the most neutral generic word I can think of that also fits
     the Internet Technical Community.
-- 
Roland Perry

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