[kictanet] African Union latest on .africa

[McTim]

Hi Norman,

On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 6:31 PM, Norman Boinett <nboinett at gmail.com> wrote:
> I listened to DotConnectAfrica pitch a presentation on its efforts to
> register the dot africa domain at the AITEC conference held in Nairobi last
> year.

I can try to answer your questions.  I was on that panel (if it was
the same AITEC mtg).

 I don't know if  AU picked on the endorsement issue following the
> realization of the importance of the TLD and its political, social and
> economic implications or its has been keen on it all the way. I am not sure
> about the level of participation of the AU in past and present IG issues and
> the part they play in internet governance matters.

Well in this particular matter the ICANN DAG (the rules for new gTLDs)
say that if you are applying for a name that represents a continent,
you need 60% approval from governments in that region (i am
paraphrasing).  Both orgs that want to be the Sponsoring organisation
have sought approval from the AU in the past.


 Can someone please
> enlighten us on some of these issues;
> 1. what the AU has done on African Internet governance processes in the
> recent past and its implications on the internet governance community


They have helped to jump start a pan-African IGF recently. Announced
on this list in the last month.  I don't know if there any
implications of this frankly.  Its just one more conference to attend
on limited travel budgets IMO.



> 2. Who should be most responsible for the registration and management of the
> dot africa TLD, organizations like DotConnectAfrica, AU or the Africa
> Intenet Governance Forum (if it exists)?

There are many roles to play here.  The AU, as the relevant public
authority may have "sovereignty" over the name "africa" according to
my reading of the DAG.  They can choose on or more (or zero) orgs to
be the Supporting Organisation.  These orgs would run the Registry.
Then there is the back-end registry operator, which I would like to
see go to an all African org.  Then there are Registrars, of which
there are 4 (ICANN accredited) in Africa.   It is unclear if
registrars like Versign/GoDaddy, etc would be allowed to be registrars
for a .africa.

The nascent African IGF would have nothing to do with .africa IMO, as
it is a discussion forum only, hasn't really been formed yet, and has
no decision making authority.

I hope this answers your query.


-- 
Cheers,

McTim
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel