<span style="font-family:georgia,serif">Listers</span><br style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br style="font-family:georgia,serif"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">Interesting article. A few weeks ago I raised the issue on Internet Freedom and Governance and asked whether our government has a position on this?<br>
<br></span><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-01/is-the-un-the-next-big-threat-to-internet-freedom">http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-01/is-the-un-the-next-big-threat-to-internet-freedom</a></span><br style="font-family:georgia,serif" clear="all">
<span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br>This article brings to the fore the different voices that are advocating for two key positions:-<br><br>1. Should the status quo remain? Where the key player ICANN </span><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">(the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers), which is a private, U.S.-based nonprofit organization</span><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">) exerts control over the fundamental levers and gears that underlie the Internet—including the domain-name system.  Although ICANN says it operates on a multistakeholder model that 
involves such groups as the Internet Engineering Task Force and the 
World Wide Web Consortium, there has been a lot of </span><a style="font-family:georgia,serif" href="http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/public-sector/3344078/icann-commits-tackling-conflict-of-interest-concerns/">criticism of the organization</a><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"> over the years, from allegations of conflicts of interest to moves such as the recent expansion of the top-level domain system</span>.<br>
<br><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">2. Should the UN, through the ITU (international Telecommunications Union take over from ICANN? Critics including one of the “fathers of the Internet,” TCP/IP developer Vinton Cerf </span><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">say putting control of the Net under the UN body would 
subject the Internet to the whims of many nations whose commitment to 
democracy and free speech is questionable at best, including China and 
Russia. Cerf, who is currently the chief Internet evangelist at Google, 
said the </span><a style="font-family:georgia,serif" href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwxyRPFduTN2Y0d4bDN0YmotbVk/edit?pli=1">move would threaten</a><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"> the free and open nature of the Internet:</span><br>
<br><font face="georgia,serif">As the Internet Community in Kenya do we have a position on this? The Kenya Government? CCK?</font><br style="font-family:georgia,serif"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br style="font-family:georgia,serif">
Regards<br style="font-family:georgia,serif"></span><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"></span><br style="font-family:georgia,serif"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">-- </span><br><p><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Baskerville Old Face","serif"">Ali Hussein|Managing Partner</span></b></p>
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 generally hear that what a man doesn't know doesn't hurt him, but in 
business what a man doesn't know does hurt.". - E. St. Elmo Lewis, 
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