Caribbean IG and net structure dev
Subject: 3rd Caribbean Internet Governance Forum Curacao Aug.2007
It was indeed a pleasure to attend the CTU s 3 rd Internet governance (IG) forum in Curacao. Our hosts treated us very well and the venue was an excellent choice.
It was a first time experience for me at the regional level. This being the case, I used the opportunity to listen attentively to the proceedings with a view to gaining some insight into the CTU's position viz a viz charting a course for IG framework across the CARICOM region verses what would be a more traditional role and its core competencies in the telecommunications industry.
The dominant string at this third forum centered upon ccTLD management models and Internet Exchange points (IXP).
Bill Woodcock of Packet Clearing House turned out to be a walking encyclopedia on IXPs and shared his knowledge willingly to the extent that I now haw a much clearer understanding of the importance of national IXP s and its relationship to ICT development, e business potential and sustainable economic development of CARICOM countries. I now also understand Hot Potato Routing!
Similarly, the offerings from Mexico and Puerto Rico, on their on-going experiences of managing their respective ccTLD s were a master class in ccTLD business models.
The upshot of this suggest to me that Caribbean ccTLDs can provide great potential for assisting the growth and reach of regional Internet development and technical capacity building from its operations management, and multiple revenue streams even when managed as a not for profit entity.
Such potential however has limitations where governments and academic institutions become controlling forces in the management mix.
Two technical workshops were available to participants. Internet Exchange Points (IXP) and IPv6.
I did not attend the latter, but I would comment that we need to build significant technical capacity and resources in this area. All regions have to migrate to IPv6 and implementation will take the joint efforts of all; as is the case with so much technical Internet infrastructure where cooperation and interdependence is an inherent requirement.
Other IG issues
It is true to say that most countries are newcomers to the field of IG and its Policy framework, and so, organizations like the CTU with clear mandate from regional governments, must come to the table with a clean slate and an open mind devoid of preconceptions dictated by previous technology positions.
There is a need to clearly define the governance issues and the main actors in the process and so begin to look closely at the legal, economic, developmental and socio-cultural issues.
This is an approach which was adopted in the WGIG report on the World Summit on the Information Society concluding document and an underlying principle of IG forum architect.
IG continues to pose numerous challenges to developed countries and an additional challenge to developing countries exist to the extent that they adopt the unusual position of joining their peers in developing and acquiring knowledge about the subject and be proactive in developing policy where little or no roadmap exists.
The main challenge is how to deal with the multidisciplinary nature of IG issues that involve social, legal, technological and economic aspects. In addition, governments have found themselves playing catch-up and need to find ways to engage the technical community, civil society, the business sector and other non traditional actors into the governance process if we are to gain maximum benefit at all levels of society in CARICOM states.
Agreements
Curacao saw the signing of an agreement between the CTU, ARIN and LACNIC. I felt that this was very good strategy on the part of the CTU and will undoubtedly bear fruit for all the parties concerned.
It also highlights an issue which may become more pronounced as we become better drivers of regional Internet policy: ICANN has the Caribbean folded into Latin America but there are many who see the CARICOM region more as part of North America than Latin America. No doubt we can deal with this issue on a consensus basis when the time is right.
Telecommunications
The presence of the ITU's Caribbean representative was very important as they play an important role in the development of cyber security policy and strategy. Additionally, the promotion of e commerce in CARICOM means that they also have a prominent role in the provision of Public Key Infrastructure architecture and policies.
IXP implementation
It is my view that there may be some value in forming a small efficient regional IXP task force which will support national IXPs, root servers and top level DNS servers. Such a body could collect and disseminate relevant non-sensitive country specific information in relation to, but not limited to; users, bandwidth, ISP etc for the purpose initially of jump starting the IXP implementation process and continue to oversee this level of regional infrastructure.
Such a regional task force also has the potential to operate as trusted third party for management of security certificates and provide a level of data storage providing no conflicts of interests exist.
E Business
Currently, countries like Antigua, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago, without any extensive analysis, are possibly well beyond IXP readiness and it may well take Government intervention based on the movement of local data to make the industry act.
The movement of data across national and foreign boundaries requires analysis. Governments and Business are producing and transmitting more and more data whilst ecommerce legislation and Pubic Key Infrastructure lag behind in much of CARICOM.
Security concerns may appear where the routing of sensitive data is still haphazard.
The expected success of Internet infrastructure services should also be of some concern since it will undoubtedly highlight short comings in other parts of ailing national and regional infrastructure. For example, some countries in CARICOM presently have weak banking systems which would be further strained by a sudden increase in e commerce. Such a condition can only impede and or short circuit expected returns.
HOT POTATO ROUTING
This technique allows multiple packets to reach their destinations without being dropped. This is in contrast to "store and forward" routing where the network allows temporary storage at intermediate locations. Hot potato routing has applications in optical networks where messages made from light can not be stored in any medium.
I found this recently....which further explains the economics of IXP s and peering.
