Question: Big Internet companies have some kind of politics that does not care about Africa, how do you think ICANN and it's African members can fill the the more and more big gap between north and south?

Nominee Replies

Nii Quaynor - posted on 2000-09-28 09:33:11 Yes, its real and goes beyond politics, economics to attitudes which is unfortunate. However, I have observed that when Africa tries to do things on its own, ie using home grown self reliant methods, it gains sympathizers among Big Internet companies. The gap is huge and cannot be resolved on our own but to interest the big internet companies and the telecommunication companies we should establish our commitment to self-development. We seek that both the North and South would be working towards smart partnerships in Internet and ICT development. Ultimately, narrowing the gap is the responsibility of Africans and we take on the challenge provided excessive market dominance of developed countries are curbed. Calvin Browne - posted on 2000-09-26 00:34:09 The great thing about the Internet is that it is the great leveler. You allow people to get connected, and they can compete with anyone. There are lots of examples where people with an idea, a little bit of vision, and lots of hard work have achieved beyond anyone's expectations (an obvious South African example is Thawte). By getting people connected, we close the gap. Alan Levin - posted on 2000-09-24 12:20:41 Yes, I agree that this is a big problem. I am not sure if it is politics or economics. Most probably the latter but either way I don't think ICANN can do anything about it. My ancestors came to Africa in the 19th century. I love the environment that I live in, and I work hard to build new economic value because I hope that Africa will get onto the world's ebusiness dashboard. I believe that ICANN members are in a priviledged position as they will have access to many different role players, and can use this to promote the Internet is as something that can be levered to build new economic value. I do not know the answer to this question but I do hope that if each one of us tries for success we will make some impact.