Internet's Governance

SOPA Strike - Web Goes on Strike

2012-01-16T04:26:00.001+05:00

Though this bit of news will not be of much interest to many of the global Internet and World Wide Web audience that is currently trying to find out that who will be the next Miss America and Miss Wisconsin or what happened to the cruise ship Costa Cruises but still, the biggest websites on the Web are preparing for a strike! Yes the Web will be going on strike against SOPA.

As shared here on SOPA Strike website, on January the 18th there is going to be an all-out strike with websites across the Internet will be going totally dark protesting against the internet censorship bills currently being pushed in the US Congress namely SOPA and PIPA.

So far, many of the of the largest websites in the world are participating including but not limited to Reddit, Mozilla etc. with many more that can be encouraged to join through various other ways such as leading micro-blogging platforms and a popular collaboratively-written encyclopedia but still they need a bit of a a nudge.

If you want to keep the Internet and World Wide Web functioning and protect freedom of expression online, you must support the world's largest online Web Strike Against SOPA and blog, tweet, darken your website and share with your friends across the world through status updates on leading social media websites. This is for the world!

Politics of whether the Internet is a fundamental Human Right or merely a tool to help free expression? Vint Cerf creates a stir in the Internet and Human Rights community!

2012-01-07T18:17:00.001+05:00

Image by Sean MacEntee via Flickr

Internet Access Is Not a Human Right stated Vinton G. Cerf in a recent opinion article in the New York Times NYT here that attempts to build and clarify a single sided relation between the Internet, Human Rights and Civil Liberties. His article created a stir globally for people that believe in the fundamental human right to communicate and express freely while access to the Internet itself being a fundamental human right.

Vint's attempt to differentiate between the right to access, using a tool, freedom of expression and Human Rights in general with regards to the Internet is interesting but it also provokes the question that whether paper a human right or is a pencil a human right or is access to both a paper or pencil a human right?

In my humble opinion, this article attempts to recognize the layer of abstractness between Technology as only a tool of the current age and Human Rights and Civil Liberties as universal in order to understand
both the technical and civil roles.

Technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself?
The larger point that Vint mentions that "technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself" says that there is something of more humane nature and need than just the technology in between. It just outlines in the following order:

Human Beings as Citizens,
Recognition of Human Rights (the right to freely communicate, share and express),
Technology (the tools),
Access (being able to access that tool),
Policy (government plans, regulations and action to achieve connectivity to the tool for its citizens),
Cost Control and Management (the dynamics of economy, demand and supply, market production and distribution),
Technology Evolves (update and upgrade both knowledge and infrastructure),
Waste (dumping old technology?)
Changing Needs (as human society progresses with technology)
Human Rights & Civil Liberty Violations, did the Internet violate those or did governments and corporations violate those?

Who will take the responsibility for providing access to the Internet and Web?
At the fundamental level, it is the duty or obligation of every government to create an enabling environment where its citizens can live and practice their fundamental human rights, can freely connect with each other, can freely share and interchange information with each other with the fear of violation of their fundamental rights (again greatly regulated under national constitutions). The tools then evolve and are used as Human Civilization embraces more and more scientific developments of its various needs.

Self created obstacles to the Internet?
For example, despite the tall claims of my country's telecom regulatory bodies that Mobile Penetration reaches nearly half of the country's population, smart phones are both expensive and a luxury accessible to only a certain affording class while even for them Internet access is a luxury. The governance of the telecom actually delays and prevents society to shift to 3G or 4G access which again increases the access to luxurious 3G and 4G compliant technology. There really is no line that can be drawn here.

The true cost of Internet Connectivity for the developing?
In my recent visit to Kabul, 1MB of Internet connectivity stood at US$200 to US$300. In Pakistan, that is at only US$12. For Afghanistan to achieve that price and make it accessible for its citizens will remain a dream for many years to come. Why, Pakistan is population wise the 6th most populated country in the world and thus the 6th largest market for Internet and Telecom Services. The market in Pakistan has evolved only after insufficient struggle to provide basic human needs and infrastructure. In the cities for example, we have had less and less electricity since 2007. In rural regions where over 66% of national population resides, electricity may be available only for 2-4 hours max in a 24hr day.

Is electricity a fundamental Human Right or simply access to it?
For both Pakistan and Afghanistan, electricity is a major issue and would electricity be subject to being an Human Right or a basic need for Humans to progress and participate in today's post-industrialized global economy? Is electricity a tool to run a bunch of other tools that help improve one's life or is it a human right that using it or not using it might end me up in jail because I did not use it to express myself? Electricity is a basic human need in today's world. I can still express with or without it. I can use solar power to charge my phone and send that particular SMS that can go viral. Then access to solar batteries would indeed be a challenge.

Another important discussion here is that if humanity uses electricity to build a technology on which all human ideas, expression and knowledge is stored, how can I access that? Do I have the fundamental right to access that human knowledge? Will I have to use electric powered tools to communicate in order to practice my fundamental human right to communicate? Once I can communicate, how do I use these tools to freely share and raise my concerns or help others so how can I practice my freedom of speech.

That has been the thin red line that prevails within the Human Rights Declaration and Internet Rights per say debate today. Is the tool the fundamental character or the tools to enable the right to access knowledge, the right to communicate, the right to freedom of speech? As Vint Cerf says, as these rights are universal to humanity, they are not bound to any particular technology at any particular time that also links Internet is valuable as a means to an end, not as an end in itself.

What are the Ethical Responsibilities of the Technical Community?
I taught thousands of Pakistani Web Masters and Internet Engineers from the very beginning of Internet and World Wide Web WWW penetration here since 1995 and have managed the country's critical Internet infrastructure in a government body in the past and continue to train governments and organizations on the use of Free & Open Source Software FOSS and Open Standards (Open ICT Ecosystems). It was both my professional and personal obligation to empower my fellow citizens with the knowledge and ethics of data, information and knowledge creation while maintaining safety and showing others how to use information while keeping safe while the Internet and WWW continued to spread.

To that end, I believe Vint Cerf simply says, protect existing civil and human rights without calling access to the tool a human right. Accessing that tool and expressing on it might get me jailed or killed, in our part of the world, it does. We may have to first "help" our governments first appreciate our fundamental Human Rights and Civil Liberties is what it directs at......but it does miss the point!

Is Vint Cerf using an Internet Infrastructure Protection Shield to protect Unilateralism?
Vint Cerf and his followers may be attempting to usher the global Internet community away from the notion that access to critical Internet infrastructure resources may be treated as fundamental Human Rights and an important component of today's understanding of Civil Liberties in a highly connected and networked world.

An example to this end may be various countries across the globe regarding broadband as a right for every citizen in their countries. Vint's notion may move on to actually defy that basic necessities of life are not rights at all? The philosophy being propagated here may just be an attempt to continue defense of the the unilateral control on the Internet as if someone rightly says that "thou shalt not touch what is not broken"!

Vint's article may vaguely be an attempt to keep away the focus of Human Rights and Civil Liberty activists and advocates from making the Internet and its critical infrastructure a globally shared responsibility.

Politics and Social Media in Pakistan - The struggle for new power within an immature democracy!

2012-01-01T04:39:00.001+05:00

Image via Wikipedia

The political scene in Pakistan is in full heat midst all the uncomfortable steam of the governance chaos, economic instability, war on terror, energy crisis and all that is constantly aired on the domestic and global news and media. It definitely is the complete package perfect for setting the stage for a Wild West movie or the perfect take over of the government by a bunch of gringos right here in South Asia's heart.

Chaotic History with a Chaotic Today, and Future?

With the massive terror attacks and daily target and political killings carnage across the nation, the never ending NRO case hearings, political unrest with fading accountability, death of Osama Bin Laden, the chaotic mishandling of Raymond Davis case, the political Memo Gate scandal, the crisis after NATO and ISAF's murderous attack on the Pakistani military border checkpoints, the protesting crushed citizenry against the unavailability of electricity, natural gas, rising prices of daily commodities with increasing inflation, the highest rates of joblessness in the world, no law or legal protection even at the basic level, with constant human rights violations midst constant media threats of martial law over an immature democracy, the country remains struggling to withhold its weight and avoid a total collapsing failure.

Cooking pot for an Epic political drama of the century!

Despite all this chaos and pitfalls of democracy in Pakistan, the political stage is getting ready for the best election drama of the new millennium, a moment in history that everyone across the world will be interested in following. What will be the future of Pakistan and its governance? Hardcore dirty politics is not the focus of this discussion but more on how the political parties and key political actors have taken to the Internet, World Wide Web and Social Media to heat up the political battle ground for upcoming elections.

Social Media, a political goldmine in Pakistan?

Social Media continues to be a very undermined and less interesting space for the majority of the country's population. This is fueled by the rising illiteracy rates, fading access to the Internet, the constant threat by the governance that political outbursts will be treated as defamatory content and treason but this is the very same Social Media interest that outcried ex-President Mr. Musharraf's Emergency Crackdown on the Media in Pakistan during the last days of his government. Social Media burst out from all corners of the country reacting against the then emergency situation across the nation.

The same Social Media has been constantly following and commenting on the political happenings in Pakistan and is slowly building a strong grip on the electronic media within the country. There is not a single domestic television program, anchor or analyst who may not be using the Internet and World Wide Web as a means to have an interactive dialogue with their audiences and citizenry of Pakistan. Who does not have a Facebook Page or a Twitter account today would actually be an alarming exposition among the Social Media aware online crowd.

Imran Khan's slap on the rotten face of traditional politics!

So far the leading political actor is former cricketer hero turned politician Imran Khan leading the scene with his party The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (The Movement for Justice) of which he is the Chairman. Imran Khan has somehow resurfaced with a strong image in the recent years building the lead in the political drama by portraying an accountable and transparent personal, social and political character that is seducing the young generation of voters across Pakistan by leaps and bounds.

Imran Khan's supporters widely relate to the party leader's strong willed, determined, motivated and consistent persona for leading social, political and economic change. Not only that, Imran Khan's continuously successful political rallies across the country have attracted millions of supporters firing up support for his party that once had failed to make a mark on the Pakistani Political scene.

Imran Khan's progressive party is building upon the support from the country's middle class citizenry as this class has the very resources that are required to help the poorer majority nationwide while bring change across the governance and legislation to redirect the focus on what really matters to the common man. This middle class with its online resources is helping to build and fuel an online social media revolution. PTI online videos giving out the call to participate in the party's rallies like the following are spread across the domestic Social Media scene and are an indicator of the party's outlook towards using Social Media to reach out:

Imran Khan - Online call to Lahore Rally on October 30th 2011

The progressive Tehreek-e-Insaf is both online and offline

Imran Khan surely has some of the country's finest Internet and Social Media talent supporting and watching his back online. Though volunteers, these talented young people are really cooking up his party's image and support online driving millions to him using Facebook groups and pages, Twitter updates and Livestream broadcasts.

Role of Social media Team in PTI Lahore Jalsa and Politics 31 october, 2011 by Dawn News.

During the recent Pakistan Blog Awards 2011 ceremony in Karachi, Imran Khan stated that social media played an important part in harboring a revolution in any country because most of the social media activists and users are the Youth acknowledging this role played by the young during the Arab Spring and revolutions in the Middle East and Northern Africa. His rally was broadcast live by the party Social Media Team across the world using Livestream generating a continuously rising following of over 30,000 viewers mostly from around the globe.

PTI Social Media at work on Karachi Rally on December 25, 2011 by CNBC News Pakistan

Political Social Media backfiring already?
Despite the all the beauty and flare on the political Social Media scene in Pakistan, there are also reports of backfiring by trolls and people not happy with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Social Media accomplishments. Despite images like the one below popping up around blogs by Pakistani bloggers depicting what the Social Media crowd in the country is getting ready for, there also have been discouraging backfiring as according to this post by a PTI supporter here * Sorry but the image and website were removed!

As is evident from this blogger's distrust with the PTI Social Media Team and its Social Media Strategy, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf appears to stand strong in its Social Media strategy and channels with an active party blog here, the official party Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/PTIOfficial with over 236,496 likes (at the time of this writing) and 93,038 talking about it, over 700,000 new party members joining PTI via a SMS campaign by sending a TEXT MESSAGE with name and city to 80022 where 300,000 (at the time of this writing) people have registered through the SMS campaign. and finally a Twitter following here of about 20,676 followers (at the time of this writing) and a bunch of patriotic songs catching the attention of youth. The PTI Blog mentions the party's Social Media progress here.

Image courtesy of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Official party website here.

Politics from the computer screen to smart phones
Despite the discouraging trolls and angry Social Media PML or PPP supporters online plus the inexperienced Social Media Team, PTI is still advancing its political Social Media campaign while being positively determined to capture everyone's support across the country and outside with every possible mean. For example, CIO Pakistan recently reported here about Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Android Application for Smart Phones running the Android Operating System. In continuation of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Social Media strategy that has been very active in using the social media as a tool to promote the party’s tactics and activities.

A young party supporter named Dayem Pasha has been developing an unofficial PTI application titled as Pakistan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, an application that will help users and party supporters find the party’s posts, status updates, social videos and Tweets on Facebook, Youtube and Twitter while the app can be downloaded for free on the Android platform.

Teeth Maestro and PTI
So whether one uses the Internet online through a computer or a cell phone, Tehreek-e-Insaf seems to be using every technological mean in the market to reach out to its future voting masses in and outside Pakistan. During its recent rallies PTI supporters and bloggers used their online sources to help build following using a variety of strategies. The following image is an invitation to supporters for the recent PTI rally in Karachi on 25th December 2011 decorated on Teeth Maestros' blog here:

Image courtesy Teeth Maestro's Blog here.

If Teeth Maestro talks about you on his blog, consider the world following you from that very moment. This Dentist cum blogger is a leading blogging pulse for the domestic political social media discussions and an inclination towards the Movement for Justice is evident through his postings. This is a prime example of the online changing allegiances towards a rapidly evolving political force in Pakistan by the online content contributors in the country.

Pakistan Muslim League PML(N) still in the hot seat but not cooking well?

The second political actor in the race is twice ex-Prime Minister Mr. Muhammad Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (N), one of the long standing Muslim League leaders but a very close ally of the country's establishment in the past though was overthrown in his last tenure by his own self-appointed Military Chief's of Staff General (Retired) Mr. Pervaiz Musharraf. Mr. Nawaz Sharif and his brother Mr.Shahbaz Sharif made a strong comeback in the post-Musharraf democratic elections but fell victim to the sympathy vote casted by the majority of Pakistani voters in lieu of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto's assassination.

The PML(N) ended up in coalition federal government while forming the ruling party government in its native Province of Punjab but its conflicting participation and statements with the Pakistan People's Party led coalition government has deterred the majority of young Pakistani citizenry now inclining towards Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf political party. Not being able to back claims has been the major drawback for PML(N) that has resulted in its own parliamentary and party members to breakaway and join Imran Khan in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

PML(N) is now seemingly using its provincial government infrastructure to initiate and lead a Social Media effort that is not displaying much support online as the online Pakistani Social Media crowd is already bending towards Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Social Media revolution.

PML(N) official website mostly portraying its leader's imagery is located here. Mr. Shahbaz Sharif has a Facebook Page here and Twitter following here that appears to be more personality driven than party driven but lacking the following that Imran Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf enjoy online. It is also widely claimed by the Pakistani media and Civil Society that current Chief Minister of the Province of Punjab Mr. Shahbaz Sharif may also be enjoying the benefit of his government's machinery to support his online presence as opposed to Mr. Imran Khan's Social Media Team originally composed of volunteer PTI party supporters.

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) looking for a way out?

There is not much to say about this party as the world reads about its current state in the media everywhere. PPP remains the ruling party in the federal government of Pakistan but on the Internet, the PPP both as a party and government is taking the worst bashing ever with the whole political and activist online crowd giving it the best they can for the party's turmoil and blurring grip on the affairs of the country at all levels. The Social Media scene here is not the only one to blame as the Electronic and Print Media across the country is treating the issue in a similar fashion and public opinion appears to be concluding to a similar stance both online and offline.

The web is filled daily with coverage of criticism and hell seems to break loose on the PPP on every political space on Facebook, Twitter or Blog that follows the politics of Pakistan. Even non-blogging or tweeting citizens online are updating their statuses scolding the government for losing focus of all the issues that concern the non-feudal and non-capitalist middle and poor class citizenry of Pakistan.

PPP appears to be losing its ground both offline and online while any Social Media strategy on their part does not seem to be working as the Pakistani Social Media crowd is already displaying their allegiance to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Collateral damage but is it so for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf?

While Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is building up as Pakistan's most recent but most progressive political party, it is heavily inflicting damage to the traditional Pakistani political stage for the better or worse. Most of its damage is being absorbed by the Pakistan People's Party as it is finding hard day by day to counter the massive force Imran Khan is gradually building up.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is breaking old political relationships in all the political parties across the country inviting and opening arms to the old, experienced, seasoned and traditional politicians from PML and PPP whom feel betrayed by their parties or seek homage to a non-corrupt and more transparent and accountable political and governance future for Pakistan. This is also raising eyebrows within the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf whether these old faces will support the new vision of the party.

Media now bending over to Imran Khan and a renewed vision of Justice with the progressive Tehreek-e-Insaf

It is evident from what goes on in the electronic media in Pakistan that all media forces are slowly bending towards Imran Khan's political wave building a national thrust of support across all channels for backing Imran Khan. This is turning into a grueling battle for all political parties that somehow continue to believe that the traditional hierarchy of the Politics in Pakistan can be sustained through their misled and impoverished doctrines of class and religious confusion and oppression.

Marking Political Social Media milestones for Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf 's recent political rallies in the cities of Lahore on 30th October and in Karachi on the 25th of December 2011 launched the party's Social Media team to the nation. The team appeared to really have done an amazing job keeping the interest going, gathering the masses, keeping the masses in other cities and outside the country aware on what was happening on the ground though Twitter and Livestream while maintaining a storm of blog posts across the Pakistani Internet scene. In fact, Tehreek-e-Insaf is the only political party that publicly recognizes its Social Media Team on its main website at http://www.insaf.pk.

Imran Khan definitely has made a mark on the Social Media history in Pakistan with his progressive Social Media Team that has over nine social media managers, a writers group and an IT Head. More interestingly, all the members of the party's Social Media Team have public profiles on Tehreek-e-Insaf's official website showing that the party honors and values them. This breaks the traditional political facade of not recognizing the efforts of party workers. Imran Khan is definitely striving for a new approach to party worker team building as well as portraying the contributions of these members to the public at-large.

Imran Khan and his party the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf definitely have a strong Social Media strategy in place. Its not rocket science but its definitely working wonders for PTI and building a strong online following that might just work for their elections.

Wake-up call for all political actors online or offline

For all those political leaders and their parties that lack interest or do not follow the Social Media in Pakistan should be alerted that the largest voter base of Pakistan irrespective of their rural or urban location are following and commenting on the political carnage in Pakistan. These young minds are reading, commenting and creating the political social media scene in Pakistan generating interest across the country building a political revolution online in support of the Imran Khan's progressive and revolutionary movement for the people in the form of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Social Media Political Elite of Pakistan online and exposed

Though this may sound like some celebrity's sex video being exposed but the interest that is evolving online with regards to politics in Pakistan gives a similar feeling. Almost every political actor in Pakistan is trying to grab the opposition by their neck and shake the sanity out of them only displaying how scared and unsure everyone is about the future of politics and governance in the country.

The damage that Tehreek-e-Insaf has already inflicted to all the political actors across Pakistan by employing strong and progressive approaches online and offline to both the electronic media and new media shows the opportunity for Social Media to help determine the future political direction of the country. The politics in Pakistan is cultivating a new, highly aware and socially responsible young Pakistani crowd online that is slowly aligning its allegiance to the Tehreek-e-Insaf.

The Social Media young are seen politically determined across all Social Media channels and outlets being used by Pakistanis that there is hope with Imran Khan. To what extent is this a reality will only be determined when the election dates are announced and the nation takes to the polling booths. Until then, its a lot of drama and rhetoric with political actors in a struggle to expose each other as if it was the end of the world for them!

Getting the better of Human Drama in Pakistan

Social Media is continuing to play an important part in shaping the future of Politics and Governance in Pakistan. This is Change happening in Pakistan at its best and this time its the young online crowd building a silent revolution through a frequency even more interesting than the Arab Spring and occupy movements!

So far, the Government has been supportive of Imran Khan to hold his rallies across the country without any human casualties or terrorist attack attempts. Imran Khan's peaceful march towards true political democracy and governance appears to be very stable as opposed to the numerous deaths and brutality witnessed during the Arab Spring and other protests across the world.

I do not know if 2012 is the year during which the world ends but it does seem that the political drama in Pakistan is set for a big chaotic ride and there is hope at the end of the road so one must stay online to follow the developments while not forgetting that each and every vote matters!

Wake up Pakistan and join in defining the Political Social Media Revolution in Pakistan.

SOPA Stop Online Piracy Act will be killing the Internet and the world's largest Social and Cultural Revolution

2011-12-18T04:39:00.000+05:00

Say no to SOPA now here!

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

SOPA stands for "Stop Online Piracy Act" or "H.R.3261". The world should join together and get the word out to prevent the approval of such a bill. Why? Its going to destroy social and cultural innovation online across the world and most importantly, prevent developing countries from growing and participating in the today's Information and Knowledge economics of the globe..

SOPA is Unilateral, Single-sided control of the World Wide Web, Domain Names and IP Addresses!

SOPA noticeably promotes unilateral censorship:

"To promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of U.S. property, and for other purposes." —H.R. 3261

If passed, the SOPA Bill will damage the Internet and World Wide Web:

SOPA infringes Human Rights in an Internet, World Wide Web and online world.
SOPA is Internet censorship.
SOPA will cripple the Internet
SOPA will threaten whistle-blowing and other free speech.
SOPA may be replicated by other authoritarian governments of the world thus threatens the very notion of freedom of expression.
SOPA will prevent developing countries to create any intellectual ideas, products or content that is already copyrighted and protected in the US.
Despite the fact that the U.S. has been very vocal against censorship in other countries, it is attempting to censorship itself and will create the wrong example for other countries to follow and implement against their own citizens.

A vote is presently scheduled for Wednesday, 21st December, 2011 this week!

Please sign the petition against SOPA by clicking here

You must understand that:

The SOPA bill was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on 26th October, 2011, by Representative Lamar Smith and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors.
This bill stifles Internet and Web based Social and Cultural Innovation and Free expression as it expands the ability of U.S.only law enforcement and U.S. only copyright holders to fight online trafficking in U.S. copyrighted intellectual property and U.S. counterfeit goods.
It would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as U.S. copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement and if the court orders, the actions could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as PayPal from doing business with the infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites.
It makes unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a felony.
It gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.

You must acknowledge that:

SOPA is an example of a narrow elite taking central control of Social and Cultural Expression.
The global Internet and Web Citizenry have to be always vigilant of these threats that the web might become frightening to use.
Online Freedom of Expression is breaking down hierarchical assumptions that some do not like.
The web has already changed, improved or threatened the way society, economy and politics and cannot function like the old days of the Industrial Revolution.
The Internet and Web has given everyone connecting online the opportunity to be anyone, anywhere and anytime.
The Internet and Web has given everyone the opportunity to be read, heard or seen thus promote themselves in a system that was controlled by corporations and monopolists.
The Internet and Web have been providing opportunities that have never been provided to the individual human being before.
User generated self promoted online content is shattering global commercial hierarchies.
The old hierarchies want to sustain their way to discover new talent, content and opportunities through the network and prevent the individual opportunity to blossom.
The World Wide Web is being colonized by gate keepers and new elites and a handful less than 1% elite would like to control the future of the World Wide Web and free expression.

SOPA will break the Internet and the
World Wide Web!

WE, citizens of the world must help and encourage our policy makers to keep the Internet and World Wide Web free, equal and open for me, you and the entire human race!

SMS Content Filtering in Pakistan - The Real Story and Way Forward!

2011-12-13T02:38:00.001+05:00

Image via Wikipedia

*Note: The research by the author has also been published first here:
"What the *&~#" -1500 obscene words to block from SMSs or just 12 - while the PTA has yet to make up its mind, social commentators marvel at the obscenity of the very idea By Alefia T. Hussain, (The Daily News Sunday Magazine, Pakistan online and print).

The recent news about Pakistan Telecommunications Authority PTA directive to filter SMS content and its sudden decision to withdraw SMS filtration orders drove the world media into a viral frenzy provoking questions such as why did PTA attempt this move in the first place, who ordered them to do it from the government, how did they come about deciding whether the technology to implement such a filter was even there or not and what do they intend to do now? Questions like these have been pouring into my inbox since the issue and as promised, I researched deep into this issue.

I am undertaking some important social, legal, political and technical observations in to account here based on both logic and fact.

There are a number of issues here with a diversity of views and certain technology constraints. SMS abuse, SMS based abuse and SMS Spam has been widely perceived as an increasing concern for both regulators and mobile/cellular/telecom service users globally. In the case of Pakistan Regulatory Authority’s recent directive on SMS based content filtering actually may go beyond these prevalent concerns.

This whole incident lacks basic research!
First of all, as far as my technical knowledge and experience is concerned, the issue has not been assessed in detail in comparison to any existing global example and lacks baseline research. Secondly, total and effective SMS based content filtering against a keyword or a list of keywords as of yet is really not completely possible technically and technologically unless PTA is encouraged to publish its findings and the technical specifications of this in cooperation with the local Mobile/Cellular Operators that how are they going to actually implement this directive.

What triggered it?
According to my initial understanding, this SMS Content filtering activity being carried out by PTA may not have been triggered by any political pressure, political motivations or directions by the Cabinet Division. In fact, the Cabinet Division may now and should be encouraged to explore the concerns raised after this news got out from domestic and global media channels regarding PTA’s sudden content filtering on SMS. Furthermore, the global social media volcano has also exploded with extensive analysis and monitoring of the situation backed by both criticism and ridicule after the news spread through the Internet like wildfire.

Becoming the 1st to do so!
From my global experience dealing with Digital Censorship and Content Filtering, PTA may become the first telecoms regulator in the world attempting to implement such an extensive Content Filtering activity on SMS especially in two different languages but in the same English language script. Not all such news in this case is good news and may have negative implications towards how such regulations and their enforcements are construed by both regulators and citizens.

Why did PTA do it in the first place? Complaints?
So far it is widely being perceived that PTA may have solely issued this SMS Content Filtering directive for implementation by Mobile Operators after receiving complaints from consumers of cellular services filed with the Customer Complaints section otherwise there would be no other official or moral grounds to carryout such an order.

I have observed with many SMS users in the past that they are fed up with the anonymous and abusive messages they receive usually targeted at female members of their families and friends. This is a moral question indeed but maybe for the society to deal with it, not a telecoms regulator which itself is bound to legislative and parliamentary policy.

Upon observing both the English and Urdu Language keywords to be filtered lists that have been widely circulated across the Internet by many local and global media sources, many of the words mentioned in the Urdu Keywords Filter List may actually be a cause for many of these consumer complaints. Yes they are highly abusive terms and morally degraded language possibly used with intentions not actually asserting their meanings but as dual meaning phrases but again these may be morally disturbing for many.

Wrong assessment with no expert grounds!
As there is no public consultation neither carried out by PTA nor any psychological assessments through any official medical sources, PTA may be challenged on its assessment of socially or morally abusive terminology and the tools or mechanisms it uses to weigh immorality or public order both legally and by civil society groups. There needs to be some form of evidence what construes socially or morally abusive in the first place.

Has it incited language abuse?
Most of the words in the English list are actually catalysts of inciting deep concern among a broad range of social actors across the country. This raises concern that who were the English language/lingo experts at PTA that devised these lists and that they may be requested to be brought forward for being questioned publicly or maybe a case should be initiated with the courts under various human rights concerns of preventing access to usual and normal daily English language communication words.

The Keyword Filter Lists in both English and Urdu may require a revisit as well as more research. From the lists that I have gone through, there are many spelling mistakes so it is also evident that when the list was put together, it was not proof read nor it was actually read in detail by the PTA higher-ups. This raises some public transparency and accountability issues around how PTA vets its own processes before issuing directives and enforcement. Public Sector institutions and especially regulators should be very careful in how they propose and display information to the citizens.

No Oversight or Monitoring? No Public Consultations?
In reality, the Cabinet Division should be encouraged to question PTA’s officials that had led the creation of such lists and both the English and Urdu Language/Lingo discrepancies. It may be worth noting here whether religious experts, minorities’ representatives, principal English and Urdu Language advisors were brought together into a committee before designing such a list that may trigger unrest across the masses of the country? Socially this would be properly contested by legislators and courts in more developed nations.

If we study any single sided process that does not involve multistakeholder and public dialogue or even consultation with the Cabinet Division before implementation, usually such a process may only be initiated with the mutual understanding between PTA’s Chairman, DG and Member Technical and the only grounds that so far may make this enforceable are user complaints filed with the User Complaints section of PTA. I would believe that a great deal of thinking and survey would go into before issuing and implementing such directives.

Where's the technology? What, no technology yet?
Technically speaking and for the information of the general public, the SMS Content Filtering will be implemented by filtering software at the Telecom Operators end that actually receive or process and transmit all the sms messages being sent out to their users. I would first like to reference what is an SMSC to understand this process.

Technical Jargon
(source:wikipedia) When a user sends a text message (SMS message) to another user, the message gets stored in the SMSC (short message service center) which delivers it to the destination user when they are available. This is a store and forward option. A short message service center (SMSC) is a network element in the mobile telephone network which delivers SMS messages.

An SMS center (SMSC) is responsible for handling the SMS operations of a wireless network. When an SMS message is sent from a mobile phone, it will reach an SMS center first. The SMS center then forwards the SMS message towards the destination. The main duty of an SMSC is to route SMS messages and regulate the process. If the recipient is unavailable (for example, when the mobile phone is switched off), the SMSC will store the SMS message. It will forward the SMS message when the recipient is available.

What is the Validity period of an SMS message?
An SMS message is stored temporarily in the SMS center if the recipient mobile phone is offline. It is possible to specify a cutoff period after which the SMS message will be deleted from the SMS center. Once deleted, the SMS message will no longer be available for dispatch to the recipient mobile phone (even if it becomes online).

Accordingly, any SMS that is sent from any mobile user is first stored on the SMSC while its delivery is delayed for a few seconds. Then the Mobile Operator can implement a character string search to match keywords against the content of the message and block the delivery of matching content. It simply removes the words and may sometimes give the message “Some text missing” or may simply display some blank spaces for content blocked at the receivers end.

Logical and Technical Bypassing of such filtering!
What PTA may have failed to consider are the deeper technical issues associated with this content filtering activity? Currently SMSC does not have the capability to actually filter out non-alphabet characters. Wild cards such as ***** etc can be used to actually make the scanning software application skip virtually all the words in the list. This raises further concerns that why would PTA approach a SMS Content Filtering issue without first visiting the whole issue both technically as well policy implications-wise? Again this may raise issues of direct litigation of PTA.

Should there be SMS Content Filtering?
As a personal opinion, I would discourage any form of content filtering including SMS content filtering without public consultation. PTA must put into place processes before taking decisions that affect the user/consumers of Internet and Telecom Services that make citizens aware beforehand, educate them, receive and share public comments and then consult with legislators and policy makers the possible issues pertaining to implementation well before enforcement. Even for the current issue,

Lacking Multistakeholderism and Transparency?
In the true spirit of involving the citizens of Pakistan, PTA should have first convened the public including Civil Society, Private Sector, Academia, Public Sector and both Technical and Telecom communities into a multistakeholder dialogue and then discovered whether such an action was in the best interest of the public/citizenry at large or not and more importantly in the best interest of the country both domestically and internationally.

Still actions without appropriate baseline research?
Would such an action help everyone or would it only affect a handful few. PTA so far did not produce any baseline studies on number of SMS users, number of SMS sent per year, per month or per day. There is so far no record on its website about the number of complaints received by SMS users that received abusive content through the messaging service. There were no cell phone numbers blacklisted and published online as a warning. PTA also lacks inviting public comments before publishing of any content filtering directives through either newspapers or simply its own website.

What process? This is the way forward:
PTA should have possibly carried out a rightful and meaningful process before approaching this issue. Before issuing the directive, participation of the actual service users should have been invited and most importantly from SMS users. This could also have been initiated by a SMS to all mobile users so that at least PTA could understand and have figure of the number of service users interested in such an implementation.

PTA may also have attempted to launch a request for comments through either SMS on all networks or launched an online survey posted through its website. After a thorough study of comments from the public and especially SMS users, PTA should have first publicly shared its intent and then gone forward with official implementation once the public comment would have been positive.

The world went crazy because of us! Again?
This issue has really gotten out of hands. It is a global understanding across Internet and Mobile Technology Public Policy circles that any issue pertaining to digital content filtering is a very big threat to human rights and risks violating citizens’ state-recognized civil liberties including but not limited to free speech, press freedoms, right to privacy, right to religious views, and association. The current directive has been perceived both domestically and globally an infringement upon afore mentioned civil liberties of Pakistani citizens.

Help stop the threat of Content Filtering everywhere!
It is worth mentioning here that with the plethora of circumvention and censorship technologies available both free and commercially may encourage and actually trigger a competitive content filtering industry posing a major threat to the privacy and human rights of the citizens of Pakistan. SMS content filtering is an example of limiting or preventing access to our nation’s public communications infrastructure while it may also cause violation of an individual Pakistan’s fundamental right of freedom of expression and access to information.

Privacy Concerns
As far as privacy of Pakistani citizens in terms of SMS usage is concerned, PTA should consider ensuring preservation of Privacy and the current threat around this directive is that that SMS Content Filtering Directive gives all Mobile Operators the unprecedented and uncontestable right to expose user SMS content to third party and third party applications and in this case the Mobile Operators themselves to tamper and obstruct user generated content transmitted in a private manner. Basically PTA may have failed to realize what it is unleashing from its basket of regulations.

Global example of networked ridicule!
Finally, I am of the understanding that so far none of the Telecom/Cellular/Mobile Operators have actually implemented this directive whereas PTA should also take some more time to reconsider the enforcement of its directive despite withdrawal. The oceanic wave of criticism and ridicule generated both domestically and by the global media may actually provoke reconsideration whether such a directive should be actually and fully enforced or not.

From wider discussions during various interactions with the technical and general community, it is perceived that PTA may have taken actions in the past that have actually sent out a message locally and globally raising eyebrows displaying lack of multistakeholder involvement and general public consultation while devising and implementing its telecoms related regulatory enforcement activities especially surround Internet Content Usage and now issues pertaining to SMS content sharing.

Stop scaring our own poor citizens!
It is advisable for PTA that it should work towards facilitating the citizens of Pakistan and not provoke inciting threats and fear because digital communication both on the Internet and through Mobile Technology is the backbone of all social, economic and democratic activities in Pakistan and a fundamental citizen’s right to access information today.

Sleep on it!
There is a further need to create Internet and Mobile Technology Consumer Rights Groups in Pakistan that can have open and direct dialogues with PTA without feeling threatened or pressurized by the authorities so that transparent and accountable activities can be implemented by the regulator while helping and informing PTA before it attempts to create the global chaos and unneeded attention it has recently created through this directive. The regular public monitoring of PTA is in the mutual benefit of all Pakistani citizens as well as the regulator.

Pakistan Bans Porn as 150,000 explicit content website addresses are officially blocked on social and moral Ground

2011-10-29T17:16:00.001+05:00

The Pakistani Internet and Web Scene witness one of the largest filters in the region after China as a bans comes forward imposed under the supervision of the leadership of the Pakistan Telecom Regulatory Authority.

This ban comes after the VPN Tunneling Ban was imposed. Various sources have further shared that there may be further plans to implement blocking on various other keywords that affect the social and moral values of Pakistani citizens.

Such bans are underway without consulting a multistakeholder committee. A total of 150,000 website addresses were added to the filters at the ends of ISPs, Content Providers, Cellular Operators etc. According to a reliable source, the PTA leadership carried out certain meetings to reach this decision at PTA without informing the public at large. PTA has yet to publicly announce the list of blocked websites for transparency purposes.

Propakistani.pk had originally reported such a possibility here earlier this month that has now been formally implemented.

Access Denied in Pakistan is officially confirmed and implemented due to social and moral pressures.....!

.pk State of the Pakistani ccTLD Domain Report from Pakistan

2011-07-14T15:48:00.003+05:00

Image via Wikipedia

The Pakistani ccTLD .pk domain is a critical Internet resource for Pakistan. Established in 1996 by two Pakistani entrepreneurs and scientists settled abroad in the US, the .pk infrastructure has grown to host an approximate of 36893 .pk domains as of 13-07-2011 for the 6th most populous country in the world.

I have occasionally shared in my research and presentations that for any country, its country code top level domain (ccTLD) represents its citizen's confidence and trust in their country's critical Internet resources, represents their participation in the information society and knowledge economy. It also determines the rate of online or Internet based innovation in all social, political and economic spheres of life for that region.

The State of the Pakistani .pk ccTLD:

.pk domains registered as of 13 July 2011: 36893 .pk domains

*** Irfan Ahmad's .pk domain registration analysis ***

Irfan Ahmad, a Pakistani Entrepreneur (profile) recently posted his statistics and analysis of the state of the Pakistani ccTLD on his blog here presenting very interesting facts and figures. According to Irfan, approximately 50% of the registered domains are .com.pk whereas 33% represent .pk registrations, 2103 are .org.pk, 1966 are .edu.pk and 1163 are .net.pk.He further distributes the Pakistani federal government and provincial government ccTLD usage as follows:

Government of Pakistan has 766 .pk domains
Government of Punjab has 121 .pk domains
Government of Sindh has 68 .pk domains
Government of Kashmir has 14 .pk domains
Government of Baluchistan has 8 .pk domains
Government of KPK has 5 .pk domains registered.

The .pk ccTLD has also issued .biz.pk, .web.pk and .fam.pk as follows:

.biz.pk 196 domains
.web.pk 121 domains
.fam.pk 12 domains

.PK Yearly Growth Pattern

As far as the .pk domain registration growth pattern is concerned, Irfan maps out the yearly growth pattern through the following infographic that has shown a significant increase of domain registrations and interest from 2008 onward representing increased awareness and adoption among Pakistani Internet users, entrepreneurs that are both local and international companies doing business in Pakistan.

.PK Top 20 Pakistani Registrars

According to Irfan's analysis of the Top 20 Domain Registrars, Nexus Technologies, an Islamabad based company that has offices in almost all major cities stands as the leader registering around 2126 .pk domains. The closest competitor is Websouls and the public sector ISP COMSATS is third. Brain Telecom one of the oldest ISP players in the market also boasts a significant number of .pk registrations. Though ServerSea Hosting leads in the top level domain registration market in Pakistan, it sits very low in the chart given by Irfan.

Summarizing some occasional points I make during my work:

Domain names managed by ICANN are divided into 2 major categories. First the gTLDs or “generic top-level domains” and secondly the ccTLDs or “country code top level domains” which represent a country level designation.
Each country recognized by the United Nations has a country code top-level domain based on the ISO Standardized country code name that is a two letter character.
A ccTLD provides regional credibility on the World Wide Web and or Internet for a country and its citizens.
The ccTLD for Pakistan is .pk that was established in 1996.
A ccTLD represents the nationality of an individual, group, community, society, organization, company and government.
A ccTLD helps in identifying the source of communication and helps develop a trust relationship.
A ccTLD website may or may not be physically located within the country represented by it.
Every country carries its own specific guidelines for the use of its ccTLD.
In some countries and regions like the Canada .ca domain or European Union .eu domains are only available for Canadian or EU based companies and individuals. For any Canadian individual or business, they must meet Canadian Presence Requirements here in order to register a .CA.
Some countries like Colombia .co and Micronesia allow anyone from anywhere to register ccTLD domains
ccTLDs help its registrants in avoiding obscure wording and misleading domain names
ccTLD restrictions on who can buy a ccTLD helps registrations in securing reliable and user-friendly registry
ccTLDs promote the distance from the global market helping registrants offer more personalized customer care
ccTLD based regional/country identification as well as branding helps registrants to take advantage against being lost midst other saturated domain name extensions.
ccTLD also helps in localizing the location on the web. It may be prudent that for certain forms of content, ccTLD domains help find the required local content on any given subject or entity.
ccTLD's are managed as companies, public-private partnerships or by academic or research institutions.
The value of a ccTLD can be linked directly to that country’s economic and investment environment. Its growth represents its participation in the local and global Knowledge Economy, the participation and trust of its citizens in its Information Society as well the quality and growth of Knowledge Workers in the region though that is not the scope of this discussion..
Lower rates of ccTLD registration can also be linked to brain drain in certain cases though that is not the scope of this discussion.
Most of the successful and high-growth ccTLD's are the ones managed through Public-Private Partnerships for example the Indian ccTLD .in is managed by the Public-Private Partnership called NIXI here that is amongst the fastest growing ccTLD in the world approaching nearly one million .in registrations..
The .PK ccTLD is a privately held entity.

References:

ICANN: http://www.icann.org
PKNIC Registry: http://www.pknic.net.pk
Irfan Ahmed's PKNIC Domain Registration Statistics: http://i.com.pk/pknic-domain-registration-statistics

Skype Down Again! Skype faces login problems on 7 June 2011

2011-06-07T17:41:00.000+05:00

Image via Wikipedia

The skype service has been down now for a few hours not allowing me or many over the Internet to login. ZDNet has also reported a company representative stating that 'some' Skype users may have been having problems logging into the service but we know that is an understatement!

There were reports of tweets also popping up on Twitter.com asking whether Skype was down? According to ZDNet here, Skype's Social Media Communications Manager Peter Parkes was reported to be saying, that, "A small number of you may have problems signing in to Skype. We're investigating the cause, and hope to have more details to share soon." On the otherhand, even the moderators of the Heartbeat blog, where this post was originally published have appeared offline to its users.

At 2:15 PM Geneva in Switzerland, Skype still appeared to be out of service and it is not even attempting to connect anymore therefore appearing to be a major glitch. I wonder if its one of those ddos attacks happening that have surfaced across the world on both private and public networks.

Also remember that this has nothing to do with the new buyer of Skype because the deal hasn't even concluded yet, yeah it was announced but then you know what happens in the corporate world for such large deals, it takes time...give them a break!

The Royal Wedding and the Internet Crash - Will the royal wedding disrupt the Internet?

2011-04-26T15:55:00.000+05:00

As the impending Royal Wedding between Prince William and the bride-to-be Kate Middleton to be taking place on April 29, 2011 comes closer, the Internet and World Wide Web is witnessing a massive inflow of information, rumors and pictures about the new English Royal Couple.

This has compelled blogs like GigaOm to share their concern here whether the Royal Wedding will break the Internet or not. The post is surely based on creating some F-U-D, that is, fear, uncertainty and doubt around one of the most hottest entertaining topics online. GigaOm shares that that Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding was watched by 750 million people in 1981 on television in 74 countries.

It was the most viewed wedding according to Guinness World Records. The current Royal Wedding ceremony might beat that record as the British Cultural Secretary Jeremy Hunt anticipates two billion people watching it thus a storm of streaming could bring down networks and sites around the world. I would doubt that because the foot ball world cup was also the most streamed event across the world last year!

The British royal family's official YouTube channel here will be hosting a live stream of the BBC TV feed covering the royal wedding ceremony scheduled to begin At 9 a.m. GMT/1 a.m. PDT and the invitation is already out through the following video:

Times of India reported here that there is a mention about the Royal Couple every ten seconds on the Internet. The Times reports that a new study based on the data compiled by an Internet Marketing Agency called Greenlight Marketing Limited identified here that an average of 9000 posts a day on the subject during the last week has been contributing to the flurry of internet "noise" about the impending nuptials.

More than a 700 percent rise in the mention of the royal wedding has been witnessed compared to March. Greenlight reports that there has been a total of 158,000 posts online about the the royal wedding since March until now and that is a 38 percent ranging to 60,964 in the last seven days. The popular topics audiences are viewing include but are not limited to keywords like cake, wedding dress, gifts, guest list, hair and make-up, rings and the wedding party. These topics generated over 15,739 during the week while the topics about dress, guest list and gifts are in the top three bracket.

The following infographic by Greenlight shows the search trends of the royal wedding:

Just to give an example of the royal wedding flurry on the Internet, the following video uploaded by T-Mobile celebrating the Royal Wedding is an example of how much excited the global Internet audience feels. As of April 26, 2011, the video has been viewed/downloaded over 11,729,671 times already:

It is agreeable that the global audience's interest and fantasy to witness a real royal wedding even if its of a couple of the British Royal Family is enormous and the Internet and Web might face certain hick-ups as more and more people follow the news till the live coverage. However, the resilience and stability of the Internet does ensure that when such kind of global event coverage takes place online, it can manage the pressure to a great extent but at the end of day, software and hardware is always vulnerable and so is the network to such hick-ups online. Let's hope for the best and good luck to the royal couple.

Google is taking down Gizmo5 after integrating VoIP telephony service into Gmail/Gtalk

2011-03-05T05:17:00.000+05:00

Image via CrunchBase

Yet another company is facing a shutdown after being acquired by Google. Gizmo5 here was acquired by search giant Google in 2009 and according to its website and as reported by TechCrunch here will be shutdown on April 3, 2011. Basically Gizmo5 services will be discontinued. Gizmo5 was the creator of various VoIP services that after being acquired by Google were integrated into Gmail and Gtalk. This continues to be an example of how larger Internet intermediaries are acquiring smaller companies and strengthening their position in the communications market.

Sloppy Google - Website and video shows what would happen if Google was human operated

2011-03-05T05:08:00.000+05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Have you ever wondered what would happen to Google if it was actually operated with humanistic characteristics? This would mean being lazy and laid back while taking search requests from users and trying to give back search results. An artistic website called Detour Lab presents a Sloppy twin of Google here, a yawning search engine with humanistic characteristics. Its worth a visit and it does make us think of how things would be the other way around.

Mubarak Resigns and Internet Revolution 2.0 successful in Egypt- Egyptians win Freedom with Internet Revolution 2.0

2011-02-11T22:18:00.000+05:00

Image via Wikipedia

The world is witnessing the jubilation, the joy and the achievement of the protesting citizens of Egypt as Egypt's Ex-President Mubarak was reported to have left earlier for Sharam-El-Sheikh with his family and finally handed over his resignation over to the Supreme Council of Armed Forces.

The regime collapsed only a hour ago at around 9.00PM Pakistan Standard Time after a revolution ignited with the Internet and World Wide Web swept Egypt originally as a peaceful demonstration call against lawlessness through a Facebook page setup by an executive of Google as shared in my earlier post.

Congratulations to the citizens of Egypt, the Internet, the World Wide Web and Internet Revolution 2.0! The end of 30 years of Mubarak's rule in Egypt has come to an end by a revolution led by the citizens of the country!

This is only the beginning for Egyptians, they have got rid of the Mubarak regime but are yet to get rid of the corruption, lawlessness, injustice and strengthen the country as well as its countrymen and countrywomen amidst the crimes committed against the people of Egypt!

Al-Mabrook!!!!Mabrook!!!! Congratulations to the protesting Youth, Women, Children, Civil Society, Everyone and Martyrs of Egypt!

Look forward now Egypt!

Egypt and Internet Revolution 2.0 - Did Wael Ghonim trigger an Internet Revolution 2.0? What are the implications for Internet Governance?

2011-02-10T04:57:00.002+05:00

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

The Google Egypt executive that was detained for over 10 days by the Egyptian authorities, then release to find so much change already taken place including human casualties amidst the protests taking place in the country has appeared amongst the protesting Egyptians as their leader and to what Wael termed as the Internet Revolution 2.0.

Wael Ghonim is originally a Google executive living in Dubai with his wife and two children. He had gone to Egypt to participate in the protests but was arrested. The reason for his arrest according to the media (CNN here), Wael Ghonim was the trigger point for launching and organizing the initial protests against police brutality and human rights violations happening on Egyptian citizens. This effort evolved the protests in to the present form that have convulsed Egypt for more than over two weeks now. Wael facilitated the protest by creating and administering a Facebook page and/or Facebook group that the media reports is widely credited for calling the first protest on 25th January 2011.

The abrupt reaction of the Egyptian Authorities to clamp down on Wael Ghonim resulted in his being recognized as one of the young revolutionaries and leaders of an emerging youth opposition protesting against the Egyptian Government in the current circumstances. Wael called the Internet as one of the key catalysts and trigger point for the revolution and uprising of the citizens in Egypt terming it as an Internet Revolution 2.0.

AS Wael Ghonim, now being termed as the Che Guevara of the Internet and Web age coins the term with reference to the Egyptian uprising against the authorities, what are the implications for a possible Internet Revolution 2.0 for the rest of the world?

The Internet's evolution, penetration and adoption is triggering new forms of social and economic changes.
These new forms of changes in human society and organization may be termed as Internet Revolution 2.0 that allows human beings from any corners of the world to connect, collaborate, share and organize from anywhere facilitated by various social media tools and platforms to come together and trigger or catalyze change.
This change may be productive or counter productive for historic, traditional or prevailing forms of democratic, dictatorship or monarch governance systems.
The capability for any human being to 'become aware' of his or her negative circumstances and any violations of their basic human rights may be the pressure breaking points to turn towards the Internet and the World Wide Web to connect with other human beings that may in similar conditions within the same community, society, country or region resulting in mutual sharing, finding solutions to common problems or organizing into new groups to seek change.
This new form of networked social organizing to lead, trigger or catalyze change brings new implications for the existent socio, economic and political governance systems.
The Internet Revolution 2.0 is about human rights, mutual human respect, transparency and accountability and moreover, openness and acceptance of change.
For Internet Governance, Internet Revolution 2.0 is an evolving phenomenon especially when the governments, private sector, civil society, researchers and academia across the world have not reached any consensus on the governance of the Internet Revolution 1.0.
Internet Revolution 2.0 has only become apparent with the current affairs of human uprising, protesting, activism, freedom of expression, demand for basic human rights and awareness of their needs in the North African Arab and Middle Eastern countries but what form is this taking remains both a question and challenge.
Some countries are moving towards more openness in governance and government using the Internet and World Wide Web through the phenomenons of Open Government, Open Governance and Open Government Data but it is yet to be determined if Internet Revolution 2.0 will be the reason for wider spread and adoption of such openness through the global network at the speed we are witnessing today.
Yes, an Internet Revolution 2.0 may actually be evolving here....................how will we as human beings connected to each other respond to this new global change..........remains the primary question!

State of www.facebook.com in Pakistan - Facebook remains the most used website in Pakistan.

2011-02-08T01:28:00.004+05:00

Image via CrunchBase

Facebook usage in Pakistan research:
I was recently studying searching and surfing habits of Internet users from Pakistan online and where they usually go to for getting information online and am sharing some of the statistics and knowledge gathered about Pakistan's use of Facebook across various sectors and segments. I also dug deep into how Pakistani companies and brands were using Facebook to promote their services or build relationships with their customers and fans but I will share that information in my next post.

Global statistics:
According to www.facebook.com's global statistics page here, over 500 million users are active out of which
50% log on to Facebook in any given day. An average Facebook user has 130 friends and people tend to spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook. The time is usually spent around over 900 million objects that people interact with including pages, groups, events and community pages whereas an average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events.

The average user also creates 90 pieces of content each month sharing more than 30 billion pieces of content including web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc. Facebook is now hosting more than 70 translations its website thus about 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States and over 300,000 users helped translate the Facebook website through the translations application. Facebook also shares that more than 200 million active users of Facebook are accessing the website through their mobile devices constitute twice the population than non-mobile users and 200 mobile operators in 60 countries are working to readily deploy and promote Facebook mobile products

Asian Internet usage statistics:
According to the Facebook statistics page on the Internet World Stats website here, Asia as of 2010 has an approximate population of 3,834,792,852 out of which 828,930,856 are Internet users and out of these 93,584,580 are Facebook users. This represents a 2.4 % (as of August 31, 2010) Facebook Penetration in Asia. The ratio of Facebook users in relation to the total number of estimated Internet users in each country or world region for Asia stands at 11.3%. The total Internet Penetration in Asia stands at 21.6%.

State of Internet usage in Pakistan:
The current registered population of Pakistan stands at 177,276,594 as of 2010. The country is spread out over an area of 880,254 sq km. In the year 2000, Pakistan only had 133,900 Internet users but today Pakistan has over 20,350,000 Internet users as of Jun 2010 with a 11.5% penetration as per ITU statistics. ITU also reports 168,100 broadband subscribers as of June 2009. The Internet user growth rate between 2000-2010 has been 13,716.3 % and constitutes of about 2.2 % of the total Internet users in Asia. Thus the Internet penetration rate according to percentage of total population is an approximate 10.4 %.

According to the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority PTA as reported by ProPakistani.pk here, the latest statistics for Broadband subscribers in Pakistan stand at 10,00,000 (1 Million) respectively. There were1.052 million broadband subscribers in October 2010, up from 994,911 subscribers in September 2010. DSL companies added the most subscribers for broadband and stood at 516,167 subscribers in October 2010, up from 488,946 in September 2010.

EvDO service providers totaled 15,540 subscribers in one month, while WiMAX companies added a total of 14,066 subscribers in the month. Total number of WiMAX subscribers in the country has hit 306,665 mark, up from 292,599 a month ago. According to ProPakistani.pk, DSL remains the top technology used for broadband internet in the country, while WiMAX stands seconds. EvDO is swiftly adding its share for the broadband subscribers.

State of Facebook keyword search on Google by Pakistani Internet users:
According to Google insights for search terms here, Facebook remained the third highest search term searched by Pakistanis through Google.com over the last 12 months. It also remained the second highest searched term for the past 30 days here from 7th January to 7th February 2011 and during the last 7 days, it remains as the third most searched term on Google from Pakistan here with the Internet user population of the city of Lahore in Punjab, Pakistan standing as the highest searching region for this search term.

Pakistan amongst top global 30 Facebook user countries:
Pakistan remains at the tail amongst the 30 fastest growing Facebook user countries in the world at position number 29 as of 7th February 2011. The total number of Facebook users in Pakistan are 3,65,3140 adding a total of 1,448,920 users in the last 6 months depicting 39.66% growth and penetration at 2.06%. During the past week, over 45,280 users have joined Facebook from Pakistan depicting a 1.24% growth.

Pakistan's 3,653,140 Facebook User Population's Age and Gender Distribution:

4% Pakistani Facebook users are between the ages 13-15 = 146,126 users
6% Pakistani Facebook users are between the ages 16-17 = 219,189 users
52% Pakistani Facebook users are between the ages 18-24 = 1,899,633 users
29% Pakistani Facebook users are between the ages 25-34 = 1,059,410 users
6% Pakistani Facebook users are between the ages 35-44 = 219,185 users
1% Pakistani Facebook users are between the ages 55-64 = 36533 users
1% Pakistani Facebook users are between the ages 65-+ = 36533 users

The 3,653,140 Pakistani Facebook user audience's Gender distribution comprises of:

68% Males
32% Females.

* In terms of Facebook based advertising, Pakistan stands at the 118th position amongst the list of countries that advertise through Facebook with the Average Cost Per Click CPC is US$0.16 and the Average Cost Per Mile CPM is US$0.7.

Related articles

Egypt Crisis - Egypt is burning and the Internet is burning with Surveillance, Spying and Tracking citizens and Internet users.

2011-02-06T05:05:00.000+05:00

Image by sciondriver via Flickr

Earlier last year, the Network World website revealed an important piece of news here about a US based company called NARUS that develops traffic intelligence technology developing a scary sleuth for social media. The technology code named "Hone" technology worked with an application NarusInsight to connect different profiles to one person.

The company and its sneaky technologies came into world knowledge again as Al-Jazeera's recent report about the recent Internet shutdown in Egypt gives facts about this US based Boeing's sister company called NARUS located in Sunnyvale California played an important role in burning and shutting down the Internet Egypt by providing the DPI Deep Packet Inspection technology to the Egyptian government.

Network World has already shared this information here last year. The technology by Narus involving DPI allows governments to monitor Twitter, Facebook and Cell Phone account users. The tools provide governments the opportunity to surveillance their citizens as well as control the Internet and shutting down the Internet when and where required.

So what is DPI? According to a wikipedia entry here, Deep packet inspection (DPI) is the act of any packet network equipment which is not an endpoint of a communication using non-header content (typically the actual payload) for some purpose. This is performed as the packet passes an inspection point, searching for protocol non-compliance, viruses, spam, intrusions or predefined criteria to decide what actions to take on the packet, including collecting statistical information.

The technology is a bit different from the traditional DPI applications where it also allows governments to monitor criticisms by their citizens against them. This makes it a very dangerous technology and originally Internet Spying is illegal according to the US laws. According to the Huffington Post's article here, the technology is being used in Pakistan, by the Kuwaiti Wataniya Telecom, an Indian Telco, Saudi Arabian authorities etc.....

Timothy Karr of Free Media wrote through Huffington Post that Narus provided Egypt Telecom with the Deep Packet Inspection equipment (DPI) used to shut down the Internet. Naras content-filtering technology allows network managers to inspect, track and target content from users of the Internet and mobile phones, as it passes through routers on the information superhighway. Other Narus global customers include the national telecommunications authorities in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, two countries that regularly register alongside Egypt near the bottom of Human Rights Watch's world report. Huffington Post also shares that Steve Bannerman, Narus' marketing VP shared in an interview with Wired that, "Anything that comes through [an Internet protocol network], we can record. We can reconstruct all of their e-mails along with attachments, see what web pages they clicked on, we can reconstruct their [voice-over Internet protocol] calls."

Well, the Egyptian Internet and communications shutdown also sent a message across the world when OECD reported here that blocking Internet cost Egypt at least $90M. I guess its not only that, it also cost Egypt its reputation in the global communications and Internet arena especially after hosting the Internet Governance Forum in Sharam-El-Sheikh in 2009 and the ICANN Public Meetings!

So the citizens on the Internet across the world have become aware of how they are being spied upon and what is the technology being used to spy on them. This becomes a major issue for discussions during upcoming Internet Governance Forum 2011 in Kenya.

Who is killing the Internet? Is this is because of a Wikileaks Effect and Post-Wikileaks Effect Syndrome?

2011-01-24T23:44:00.001+05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Only recently, the world witnessed two major information earthquakes due to the Internet. The first in the form of the confidential cable leaks from Wikileaks and the second in the form of removal of the Tunisian dictatorship. How do these two incidents impact the future of the Internet and its governance and how do global powers as well as country governments respond to such happenings. This is still an evolving debate and the blame game is going on all across the world with the affected reacting in ways that is amazing the world citizenry. I do not have to mention any specific country names or people since the global press and media is effectively doing that already but it is important to note here that how will the world react towards this feature of the Internet that promotes both transparency and disruption within the social, economic and political processes across the globe?

It can be observed that after what happened in Tunisia, with the the viral information spreading like a wild fire across the Internet, various nations with dictatorships in the continent of Africa have been reported to be fearing what I also consider as the Wikileaks Effect. After all that has happened so far, the Wikileaks Effect can be defined as a phenomenon that causes an individual, group, gathering, community, organization, political party, government or dictatorship to rethink the repercussions that can be caused due to the leakage of any confidential information about them as well as what can happen after another party gains free access to information that they cannot control on the Internet. Following this fear is the blame game phase that evolves as the leak of information occurs and causes the damage in whatever form it can. Who is to blame?

There is a duality in this discussion about who is to blame. The Tunisian's already knew about the corruption issues and the same goes with the citizenry of almost every country. Then why do these blame games erupt right after such information leaks? I call this the Post-Wikileaks Effect Syndrome where there has to be someone that has an answer detailing who did it or what we may call the finger-pointing phase. The following video report of the blame game over Wikileaks is an example of the Post-Wikileaks Effect Syndrome:

So what are we seeing here now? Is Wikileaks going to provoke governments across the world to kill the Internet or at least kill the access to information that they cannot control as defined in the Wikileaks Effect above? I am using the term ""Killing the Internet" metaphorically in the context of the global battle over information control over the Internet that may effect the norms and principles that enable the functioning of a single and sustainable Internetwork.

Totally out of context, let me just share a small example of whats happening with regards to data protection within the technology consumer markets. It is well perceived that the Wikileaks leaking of cables happened a great deal due to someone gaining access to unsecured data and information. According to ZDNet here, the Wikileaks incident caused 40 percent of their readers in the U.S. to at least think about better security procedures and 20 percent across the globe are also considering the same. The results can be viewed here.

This brings us to what Internet users consider as the attempt to kill the Internet and how to preserve the basic existence of the network that I once again can connect to the Post-Wikileaks Effect Syndrome because it is an issue of being paranoid that something may be happening to the Internet and only in the context of one country whereas the Internet today is perceived by the global citizenry to exist as a global asset not owned by anyone country or government. The following video by ZDNet is from a an event at the Churchill Club in Santa Clara where Neville Roy Singham, Founder of Thoughtworks made a case for why the core values of the Internet, including the freedom of press are possibly at risk amidst the WikiLeaks revelations (originally here):

So after the Wikileaks Effect and the Post-Wikileaks Effect Syndrome, can the Internet be preserved from being killed? Can the core values that are well perceived norms by the global citizenry still be preserved from a possible takeover? Can the lacking of controlling every possible tidbit of information over the Internet prevent countries from trying to control even those tidbits? There is no possible answer to these questions as one person cannot represent a global point of view but I would like to share an important insight into these issues through an interesting and eyeopening analysis here by Dr. Jovan Kurbalija of Diplo Foundation titled "After the deluge: Internet governance in the aftermath of WikiLeaks" that indicates a global battle that can possibly hurt, change or kill the way the Internet is governed. The following prediction about Internet Governance is worth noting:

"In 2011, we can expect that many national governments will adopt a two-track policy. On the one hand, they will continue reclaiming control of their national e-spaces, with the risk of fragmentation of the global Internet. On the other hand, they will accelerate pressure on the USA towards complete internationalisation of Internet governance and, in particular, of ICANN.

Paradoxically, the USA, which has resisted the internationalisation of Internet governance, may become one of its main proponents in 2011. With almost all major Internet companies based in the USA (Google, Facebook, Yahoo), and most Internet traffic passing through the USA, and with English as the main language, the main sufferer of a possible Internet fragmentation could be the United States. For example, if other countries start creating their own national clouds, the main casualty will be companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook."

Following the afore discussion, who can we really say is killing the Internet? Is this is because of the Wikileaks Effect or is it because of the Post-Wikileaks Effect Syndrome? I leave this to the readers to decide! This post may seem speculative but really, this is food for thought. It may be agreed to a great extent that Wikileaks has really caused the world to rethink issues pertaining to the governance of the Internet. No one had the idea that the Wikileaks ripple would go as far as this to stimulating a Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia and then causing disturbance in the norms and principles of the Internet. Issues like creating Internet Policing and independent Internet Policy and Regulation body have emerged out of government discussions with regards to Internet Governance and this could have far reaching implications for the future and governance of the global network!

Is Youtube.com killing its openness? Youtube users do not like corporate content flooding the website.

2011-01-22T14:32:00.000+05:00

Image via CrunchBase

I was recently surveying user comments on Youtube.com about productions, show inventories, videos by famous singers and music label promotion activities.

The situation about how users produce and access content on Youtube.com does seem a bit overwhelming especially when everyone across the globe is realizing both the fame and monetary benefits of using Youtube.com today while at the same time using the video sharing platform as a means to get heard, get the message out, archive and curate audio and video productions or simply remix public domain content. Everyone uses Youtube.com differently and perceive it differently as I found a couple of very interesting comment posts being made by the usual users of the video sharing website and how happy they were with it but I also discovered how users were also using the website to produce some really neat stuff..

Just a few basics for the heck of it. YouTube, a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos, was originally created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005 (source:wikipedia). Youtube.com became very famous as a peer-2-peer personal video and audio sharing website before being bought by Google.com. As Google.com modified the website including the way people uploaded content and copyright protections, it continued to host videos from both the general Internet user audience as well as video sharing by corporate companies but with certain terms including removing audio of videos that were using someone else's intellectual property like audio or images etc.

Also a bit about copyrights and ipr protection. When a user attempts to upload a video to Youtube.com, they are shown a screen that says, "Do not upload any TV shows, music videos, music concerts or advertisements without permission, unless they consist entirely of content that you created yourself." to ensure reduction in copyright and IPR violations by users. Despite this, Youtube.com faced various lawsuits by companies and as a counter measure to such violations, it introduced a Video ID system that checks uploaded videos against a database of copyrighted content with the aim of reducing violations but this did not stop courts from ruling Youtube.com to handover data detailing the viewing habits of every user who has watched videos on the site. Thus Youtube had to reveal all user private data and when the Electronic Frontier Foundation protested to this, the court ruled out the protest as speculative. More criticism can be read here on a dedicated page at Wikipedia.

The following Youtube.com channel for singer Katy Perry by VEVO (KatyPerryVEVO Channel) shows such a distrust level by users here. The video titled "Katy Perry - Teenage Dream (Remix)." The video carries the following copyright notice:

"KatyPerryVEVO | 27 October 2010 | 4,845 likes, 887 dislikes
Music video by Katy Perry performing Teenage Dream. (P) (C) 2010 Capitol Records, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is a violation of applicable laws. Manufactured by Capitol Records, LLC, 1750 North Vine Street, Hollywood, CA 90028."

As you scroll further down after the video portion, the following comments are raising concerns by the users of Youtube.com:

"Dear Vevo, Let me start by sayin get your corporate azzes off youtube! Ever since these big companies started paying off youtube so they could post their friggin videos we can't post ours. We are flagged for infringement evry time we include a song we like in our videos. This is YOUtube, the place where we can post OUR videos. If we wanted to listen to music from you wed go to your damn website.To people who want greedy corporates gone thumbs up and copy this on Vevo vids.thx
robertdubai1 1 day ago 68

Why is everybody copying the same saying?

Dear Vevo, Let me start by sayin get your corporate asses off youtube! Ever since these big companies started paying off youtube so they could post their friggin videos we cant post ours. We are flagged for infringement evry time we include a song we like in our vids.This is YOUtube, the place where we can post OUR videos. If we wanted to listen to music from you we'd go to your damn website.
Create your own!!!
AussieKatie12 18 hours ago 5 "

So what is really happening here? The usual Youtube.com user called a non-partner is allowed to upload with a limit of 15 minute content durations according to the concept of 15 Minutes of Fame. Partners on the other hand are allowed to upload content as long as they want as shown here for Katy Parry's Making of Firework song. Many companies have now started releasing their content for global viewers using Youtube.com like this example here by The A.V. Club that has uploaded its entire video inventory.

On the contrary, Youtube.com also shows how to create content on short time scale as shown here in the "Creating a Hit: 8 Hour Challenge" also featured on Youtube Trends here. These two guys tried to make a Viral Video in 8 hours. I found this activity very interesting because the two guys also share thei concern that what it takes to produce a professional song and how what they did was not just exactly that. Why did they do it in the first place? Well I found the following reason the Viral Video's website here:

"Anyone else think that ‘pop’ music is just corny electronic beats with cheesy, meaningless lyrics? So do these two musicians. To prove that 90% of popular music on the radio is just pure garbage, they decide to make a pop song as fast as they can. In just eight hours, they create a pop Kesha-style song from scratch complete with original lyrics and beat. It sounds like it belongs on the radio. They are successful. The song starts at 6:00."

So far they have not done great in terms of viewership of their attempt on Youtube.com because they only received around 126,410 pages as of 22nd January 2011 ;o) Maybe my post will help them a bit :o).

So what was the conclusion of this activity so far? I am still trying to build up my perspective about this issue as to why users of a website that is owned by Google.com expect it to be open and liberal to remixed content made from copyrighted material. On one hand they hate it and on the other hand they still consume it. They produce content and attempt their 15 minutes to fame opportunity and on the other hand they complain as well. The partner option is available to everyone by Youtube.com but I really don't have an idea of how to get that facility but I don't need it either. One thing is for sure, I do not want any of my personal data to be accessed by anyone without my consent!

Gigantic Shuffles as Google's Eric Schmidt CEO gets replaced by co-founder Larry Page

2011-01-21T16:27:00.000+05:00

Image via Wikipedia

What happens when key product line offerings of giant Internet companies cannot be put through in the market like their competitors, well, we see some gigantic reshuffles as is happening in Google. Eric Schmidt has left Google after 10 years of serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the Internet Giant. Google doesn't need an adult's supervision now for the second decade was the feeling that came from his tweet here. He tweets, "Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!" and points to the Google blog here. So the kids are back in the CEO saddle as Larry Page takes on as CEO.

What I feel is that the issues around Google misusing its search results to promote its own services and the recent product offerings from Google haven't really been doing so good and the pressure of all this does fall on the shoulders of a company's CEO. We saw what happened with Google Buzz that including launching and crashing because of Facebook's dominance on the social networking space, the issue with Google Books and the Authorship settlement, the inability of Google Android to really take over the market by gaining operator support or counter the Apple iPhone competition and the Google Street View collecting confidential data and EU's reaction over the issue leading it towards sort of an anti-trust situation.

Has Google grown too big for itself to be efficiently managed? I like the analysis given by Guardian here.

Bill Clinton to speak at ICANN's Silicon Valley Public Meeting in March 2011

2011-01-20T13:21:00.000+05:00

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, with Rod Beckstrom, ICANN President and CEO. icannphotos

As the Internet community gets ready for participating in ICANN's 40th Public Meeting taking place in San Fransisco from March 13-18, 2011, there is confirmed news that President Bill Clinton will also be participating in the meeting as a speaker. Scott Pinzon at ICANN posted this news on January 13th, 2011 on the ICANN blog stating "Bill Clinton and the ICANN Silicon Valley Meeting." here.

Scott confirmed that:

"A few blogs and a swarm of tweets have announced that former President Bill Clinton will speak at ICANN’s Silicon Valley-San Francisco public meeting in March. Some are asking why ICANN hasn’t announced this yet. While it’s true that we have invited and he has accepted, we’re still working on a contract, and without it a formal announcement cannot be made. We are also aware that ICANN meetings are highly structured, work-intensive events, and we want to be sure that an appearance by President Clinton enhances the meeting’s outcomes rather than distracts from them."

The most important addition to this story were the rumors that ICANN, a non-for-profit organization and custodian of the technical coordination of the global Internet root and IP addressing was going to end up paying half-million and million-dollar figure to President Bill Clinton have all been declared false way out of line.

Antony Van Couvering has spin off information about this through an article he posted on CircleID here "Confirmed: Bill Clinton to Address ICANN Meeting in SF" on Jan 13, 2011. According to Antony, Bill Clinton's presence will generate inevitable tech press that will be really beneficial for both ICANN and the Silicon Valley.

Antony also showed his skepticism over the overall issue of having an ICANN Public Meeting in the Silicon Valley, where all those companies reside including giants like Facebook that are changing the global Internet landscape and how the world uses the Internet. Well I don't blame him, ICANN really has been moving at a snail's pace with on-going issues like the ten year delay in launching IDNs' Internationalized Domain Names and now the trouble with launching Generic Top Level Domains. I won't go with the claim about the GAC and its pressures on ICANN, I still cannot recognize that as to exist because what the governments did with the Internet Governance Forum improvements issues upon the renewal of its five year mandate tells a whole different story.

I personally believe that its time for ICANN to actually announce and launch the new gTLD program at with what ever the state of the gTLD applicants guidebook because unless you don't test the ground, how do you know what worked and what didn't and improvements can take place on an on-going basis for the intelligent!

Zodiac Signs Changed? New zodiac sign dates change rumors drive the Internet world crazy!

2011-01-20T12:46:00.001+05:00

Image via Wikipedia

The recent rumors about Zodiac Sign changes drove the world crazy online. The Google trends for hot searches had the "zodiac signs changed" and "new zodiac sign dates" were listed as one of the top searches in the past few days.

The zodiac change rumor that went viral on the Internet causing paranoia for Zodiac fans across the world was possibly triggered by the post on Minneapolis Star Tribune launching the chaos theory that zodiac is off by about the month. An astronomer named Parke Kunkle had claimed that that due to changes in the Earth's alignment the dates of many zodiac signs have changed with the possibility of a 13th Zodiac sign called the Ophiuchus.

According to this article post (Sign of the times: Astrology story soars like a comet) Kunkle claimed thatthe Earth and Sun slowly move the signs gradually change and this did not happen in one night as the 12 signs were designated to different periods of the year almost 3,000 years ago. The Star Tribune also gave the following diagrammatical representation of this situation analysis.

The "New" Astrological calendar according to StarTribune.com

CNN reported the issue about the Zodiac changes here and dispelled the myths surrounding it. Zodiac lovers actually thought that they were running their lives around a zodiac sign that wasn't actually their's anymore. CNN reports that there are two zodiac methodologies in practice in the East and West called the tropical zodiac and the sidereal zodiac.

The sidereal astrology practiced in the East follows the constellations whereas in the western part of the world, the astrology methodology is seasonal and thus the tropical zodiac is therefore unchanged.

But things really did not stop at this point as a 13th new zodiac sign called the Ophiuchus has also been reported but this has been claimed by astronomers and not astrologers. The 13th Ophiuchus sign is believed to be originally discarded by the ancient Babylonians. There really are no links to any personality traits or proof of it as being recognized as a zodiac.

I was also reading on Nowpublic here that in the event that anyone is considered to be a member of the zodiac of Ophiuchus that ranges from the dates of November 29 to December 17 then the personality traits will resemble with those of Sagittarius or Capricorn and there are some people that have come with the personality traits for this particular zodiac space.

In my personal view, the rumors about zodiac changes hold no value or substance and was just a crazy viral frenzy that benefit a handful from all the crazy online marketing and chaos that comes with such crazy ideas in the first place.

The Huffington Post here really gives the accurate account of the situation and also published the update from the guy that made the claim that the Associated Press reported Friday evening that Kunkle (the guy that made the claim) has since clarified his earlier statements, emphasizing "this is not new news," and "Astronomers have known about this since about 130 B.C."

Wow, thats a relief isn't it ;o)

Internet Governance Forum Renewal Information from the United Nations

2011-01-19T22:08:00.000+05:00

Image via Wikipedia

I have been able to track down the following in press communication from the United Nations on the GA adopted resolutions. The references can be found here and here whereas the main press communique here states that:

"By a resolution on information and communications technologies, the Assembly extended the mandate of the Internet Governance Forum for five more years and stressed the need for it to improve its working methods and functions."

Kenya to host the 6th IGF Internet Governance Forum in Nairobi in September 2011

2011-01-11T01:32:00.000+05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Finally an official statement has been made by the Information and Communications PS, Dr Bitange Ndemo for the Government of Kenya as reported here that Kenya will host the Sixth Internet Governance Forum in September at the United Nations offices in Gigiri, Nairobi. This is the first meeting of the IGF after the recent renewal of the five year mandate by the United Nations General Assembly.

Kenya will be the first African state to host the official meeting of the international Internet Governance Forum which is now the 6th its series after the World Summit on the Information Society held in Geneva 2003 and Tunis 2005.

Dr Bitange Ndemo shares that hosting the 6th IGF will raise the stature of Kenya within the technology world as the forum will share insights into the potential of the Internet and its governance. The IGF is a a follow-up of the World Summit on the Information Society, which took place in Tunis in 2005.

“We proudly look forward to hosting yet another significant Internet governance process in Kenya,” says Alice Munyua, chair of the Kenya organising committee.

Kenya hosted the hosted the 37th ICANN Public Meeting last year in March 2010 where I also had the opportunity to participate and experience all that Kenya had to offer. So far five IGF meetings were held in Athens Greece, Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Hyderabad India, Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt and in Vilnius Lithuania.

The IGF will provide Kenya the opportunity to display it growth in the ICT sectors and share its innovations including the well know crisis monitoring tools like Ushahidi and M-pesa mobile money transfer service. Kenya has also invested in deploying fibre optic cables a proposed technology city.

I would like to thank Tracy Hackshaw for sharing this information from the Daily Nation Kenya. See you all in Nairobi at the 6th Internet Governance Forum 2011 during the third quarter of this year!

Internet Governance Forum IGF Mandate Renewed from 2011 to 2015 - UN renews the IGF mandate for another five years!

2011-01-02T15:31:00.001+05:00

Image via Wikipedia

The IGF mandate renewal news has yet to be formally confirmed and announced by the United Nations but I suppose that this delay is due to the holiday season but it stands accurate and stakeholders should hear about it in a day or two.

The United Nations General Assembly has approved the renewal of the IGF Internet Governance Forum mandate for a period of another five years from the year 2011 to 2015. This year in 2011, the IGF will probably be hosted by Kenya at the United Nations office in Nairobi in September 2011 but there is no official announcement from the United Nations headquarters in New York on this.

The 2011 IGF Open consultations and MAG meeting will be convened in Geneva on 23 and 24 February 2011. The MAG meeting will be open to observers in accordance with a MAG decision taken during November 2010's last meeting while all its proceedings will be webcasted and made available as real-time transcriptions.

The final meeting within IGF's first mandate was hosted by Lithuania in the city of Vilnius during the third quarter of last year in September 2010 where a strong level of support was made for IGF's mandate renewal and its continuation in its current format with a certain amount of improvements in terms of what could be possible outcomes or ways it could affect global Internet Public Policy making. The issue of being able to make recommendations in some form remain as one of the key weaknesses of the IGF mainly due to the pressure from certain stakeholder groups participating in the IGF process.

IGF with the support and cooperation from its multistakeholder participation model has been successful in finding an innovative format for meetings bringing together all stakeholders to discuss public policy issues in a climate of trust of confidence. The annual meetings during its mandate's first cycle from Athens to Vilnius emerged as a platform to exchange ideas and information while sharing experiences and good practices. The IGF has been able to attract considerable attendance as well as attempted to improve increased remote participation but the challenge of getting the real voices from the developing world remains one of its greatest challenges.

The renewal of the IGF mandate for another five years from 2011 to 2015 brings a new set of issues and challenges that have already struck IGF multstakeholders and the global Internet community as is evident from the recent news and activities within the United Nations circles. It was believed for five years that this forum's new model of cooperation where governments accept non-governmental stakeholders as equals continued to evolve but many stakeholders believe that the concept of multistakeholderism was mulled during the December 2010 CSTD consultations in New York and Geneva were taken over by intergovernmental forces. This issue is still evolving but I have described this in detail in previous posts but the fact remains, there is no such other Internet forum at this global scale.

There is a smaller non-treaty and non-governmental model for only one function of Internet Governance, i.e. the technical co-ordination of the Internet Domain Name System, Root and IP Addressing, present independent of the IGF. This model is convened by a non-profit global multistakeholder model in the form of ICANN Public Meetings. that take place thrice around the globe and are open to all internet users, technical community, governments, research, academia, civil society and private sectors, literally to anyone and everyone.

As the General Assembly extends the IGF mandate for another five years, we the stakeholders of this important global forum are to witness a bumpy rocky road trip. Various stakeholder groups that have always attempted to prevent the IGF and the MAG from reaching consensus to approve issuing some form of outcome, recommendations or messages (the EURODIG - European Dialogue on the Internet Governance issues messages as an outcome) found that they had shot themselves in the foot when the governments suddenly ruled out participation of other stakeholder groups from the New York consultations.

This was a message to the world and the IGF community that Internet control is what some and most governments want as well as see the IGF to take that form and there has to be a renewal of strategy by all stakeholders to counter this perception if we want a sustainable, open, inclusive and neutral Internet to exist for us and our future generations.

Governments dominate the Internet Governance Forum Improvements Working Group by CSTD

2010-12-26T05:50:00.000+05:00

This is the final report by the Chair of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology Internet Governance Forum Working Group here:

On page 2 of articles 8 - 9, the report states that:

“The Chair of the CSTD establishes a Working Group of 15 member states plus the five member states which hosted the IGF meetings plus the two member states which hosted WSIS. This Working Group will seek, compile, and review inputs from all member states and all other stakeholders on improvement of the Internet Governance Forum, in an open and inclusive manner throughout the process.

The Chair invites the following stakeholders to interactively participate in the
Working Group, bearing in mind the established rules of procedure of the
ECOSOC, who will remain fully engaged throughout the process:

5 representatives from the business community
5 representatives from civil society
5 representatives from the technical and academic community
5 representatives from Intergovernmental organizations

Pursuant to the ECOSOC decisions 2010/226, 2010/227, and 2010/228, maximum possible assistance, diversity of ideas, and equal representation of stakeholders from developing and developed countries in the Working Group should be ensured in consultation with the stakeholders.

The report of this Working Group will be adopted by consensus.”

Is the United Nations taking over the Internet? No way and how-to get the facts right!

2010-12-23T04:56:00.002+05:00

Image via Wikipedia

Within the recent Internet Governance debates, I have been amazed, bewildered, disappointed and confused by the way things have flipped and slipped out of the hands of various stakeholders over a bit of gossip and disoriented discussions triggered after the United Nations led consultations on Enhanced Cooperation and Improvements to the Internet Governance Forum once the mandate is renewed.

These closed intergovernmental working group meetings resulted in media reports claiming that the United Nations could take over the Internet or was attempting to regulate it which was more or less a bunch of ho as there are working groups talking about it in intergovernmental silos without full multistakeholder participation and these governments at the moment have little or no power to do so. They may only have some capability to regulate the IGF at the most and from my experience, the governments lack participation within the IGF and the ones that do so are not representatives of all the governments of the globe.

The handful governments that have suddenly shown up in these consultations are mostly representatives of permanent missions of various countries appearing at the UN offices in New York and Geneva. Most of them are the ones that I have never seen participating within any IGF open consultation or the global forum itself held each year.What does this mean? It means these are the usual Proxy attendees! The suited booted folks that sit in for other folks that would sit in for others and so on. No experts, no Internet gurus, no one actually trained to deal with Internet related public policy issues, mostly political appointees that will soon be sent off to other countries as part of their career foreign diplomat postings. The ones that have Internet related experience are mostly the ones with representatives present and taking part in the discussions held within the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) and most of the Open Consultations held three times a year in Geneva.

One thing for sure that the IGF has no powers to interfere or stimulate any Internet policy whether global, regional or at any country level. It remains a fact that despite there are a lot of discussions in IGF main sessions and workshops around Internet related issues prevailing within developing and developed countries including topics concerning anything from Internet public policy, access to openness, security, critical Internt resources, Internet Governance for Development, cybercrime, cross-border information sharing, child protection, human rights, information intermediaries, ICANN, ITU and so forth, the forum is just a space with the mission for encouraging "discuss," "facilitate," "advise," "identify," "promote and assess." and thats about all that happens there. There is no power in this system. Its not even a fully developed system.

A process that has no International Treaty or Multilateral Negotiated Agreement to mandate the provision of power to regulate or control anything to any body including the United Nations cannot do anything and such is the IGF today despite all the Enhanced Cooperation facilitated by as many working groups meetings and negotiations that can ever happen.

I have a very simple way of viewing the world. I see things by examples. Show me a basic example where these governments have agreed on one common principle of human understanding and respect?

If I just look at what the world including UN member country governments have done so far with recognizing and implementing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) that was adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948, I wouldn't worry at all about the same folks trying to control the Internet.

They cannot do it. They could not sit together to accept, recognize and implement the UDHR throughout these 62 years and we see them everyday continuing to violate basic human rights throughout the world in virtually every country and still someone would expect people to believe that today they would sit together and discuss and agree together to control the Internet? Yeah, right! Really, this is totally hilarious! Thumbs up to all the media that reported all this UN domination of the Internet news in the first place, you folks really don't follow developments in the Internet Governance world as you used to, right?

In my personal opinion, I see the Internet to have been built by human beings, not governments. Human beings continue to build and use the Internet today, and yes, its a result of sheer human intelligence and human potential. I would like to point you to what one of the father's of the Internet, that is, Vint Cerf, recently said on his blog while fuming over these UN working group proceedings here that:

"The beauty of the Internet is that it’s not controlled by any one group. Its governance is bottoms-up—with academics, non-profits, companies and governments all working to improve this technological wonder of the modern world. This model has not only made the Internet very open—a testbed for innovation by anyone, anywhere—it's also prevented vested interests from taking control." - Vint Cerf.

This disappointing and confidence shattering move by the United Nation's Commission on Science and Technology (CSTD) has been severely condemned by the Internet Governance Caucus of Civil Society Organizations (IGC), the Internet Society (ISOC), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and tons of other organizations resulting in the publishing and forwarding of a joint letter here to the United Nations and Chair of the CSTD as well as an online petition here to mobilize global opposition and to send a message to the CSTD ensure that Internet governance remains open and inclusive.

All these stakeholders have joined hands to ask the Secretary-General of the United Nations to set up a working group on Internet governance, in an open and inclusive process that ensures a mechanism for the full and active participation of governments, the private sector and civil society from both developing and developed countries, involving relevant intergovernmental and international organizations and forums, to investigate and make proposals for action. I believe in and support this call as the IGF was set-up as a multistakholeder driven forum and not an intergovernmental setting.

In response to this joint letter, Mr. Fédéric Riehl, the Chair of this silo working group responded that:

“Thank you for your mails in which you express your concern about the decision on the composition of the Working Group of the Chair of the CSTD on IGF improvement.

First of all, please let me correct you in the following: The meeting on Dec 6 was not a meeting of the Bureau of the CSTD, but it was a meeting to which all members of the CSTD were invited. Attached you find a summary of this meeting which has now been made publicly available on the CSTD website (http://www.unctad.org/cstd).. As you can see in this summary, there was a very clear majority in that meeting that led to the decision which was taken.

What the meeting of Dec. 17 in Geneva is concerned, this meeting is a part of the CSTD intersessional meeting and will be open not only to the members of the CSTD, but also to other states and to civil society and business representatives who have been accredited to WSIS. For other business entities not accredited to WSIS but wish to participate, please get in touch with the CSTD secretariat for further information.”

Despite the above letter, we currently stand at the following text and structure reported by one of the participants from ICANN present at the working group meeting on 17th of December 2010:

"Final Text:

The Chair of the CSTD establishes a Working Group of 15 member states plus the five member states which hosted the IGF meetings plus the two member states which hosted WSIS. This Working Group will seek, compile, and review inputs from all member states and all other stakeholders on improvement of the Internet Governance Forum in an open and inclusive manner throughout the process

The Chair invites the following stakeholders to interactively participate in the Working Group, bearing in mind the the established rules of procedure of the ECOSOC, who will remain fully engaged throughout the process:

5 Business community
5 Civil society
5 Technical and academic community
5 Intergovernmental organizations

Pursuant to the ECOSOC decisions 2010 226, 2010 22, and 2010 228, maximum possible assistance, the diversity of ideas, and the equal representation of stakeholders from developing and developed countries in the Working Group should be ensured in consultation with the stakeholders.

The report of this Working Group will be adopted by consensus."

So much for multistakeholderism and the approach of having 5 people from a stakeholder group as representatives of all the voices of Internet users, consumers, producers and surfers from all the continents and countries of the world.

It can be noted for future reference that the IGF has so far met five times around the globe from Athens, Rio de Janeiro, Hyderabad, Sharm El Sheikh, this year within Vilnius but it has never been allowed to share messages, give recommendations or facilitate any kind of policy formulation for the control, regulation and .governance of the global Internet. It also remains as a factual message to both the United Nations and the governments that they should all ensure an Open and Inclusive Approach to Internet Governance and stop day dreaming about controlling it!

The CSTD literally has no powers. It can talk and talk making resolutions but there are hardly any substantial proof of outputs from this forum. I have been there, I have given a speech there last year to a full forum that originally had come to believing that Mobile Phone Technology was the best thing that ever happened to the world giving them all their citizenry all the basic facilities of life etc and I must say, these CSTD folks really have to get their act together and understand what Multistakeholderism is and what it really means to the world and IGF stakeholders.