[afnog] Re: Request for input: The Working Group onInternetGovernance

[Brian Candler]

On Tue, Nov 16, 2004 at 11:12:42PM +0100, Robert.Shaw at itu.int wrote:
> > To me, one of the key drivers behind the rollout of the 
> > Internet was the prohibitive cost of traditional telephony 
> > - and that in turn was primarily due to the monopolistic 
> > policies of telecommunications companies, under the umbrella 
> > of the ITU.
> 
> Sorry, you've been fed populist Internet myths. ITU does not control
> what its Member States do. We can promote telecoms liberalization
> and privatization as much as we want (which we do) but we don't control
> MS policies.

Well, I guess it comes down to whether you consider "the ITU" as referring
to its members, or as an organisation distinct from its members (like a
football team apart from its players)

The *members* of the ITU have been responsible for many hardships in this
world, affecting those people who can least afford it, in collusion with
each other and admittedly with the approval of governments. Now, whether
"the ITU" really just means the private gentlemen's club where these
organisations meet and pat each other on the back, is to me a moot point.

While the world was moving ahead with IP, the *members* of the ITU were
still wasting money building X25 networks, and persuading their governments
that was way of the future. That may not ever have been official policy of
the ITU itself, I don't know. But it's what the club members decided
together would be a really good idea - I guess because X25 was
circuit-switched and therefore could be charged per VC setup, per second,
per kilometer *AND* per byte.

Those countries and organisations which dug themselves biggest into the X25
hole are the same ones trying to jump on the IPv6 bandwagon - and now trying
to control it as well.

> And do you think liberalized economies have telecom policy sorted?

Clearly not; I don't disagree with you there!

> url pointers please to this "policy legacy"? you should be able to find
> among the millions of documents on the ITU web site a single reference
> backing your 'policy legacy' claim?

And, on this same website, can I freely download any of the technical
recommendations from the ITU? It appears not.
http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/publications/order.html
20 Swiss Francs per order minimum charge.

I wonder how the ITU would be selling its documents if it weren't for the
open development of HTTP, SSL and IP? Send your order by fax (or X400) and
get a paper-bound copy in the mail, I expect.

The IETF may not be perfect, but there is huge respect for the open,
transparent and inclusive way in which it works. ICANN is far far less
perfect; but I think that most players in the Internet industry would still
rather deal with ICANN than the ITU, and that's a measure of just how much
distrust there is. It will be a real uphill struggle if the ITU seriously
wishes to change that.

Like it or not, in the eyes of the Internet industry, the ITU *represents*
everything bad about the telco world. It comprises those organisations who
would have cheerfully strangled the Internet at birth, if they had actually
noticed it in time.

Regards,

Brian.