For a while it seemed that the controversy over Internet domain names would overshadow this week’s information and communications technologies (ICT) summit in Midrand.
The government’s attempted intrusion into the Internet’s self-regulation principles through the Electronic Communications and Transactions Bill, which is currently before Parliament, sparked an outcry from the current overseer of the .za domain.
Mike Lawrie, the administrator of the domain since its inception, threatened that the domain would be turned off and all Internet addresses ending in the .za suffix would be shut down. This includes the government’s domain, gov.za.
Lawrie has run the .za domain since its inception and was involved in setting up the organisation to take over from him — Namespace SA — that was formed last September and of which he was co-chairperson until he resigned.
His concern is that a government-appointed body to run the domain, as set out by the Bill, conflicts with the freedom of the Internet. Lawrie, one of South Africa’s respected Internet pioneers, refused to hand over his duty to a body that allowed government interference as laid out in the legislation.
The great irony of this week’s blow-up was that, even though the government had been invited to join Namespace last year, it had declined to do so.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), which is responsible for overseeing the domain name system globally, requires the consent of the current administrator for any redelegation of responsibility. Lawrie must do this before any new administrator can take over.
Department of Communications Director General Andile Ngcaba defended the Bill after Lawrie’s warning that the .za domain would “go dark”. This was followed by a retort from Minister in the Office of the President Essop Pahad that the Internet could not be run by an individual — even though Lawrie has been doing this for several years already.
A sort of concession appeared to be reached by mid-week when Namespace’s chairperson, Mike Silber, said a compromise was being worked out with the government on the exact nature of the new governing body, which would not give the communications minister such far-reaching powers.
“It is a lot better than it was,” says Silber. “We are concerned that democracy has been thrown out of the window in the name of representation.”
In the meantime, in Midrand, the ICT summit, preceded by months of negotiations under the auspices of the National Economic Development and Labour Council, was looking at ways that this massive sector could aid development and the country. The summit, the largest of its kind ever in South Africa, brought together 600 delegates from business, the government and trade unions.
The ICT sector contributes about 4% to 5% of our gross domestic product and is estimated to generate about R4-billion annually.
As an offshoot of the Presidential Jobs Summit in 1998, this week’s ICT summit understandably looked at ways to create more jobs — and fill the 20 000 vacancies created annually in these associated industries with skilled South Africans.
IT skills are still the most sought-after, despite the global economic downturn and the dot bomb Internet implosion.