[huridocs-tech] South Africa Electronic Communications and Transactions Bill

[***Originally posted on the APC Africa Internet Rights Project mailing 
list <africa-ir-public.lists.sn.apc.org>, Mod.***]

South Africa Electronic Communications and Transactions Bill
APC Press Release

What's all the fuss about?

The recent furor over the upcoming Electronic Communications and
Transactions (ECT) Bill in South Africa has brought to light important
questions concerning the need to ensure the independence of Internet
administration bodies worldwide.

The Bill passed through Parliament virtually unopposed last week, with a
vote in the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday mirroring debate in
the National Assembly where only the Democratic Alliance voted against
it. The ECT Bill is expected to become law within the next week or so
when it is signed by President Thabo Mbeki.

In the past, .za domain name administration was conducted by volunteer,
Mike Lawrie. Since then, Lawrie has initiated a process to shift
responsibility for the domain to non-profit body, UniForum, formed by
the local Internet community for this task. Chapter 10 of the ECT Bill
proposes to set up a new .za Domain Name Authority with board members
effectively chosen by the Minister of Communications. The new authority
is being proposed in order to be more representative and to enable all
South Africans to have a say in South African Internet administration,
which is seen by many as an important national asset.

Those who oppose the Bill, however, say that government involvement,
rather than control, would best serve the development of the Internet in
South Africa. They also say that the International Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN, forbids the takeover of domain
administration by any body that is not sanctioned by the local Internet
community, although experts say that ICANN will most probably not want
to intervene in the conflict. Critics of the Bill regard government
control of domain name administration in South Africa as being in direct
conflict with ICANN standards and international best practice.

Players in the debate

The main players in this debate are government vs. current domain
administrator, Mike Lawrie, as well as other Internet representative
bodies such as Namespace ZA, Internet Service Providers' Association
(ISPA), and Internet Society - South Africa (ISOC-ZA).

The Association for Progressive Communications believes that both groups
need to reach a compromise in order to create a truly democratic,
accountable and representative domain name authority in South Africa.
The Authority that registers domains in South Africa should:

.	Be accountable, both to the South African Internet society, and
to the public at large;
.	Be representative of a broad range of interests;
.	Be self-sufficient and independent, being funded by licensing
services rather than government
.	Have a Board of Directors which is elected by members of the .za
domain; and
.	Limit its responsibilities to the technical task of domain
administration, leaving policy making to government

The APC believes that, in line with the African Telecommunications Union
(ATU) agreement between African Ministers of Communications in Lusaka in
1998 (Resolution No 07/6S-CPL/98, ATU Conference of Plenipotentiaries),
the 'Separation of government, regulatory and operator duties' is
essential to the development of successful telecommunications policy in
Africa.

Ends.

For more information, contact:

Heather Ford
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Africa ICT Policy Monitor Web Manager http://africa.rights.apc.org Civil
Society for African Internet Rights The Association for Progressive
Communications (APC) http://www.apc.org heather@apc.org




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