Holder of Uganda domain registration open to talks

Charles Musisi, the man who owns the registration for Uganda's top-level domain name, .ug, has said for the first time that he is open to discussions on the management of the country code.

"I am upset about the drastic proposals that I have heard, but a reasonable model is what would preserve the stability and management of the resource," Musisi said. "It can be achieved fairly quickly and can be discussed, and I am open to it."

Musisi spoke at a meeting in preparation for the first East African Internet Governance Forum (IGF) next week, where governance of the Ugandan domain name attracted a great deal of attention.

Delegates at the meeting argued that, based on the perspective of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the domain name -- like spectrum -- belongs to Uganda.

While there is clamor for him to cede control of the domain, Musisi told delegates that the cost of a domain name does not make a compelling business case.

"How many domains are you going to sell at US$30 to make a difference in your business?" he said. "Let people take away the belief that there is a lot of money to be made from domain sales."

Meeting delegate Wairagala Wakabi suggested that Uganda follow Kenya's lead in regulating the domain-name control docket, particularly its pricing.

"Isn't there a way the communications regulator -- in its mandate of consumer protection, fairness and communication deepening -- [could] control operations related to using the .ug domain name so that the terms are reasonable?" Wakabi wondered, noting that the government should negotiate a fair public-private partnership deal.

While many industry insiders initially thought that the issue of Internet governance is only relevant to the developed world, ISP Association Chairperson Badru Ntege tried to dispel that belief in his presentation at the meeting.

"There are so many ways the Internet affects the man on the street in Kampala and elsewhere in Uganda," he said. "It affects you who is receiving information; it affects you who is receiving unsolicited e-mail; it affects you who sends an e-mail and the other party does not receive it."

As Uganda continues to focus on infrastructure projects like the national backbone, another governance issue that the country must pay attention to is that of IP numbers, Ntege said.

"It is imperative that we have these numbers, as they are due to run out in 2010," he said.

International debate on Internet governance gained momentum in the mid-1990s, when other players challenged the U.S. stranglehold on the control of the Internet. This led to the creation of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in 1998 as an attempt to resolve these concerns. The advent of WSIS in 2001 saw greater involvement of other countries and the emergence of a greater focus on the Internet.

Other governance issues tabled at the Ugandan meeting were improving Internet access, affordability, spam e-mail, pornography, the need for cyberlaws, interception of communication (freedom of expression versus the public good) and creation of local content.

The outcomes of the meeting will feed into next week's regional IGF in Nairobi, and the Nairobi meeting will serve as preparation for the international IGF slated for December in India.