Re: [Ugnet] UCC not Individuals must own .ug domain

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 12:08:49 -0700


No, Mw. Kiggundu.  If it ain't broke, you haven't looked enough, fix it anyway.

FN  Lugemwa

Kiggundu Mukasa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

if it ain't broke ....... don't fix it.

Kiggs

On Apr 19, 2006, at 1:20 PM, d b wrote:



UCC  not Individuals must own .ug domain 


To Hon. John Nasasira 
   UCC Executive Director
   Member Parliament
   Uganda National Council of Science and Technology Director


Good as it may be, reading in the Daily Monitor Tuesday April 11, 2006 about the article “what if govt owned the .ug domain?” I was surprised at Mr. Charles Musisi’s answers as to why he solely is still the custodian of .ug domain.

About 1997/98, I wrote an article about the same, when it was alleged that .ug domain was now an exclusive property of some few Uganda and American individuals. Since then nothing has happened to change the status quo! 

The result has been a slow down in the internet expansion and proliferation into the country. Reasons partly being user fees paid in dollars are terribly exorbitant for the majority Ugandans. 

We have a full Ministry of Communication and an independent arm to over see the use of the industry namely Uganda Communications Commission. 

Well as UCC has an obligation to show accountability, as to how it uses the money it collects from Uganda communication users, other entities as reported in the article don’t have such obligation! We know, UCC is not an angel and has own shortfalls but matter of accountability and internet expansion concerns us a great deal.

What is Mr. Charles Musisi’s Computer Frontiers International Ltd. Contribution to the development of the internet in Uganda?  We are not claiming that Mr. Charles Musisi has not done a wonderful job! Indeed he has done a lot but where are the limits in his stance to own .ug domain register?

Rightly so, Mr. Charles Musisi’s exposure to us that he is just a trustee to guarantee domain space stability reliability, in a spirit of community service falls short of explaining what will happen if he was not there to watch over .ug domain!

It will be a great idea to know how the trusteeship works!

All of us who were involved in the promotion of the internet we did it for a reason and in the spirit of community service. However Mr. Charles Musisi’s claims are contradictory to the exorbitant fees levied on just acquiring the domain. If I may ask, how is Mr.Charles Musisi using the money he earns on .ug domain registration?

Non-profit making organisation have to pay in dollars i.e. schools, hospitals, churches and other government entities. 10 years on, all internet service providers are still collecting money in dollars as if Ugandan earn their salaries in dollars.

It is flabbergasting that UCC has failed to set the standards in this regard and abolish the dollar service providers. 

Repulsive to say the least and for us, the time has come to go back to the drawing boards and restart a ground network to attack such an establishment which sole intention is to reap off Ugandans. Uganda currency is the shilling!

It is a shame moreover, that Mr. Charles Musisi is proud of being a custodian of only 4000 clients who entrusted him as he says, of their data. Uganda has 25 million people bye the way. Nt less than 15 districts are connected or more than 2 % of all schools in Uganda.  Who are the 4000 clients to Mr. Charles Musisi’s Computer Frontiers International Ltd.?

Besides being a guarantee of a domain names, Mr. Charles Musisi should state it clearly that over 80% generated in this country is kept on different servers outside Uganda and is not with Mr. Charles Musisi.

On a question, “what is the performance of your trade in terms of new client getting more .ug accounts”, Mr. Charles Musisi is non committal but claims the New Vision and the Daily Monitor then google, Microsoft are our customers. This is a lot of hogwash. Even without a .ug domain couldn’t Ugandan access Google, microsft, Toshiba, Fugistu etc?

Uganda in the world and on the African continent was among the first countries to use the internet in more than one exclusive ways.

Please Mr. Charles Musisi we are talking about Uganda and Uganda internet users! It is them who are our sole concern.

Uganda was among the first countries to have its entire government establishment on the internet. The trend went as far as having some of Uganda newsprint and radio stations on the internet. The entire Western Europe, a bastion of technological innovation had no more that 5 governments on the internet. We did a survey on the above.

Uganda was the second country to have its newsprint on the internet second to South Africa. I wonder how Mr. Charles Musisi can be proud of the New Vision and the Daily Monitor are on the internet well as the country has more than 20 news papers and 100 FM radio stations that could not access the internet.  

Today, all European countries are online and in Uganda the trend is just going backwards thanks for dollar service providers.

The efforts made into the past to put state institutions and non-state entities on the internet was not Mr. Charles Musisi’s efforts. We do know who did what, when and where.  

In our wisdom we think and believe that many things should change and change immediately. Otherwise the parliament and other state institutions are within our reach and will use them to bring about a necessary change, if private individuals negate our humble pleas to them.

I hope we’ll not go to the extent of asking the government to set up a commission of inquiry into this entire field to establish the facts and cause action to rectify the problem.

Bwanika.


2006-04-12 03:08 skrev musamize <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>


What if govt owned the .ug domain? 

 Interview Mr Charles Musisi, the Managing Director of Computer Frontiers International Ltd, one of the pioneers of the Internet in Uganda, is the designated administrator of Uganda\'s country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) .ug. Recently the Uganda Communications Commission raised concern over administration of the domain but Musisi tells Esther Nakkazi how he would not relinquish it to the regulator. Excerpts: 
 Why did you register .ug and when did you do it? 
We were the pioneers of the Internet in Uganda and the region. Having been a pioneer I was a crusader, promoting the use of the Internet and communication generally. 
Creating the .ug name space was part of an effort to generate more Internet use in the country. The .ug name space was created in 1995.

What did the registration then entail and what were the requirements?
I was part of the global network of pioneers known to each other in an informal way through a network of IT experts.
We applied first to Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), filled in a form but we were required to demonstrate that we were competent and can access the Internet, which entailed having access to electronic mail everyday. They needed a permanent administrative and technical contact.

So you did not pay any money?
No, not at all. The Internet was created, based and managed by the Private Sector. It involved creativity, flexibility and most importantly a spirit of community service that is why it was created for community service. 

Do you not own the domain name space .ug? 
No I do not own it. I am just a trustee basically supposed to serve the interests of the local Internet community in Uganda. 
The trustee is supposed to demonstrate that the domain space was available, stable, reliable and not restricted in use. I had an officially designated company Uganda Online now a subsidiary of CFI under which it was registered. 

There are concerns of pricing and affordability, UCC saying that if they were the administrators of the domain space, we could grow our Internet users by far? 
Our prices are affordable and we are doing a good job. We charge $30 per year for domain registration but encourage registrants to pay upfront for two years. 
The renewals are $30, $55, $80, $100, $120 for the consecutive years. Registration for educational purposes under the ac.ug and sc.ug 2nd Level sub-domain categories is at a discounted rate of $12.5 per year or $25 for two years plus VAT. 
           AFFORDABLE PRICES: Mr Musisi. Photo by Esther Nakazzi  So, if UCC tells you to relinquish the .ug domain to them for administration would you accept? 
Am doing a good job and I have 4,000 very happy stakeholders who have entrusted this name space to me a trustee. They must have a say to the person I pass it on to and why. When you register, you have a contract with us. 
I cannot make the decision the real stakeholders are the 4,000 who have entrusted me with their data.

What if you were forced to do so under state interest and even offered some money like it has been done in some countries?
I would have to agree with the stakeholders to give them the database. 
In any case of re-delegation and for any decision I would make, I would be mindful of the community (the 4,000 real stakeholders). Over the last 10 years, I have taken their data, stored it and managed it adequately.

If UCC wants to take over, they would be doing so in an area outside their mandate, theirs is a regulatory function. In fact governments are discouraged from Internet domain direct operational matters. However, they have a right to meddle into policy matters. Where the operation is not problematic at best they would create policy but not to overtake it.

What makes you better administrators compared to UCC? 
Our company is a more entrepreneurial management; decisions are made instantly for the benefit of the customer. 
The company is not heavily weighed down body, it is lean, operational, focused and we strive to resolve issues that are brought to our knowledge instantly. 

We are very efficient. We have made space available. It takes less than three hours from the time you register to get your domain. It will soon get to 15 minutes to get it on the global Internet. 
That is what we consider to be our global role. Even if paying is a requirement you do not pay until 30 days after when you have demonstrated that you can use it. 

What is the performance of your trade in terms of new client getting more .ug accounts?
First of all our customers include global brands like google (www.google.co.ug), Microsoft, Toshiba, Fugistu and others. 
Locally we have all the ministries, local press like www.monitor.co.ug and www.newvision.co.ug. 
But the problem is that business has not taken on the Internet here in Uganda, you could also blame it on literacy levels. 
Someone could have the money but cannot use the Internet. Business people should also know that they would have an advantage using the .ug address.


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