[Chapter-delegates] Statement: The Internet Society on Egypt’s Internet shutdown

[Lynn St.Amour]

Hi Veni,

I agree with your comments below.  Tarek has long been a friend and a  
much respected colleague - personally to me as well as to ISOC.  He  
not only served on the ISOC Board of Trustees, but he was also the VP  
of chapters and "graduated" from one of our very first Network  
Training Workshops (NTW's).

I have been trying to reach him for some time (unsuccessfully), and  
hope very much that he, his family and his colleagues - Christine  
Arida and Manal Ismail and their families are all ok.

Complex days.....

Lynn


On Jan 30, 2011, at 3:10 PM, Veni Markovski wrote:

> I'd like to add a few personal* words here about the former minister  
> of ITC of Egypt, Dr. Tarek Kamel, former secretary of ISOC-Egypt.
>
> I know Tarek for many years, and I find his position in this whole  
> crisis as one that requires support from his other former ISOC  
> Trustees and ISOC chapter presidents.
> Tarek is widely recognized as the person who brought the Internet  
> widely in Egypt - first as adviser to the minister of ITC, then as a  
> minister himself. He has publicly and privately expressed support  
> for the open development of the Internet. He is co-founder of ISOC- 
> Egypt. As his bio on the ISOC web site (http://www.isoc.org/isoc/general/trustees/board.php?id=35 
> ) says for these early years of the development of the Internet in  
> Egypt, "Kamel's work extended into liberalization issues such as a  
> tax reduction for ISPs as well as a government/private sector  
> partnership to serve the Egyptian Internet community. He has  
> actively participated in the establishment of community centers in  
> remote areas to bring the Internet to the have-nots."
> As a minister, he managed to change the policies in Egypt to  
> encourage not only wide Internet access in the country, but also to  
> engage within the tough Internet governance debates in a very  
> positive way for the global Internet community. I'd argue that  
> thanks to his team, Egypt was one of the respected countries in the  
> Internet governance debates at the IGF, but also at the ITU,  
> including the recent ITU Plenipotentiary meeting in Mexico.
>
> While we don't know the facts as who requested the shutdown, I feel  
> confident in believing that this was not his decision. In a serious  
> situation, in a country which is under severe internal and external  
> pressure, rulers often do things, which are difficult to explain  
> even days later, and certainly much easier to explan after a few  
> years. I have lived through similar circumstances in Bulgaria, in  
> 1989 and in 1997, and I could tell you (as probably Khaled can share  
> more recent memories) that situation changes dramatically within  
> days, even hours.
> I wish Tarek and his team, who have done so much good things for the  
> Internet, to survive the crisis (revolt, revolution, changes - you  
> name it), and continue to contribute for the development of the  
> Internet in Egypt, the region, and the whole world. Certainly  
> lessons will be learned from the action of the Egyptian government,  
> and certainly we'll spend a lot of time reflecting on not only what  
> happened, but what can be done to avoid such shutdown in the future.
>
> One thing, which might serve immediately as a lesson, is that a myth  
> being spread around in the last 10 years, that the Internet of a  
> whole country can be stopped by actions of ICANN should come to an  
> end**. It is clear now that the actions of one government are much  
> more effective and can shutdown not only the Internet, but also  
> mobile communications immediately. That should keep everyone alert  
> on the perspective of having the Internet being governed by  
> governments. Because, no matter what we think, so far the Internet  
> has never been shutdown, even for countries that have been under UN  
> sanctions, or even for countries, that have been at war with UN- or  
> NATO-lead coalitions. And that's something we should see how to  
> further study, research, and use in our chapters' work.
>
> I hope that other chapter delegates, who have worked with Tarek, as  
> well as Lynn and other key staffers, would support Tarek - I believe  
> that now more than ever before he needs such a support.
>
> _____
> * - Personal means that this is not opinion of any of the  
> organizations I am associated or affiliated with.
> ** - I have had presentations in the past in Russia / Eastern  
> Europe, where I've been explaining how the Internet works, and what  
> is the role of the DNS; for the purpose of this email I won't write  
> more, but the ccTLD is not the vital link in providing Internet  
> access to the users - the waves and cables are.
>
> On 1/28/2011 14:38, Anya Chambers wrote:
>>
>> Dear all
>>
>> Please find below a statement from the Internet Society in response  
>> to the recent events in Egypt:
>>
>> "We are following the current events in Egypt with concern as it  
>> appears that all incoming and outgoing Internet traffic has been  
>> disrupted. The Internet Society believes that the Internet is a  
>> global medium that fundamentally supports opportunity, empowerment,  
>> knowledge, growth, and freedom and that these values should never  
>> be taken away from individuals.
>>
>> The Internet Society considers this recent action by the Egyptian  
>> government to block Internet traffic to be an inappropriate  
>> response to a political cris
>>
>>
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