Sentencia Quareshi de 1958 sobre la prohibición absoluta de matar ganado bovino

Currently, Internet standards and content reflect the dominance of Internet users and

developers from North America and Europe. James (2001: 10) explains that the standards for the Internet are defined by its commercial value “... as a lucrative e-commerce market”, influenced by the interests of large corporations and governments from powerful countries.

These standards consider commercial interests rather than the interests of developing society, civil society and business enterprises in the south (James, 2001: 10).

The three Internet standards bodies controlling and managing the Internet are the following:

(a) Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)

Membership of the IETF working groups is open to anyone who wishes to contribute to the development of technical specifications by e-mail. These working groups are developing the specifications based on consensus reached in an unstructured manner, described as in a “... rough consensus and working code”. According to James (2001:

11), the IEFT is under increasing pressure as commercial enterprises are finding the process for the development of technical specifications too slow, while governments want to enforce legal obligations on the IEFT to allow “... wiretapping facilities and traceability of users into its standards” (James, 2001: 11).

(b) World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

Standards for the World-Wide Web are set by the W3C for accessibility, user interface and architecture. Membership of the W3C is restricted to membership of organisations willing to pay annual membership fees and specially invited experts. According to James (2001: 11) the standards have been maintained relatively openly, partly due to the participation of Tim Berners-Lee, an individual who “invented” the World-Wide Web (WWW). Currently the W3C is being pressurised by governments wishing to filter out certain content on the WWW, while commercial bodies are demanding standards that will enables business to collect data on Web users, to make the content of this data available for publishers and commercial use (James, 2001: 11).

(c) Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

ICANN was established as a not-for-profit US organisation to manage the

administration of Internet domain names. The global domain name system (DNS) is used to identify resources on the Internet. The Internet Domain Name System also co-ordinates the management of domain names and the creation of the main domains existing of .org, ac., .edu.net, etc. (James, 2001: 11). James stresses that the

management of the domain names should be transparent, and that ICANN is in the

position that it could remove domain names, and thus make the content entered under that name, not retrievable (James, 2001: 12). The Domain Name Authority within the Telecommunications Business Unit in the Department of Communications, in South Africa, is responsible for the domain names and authentication of service providers. In South Africa the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, No 25 of 2002 (ECT Act), provided for the establishment of the .ZA Domain Name Authority (.ZA ccTLD) and gave it the responsibility for the administration and management of the .ZA domain name system. ICANN approved the re-delegation of the .ZA ccTLD from the previous administrator (technically the Uninet Project), to the .ZA Domain Name Authority (.ZA Domain Name Authority, 2005: 1). Disputes regarding South Africa’s Internet domain names are regulated under the Electronic Communications and

Transactions Act, 2002 (Act No 25 of 2002) Alternative dispute resolution regulations.

In 2001 the continent of Africa’s telecommunications infrastructure was the least developed world wide (Kiplang’at, 2002: 356). The continent had less than two per cent of the world’s telephone mainlines (Kiplang’at, 2002: 356). Currently the African Network Information Service is responsible for the management and allocation of Internet addresses. The technical initiative for the African Network Information Service was established in South Africa with the assistance of the Department of Communications and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

According to Lawlor (2000: 2) there was an average of one Internet user per 5 000 people on the continent of Africa. Globally there is one Internet user per 40 people, and in Europe and North America, one per six people. In 2002 Africa formed 0,62 per cent of world Internet access, with South Africa making up two thirds of that (Lawlor, 2000: 2). According to a report by Goldstuck (2004) 3, 28 million South Africans had access to the Internet at the end of 2003 (South Africa Yearbook 2005/06, 2005: 140). The current population of South Africa is in the order of 40 million. The literature reveals that international organisations have been promoting the development of Internet access in Africa. Some of the initiatives as described in the following paragraphs, illustrate the level of involvement of various multinational or other large organisations.

The Leland Initiative is a five-year plan. It aims to “bring the benefits of the global information revolution to people in Africa”. Its main focus is on extending Internet

connectivity to 20 or more African nations. The project works on the supply side by creating Internet capacity and on the demand side by promoting an awareness of uses of the Internet.

The initiative assists with the building of the infrastructure and encourages the development of Internet pilot projects and other activities that help increase the awareness and use of the Internet (Colle and Roman, 1999: 11-12; Lawlor, 2000: 2). The Leland Initiative (or The Global Information Infrastructure Gateway Project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) operates under the auspices of the Centre for

International Development and Conflict Management. It has been involved in research on national information case studies, institutional development cases, and in expanding and refining the Conflict Information Technology Model with emphasis on the Internet (Leland Initiative 1998-1999 Year Two).

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is an association of 22 non-profit computer networks around the world. It is working on community networking projects in Latin America, and is also involved in the linking of thousands of NGOs world wide to exchange development-related information. SangoNet in South Africa is an example of an APC initiative. This network provides low cost Internet access, training and other resources to hundreds of development organisations and NGOs in the Southern African region (Colle and Roman, 1999: 14-15).

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is involved in providing support for Internet connectivity and content creation capacity building in five African countries (Colle and Roman 1999:16). A survey conducted in 1999 on the 54 African countries indicated that 51 countries have Internet access in the capital cities (Paul, 2000). The countries with no local Internet access at the time were Congo (Brazzaville), Eritrea and Somalia.

Africa has a relatively poor telecommunications infrastructure, and there are marked

differences between major urban areas. Between 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the population in Africa lives in the rural areas. Paul (2000: 42) states that countries in Africa need to take

advantage of the information revolution. If they fail to do this they would “... become even more marginalised and economically stagnant”.