[NCUC-DISCUSS] Adobe Connect mini-rant (was Does ICANN really foster collaboration?)

[Shane Kerr]

Hiba and all,

At 2016-05-04 12:29:27 +0300
Hiba Eltigani <higba6 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I come from Sudan and you all know about the US sanctions issue which is
> political thing and may be nothing can be done about it in this context.
> But i think the least that can be done is to insure that users who have
> equal right to access and participate in ICANN events as part of the
> brodaer community.

It's not a unique problem with Internet organizations who try to ignore
national borders - sanctions regimes become a genuine problem. For
better or worse, this is the scheme working as designed. I know that
some RIPE NCC members had trouble paying their dues for example, because
of Dutch sanctions against various countries (I think Iran, but I might
be remembering the country incorrectly).

In the case of Adobe Connect, the problem is that ICANN has hired a
service from a company with limited ability to deliver worldwide. I
don't really blame Adobe - they are a US company and have to follow US
laws. I suppose the same argument can be made for ICANN itself,
right? :(

>       Curently "Adobe connect" can't be accessed in Sudan and this means
> eliminating a whole community from having their voice heard. Given that,
> talks about access seems very theoretical. I don't think it is hard for an
> organization works in the heart of the Internet to find/ put alternatives
> tools that work for everyone.

Adobe Connect is a proprietary software which uses Adobe's proprietary
Adobe Flash, which sucks:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash#Criticisms

Personally I think that it's crazy to try to manage Internet governance
via proprietary software, especially in the post-Snowden era.

One possible solution to the problem would be to encourage the use of
open tools, like the proposed chat platform. Personally I think this is
a good step forward, and I applaud the effort! :)

> Sorry if this is not the right place to raise these concerns but i am just
> speaking for Internet users in Sudan.

I think this is exactly the right place to raise these concerns. Thank
you!

Cheers,

--
Shane
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