ICANN wraps up in Nairobi with no security hitches By Rebecca Wanjiku <http://www.computerworld.co.ke/users/rebecca-wanjiku> 12 Mar, 2010 For the ICANN local organizing committee, today is a great day, it is the last day of the meeting, which by any standards can be considered a success considering the security video produced by ICANN just before the meeting.
From December last year, the LOC was involved more in answering security questions, whether the ruling coalition will break and whether the Al Shabab terrorist group will get away from the lucrative piracy along the gulf of Aden to attack KICC. No one denied that there were security concerns but thats a common denominator for many countries, rich or poor.
In retrospect, I think the whole security debate benefitted Kenya and to some extent the continent. ICANN meetings have geographical rotation and am sure issues of security will come up the next time Africa is meant to host the meeting. For Kenya, the successful meeting is vital, given that the Internet Governance Forum will be held in the country next year. If the IGF raises the security issues, Kenya can point to ICANN and the security video, and the success that was achieved. To ICANN, the remote participation was good, the online participation matrix was shared before the meeting started and the parallel meetings in the US now look a bit ill advised. The 100mb bandwidth at the conference venue was very stable, I did not experience any hitches, even during the opening ceremony, where there were at least 100 laptops on; everyone at ICANN at least carries a laptop but not all were on at the time. For the ICANN participants who danced at the Carnivore till 4am, it just shows that they were enjoying the hospitality and the good things that the country has to offer. For those who took the Safaris, that is better than the caged animals out there. The meeting was optional for many people but for those in the new gTLD debate, it was important to have the two minutes on the mic in the public forum. Even members of the Government Advisory Committee took the mic, led by Bertrard De La Chapelle from France, who took the 2 minute Mic like 20 times, just to emphasize the importance of public sessions. For the ICM guys, the Independent Review Committee and those interested in matters of transparency in ICANN, the .xxx debate was important and their presence is vital, even in the face of security concerns. So, the meeting had lessons and successes for everyone; with more than 1000 people picking their conference bags, I think the meeting was a success and offers vital lessons to others holding meetings in Nairobi. Ends -- ____________________________________ Neil Burgess owls-head.ca <http://owls-head.ca/> consulting nburgess01@gmail.com (until June, 2010) ____________________________________