[WSIS CS-Plenary] Internet Governance and 'spam'

[Nabil El-Khodari]

Dear all:

I am not sure if that issue have been covered under the scope of Internet
Governance. I am one of the believers that the Internet should not be
'governed' except may be within the frame of technical issues like IP
addresses and domain names. Even domain names now are seeing more
liberalization.

The issue I am raising is basically the 'governmental' influences on
blocking sites and e-mails from advocacy groups. The 3 domain names owned
by us are now considered as 'spam' sites at least by Hotmail and Yahoo
rendering delivery of our newsletters and even contacts with our members
difficult or even impossible. As most of our target group is in the Nile
Basin, they rely heavily on free e-mail accounts offered by Yahoo and
Hotmail. Of course the problem also extends beyond that to even inclusion
on 'spam filters' available from different sources.

NGOs are (and should) not subject to 'spam' regulations. Even though all
our services are opt-in and opt-out (mailing list and discussion forum)
where the user can unsubscribe automatically at any time. The only time we
send an 'unsolicited' e-mail is when we are contacting official
governmental or international organization sources that are involved in
Nile Basin development issues. I certainly believe that this should not be
considered as 'spam'.

The solution needed is the establishment of a 'central independent
authority' to which complaints about 'spam blocking' from information
providers like ourselves can be resolved. At least a warning that a
certain domain name would be considered as spam source should be issued to
the webmaster or postmaster together with details of the complaint
received.

Sincerely,

Nabil El-Khodari
Treasurer/Founder
Nile Basin Society

http://www.nilebasin.com
http://nile.ca/
http://www.nilebasin.net

Tel: +1 (647) 722-3265
Fax: +1 (647) 722-3273

108 Waterbury Dr.
Toronto, Ontario M9R 3Y3
Canada

"If the people will lead, the leaders will follow." Dr. David Suzuki
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