Policymakers should see the internet in action

Mr. Paul Wilson, the Director General of Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) recently shared his views about the present and future of Internet as well as issues related to Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Here is a brief account of his interview:

What is your observation about the overall Internet infrastructure in Bangladesh? How do you view the Internet Operational Community of Bangladesh?

Paul Wilson: I think it's growing very fast; I will be very interested to see the status and how things are going with the meeting that we have next year. APNIC is taking different measures for tracking Internet growth and penetration in the country including important issues like the IPV6 growth and penetration. Another important issue is the security and stability of the domain name system. I think it is increasing in both cases. Bangladesh is a country with a huge amount of growth potential and it also has a diverse internet industry. BdNOG is a fantastic community. This community allows the operators to come together and share the experiences and also make the connections between networks that is very important to ensure the stability of Bangladesh's Internet. Interestingly, not every country has a NOG. Bangladesh has NOG and it's really quite active. So, I think Bangladesh will do very well in near future.

How do you view the 'Zero Internet' initiative?

Paul Wilson: It is hard to make comment from APNIC regarding this. But I think our mission is very clear in terms of an open, stable, secure and global internet. It is important to understand that, by nature Internet is neutral.

APNIC 42 is happening next year in Bangladesh What's your expectation form this? What will Bangladeshi Policy makers and internet communities gain from the conference?

Paul Wilson: As lots of expert from other countries will participate in the APNIC 42 event, Bangladeshi Internet community will be benefited from expert communities from other parts of the world.

I think it's important for the policy-makers to see the Internet in action. It's the community, companies and individuals who have to come together to build the Internet better, faster, cheaper, more efficient, more stable and so on. It's important for the regulators and government to understand that the Internet is a bottom up process. We welcome policy makers to the event to share and discuss about the issues related to Bangladesh.    

What is the future direction of IGF globally? How the Internet communities in Bangladesh including the government can be more involved and active in IGF?

Paul Wilson: We are now in the 10th IGF meeting and that's the last IGF meeting of the current mandate of United Nations. So the decision needs to be made in December by the UN about the future of IGF. That is very important because the Internet is growing very rapidly, many new policy issues are coming up. IGF should come with the idea like whether there is problem and whether there is solution. IGF is not a decision making forum but decision makers participate here and they can make better decision by being involved with the process.

Ift the mandate of IGF is extended then what should be the priorities for next the couple of years?

Paul Wilson: All of the different issues of the security and stability of the Internet is very important. This is not only one issue, one security issue - many different aspects like unsolicited communications, cyber-attacks, technical robustness of Internet; human capacity building etc. will need to be taken account. If you want a secure internet, you need very well trained capable people.

What is your opinion about the participation of non-technical persons (policy makers, journalists, civil society) in the technical program like APNIC/ICANN conferences? How can we increase their participation?

Paul Wilson: We should encourage non-technical persons to participate in these events. We can design some sessions for targeting the people from government, law enforcement agency and civil society etc.