Tinubu replaces all service chiefs with immediate effect - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!


Barely three weeks following his inauguration on May 29, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has sacked all service chiefs in Nigeria and replaced with immediate effect, reports ITREALMS.

A press statement made available to ITREALMS on Monday by the Director of Information at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, on behalf of his principal, Mr. George Akume, said that all service chiefs have been removed and new ones appointed.

GSM decries suspension, warns on effect on businesses - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The Governor 'Seyi Makinde (GSM) of Oyo State, has decried the suspension of Twitter operations in the country by the Federal Government, saying it will hamper thousands of businesses and services, reports ITREALMS. 

A press statement available to ITREALMS and personally signed by Gov. Makinde, he counseled the Federal Government of Nigeria not to hamper the operations of thousands of businesses and services with its recent suspension of Twitter’s operations in Nigeria.

Google’s new terms of service takes effect March 31, 2020 - ITREALMS

Exclusive@ITREALMS: 

Effective, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, the new Google terms of service will come into place, which may affect a number of its services, reports ITREALMS.

According to the official communications from its headquarters and available to ITREALMS from the Mountain View, California, United States of America, Google services are provided by the Google LLC under the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, and operating under the laws of the USA

“Until then, the existing Terms of Service continues to describe the rules you agree to when using our services. For more details, we’ve also provided a summary of the key changes,” Officials intimated ITREALMS.

In addition, ITREALMS gathered that if for any reasons a customer could not agree with new Terms of Service, they can find more information about other options in the Frequently Asked Questions.

However, ITREALMS, gathered that what is covered in these terms comprising the reflection on “the way Google’s business works, the laws that apply to our company, and certain things we’ve always believed to be true.”

As a result, Google said that “these Terms of Service help define Google’s relationship with you as you interact with our services. For example, these terms include the following topic headings:
“What you can expect from us, which describes how we provide and develop our services
“What we expect from you, which establishes certain rules for using our services
“Content in Google services, which describes the intellectual property rights to the content you find in our services — whether that content belongs to you, Google, or others
“In case of problems or disagreements, which describes other legal rights you have, and what to expect in case someone violates these terms.”

Understanding these terms, Google pointed out, is important because, “by using our services, you’re agreeing to these terms.”

Chuks Egbune/DoP

*JOIN our alert's group | Share stories with us | Advert placement: WhatsApp | SMS: +2348033592762 *Twitter: @ITREALMS *Email: itrealms.dsa@gmail.com*

European Union's GDPR takes effect globally

ITREALMS:

Dear readers/visitors

The European Union laws require we give European Union visitors information about cookies used and data collected on ITRealms, other words known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent.

As a courtesy, we hereby explain Google's use of certain platforms and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies, and other data collected by Google.

Our responsible is to confirm this notice actually works, and that it displays.

Group Executive Editor

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Fake News worries FG, prepares IOs

ITRealms:

The Federal Government is seemingly worried over the menace of fake news, and is preparing the Information Officers (IOs) on how to effectively counter this effect with fact-based narratives, reports ITRealms.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made this disclosure in Abuja Wednesday in his key note address at a capacity building Workshop for Strategic Communication Liaison Officers, with the theme "Mainstreaming Strategic Communication Across Government for National Security."

He said though the Social Media has proved to be a powerful tool of public communication, it is plagued with challenges, particularly the prevalence of fake news which makes it imperative for Information Officers to brace up and overcome the challenge.

''Faced with the prevalence of fake news, we took action by preparing Information Officers with the skills to identify and counter such fake news through engagement and counter narrative. Information Officers are assigned to monitor both online and offline news media to identify such fake news and develop timely and credible counter narratives to respond to such fake news,'' Alhaji Mohammed said.

He said the Federal Government is also implementing a robust strategic communication framework, with feedback mechanism, to interface with Nigerians on the policies and programmes of government.

"For example, we engage through Town Hall Meetings across the six geo-political zones to inform Nigerians and the international community about our programmes and to listen to criticism, feedback and advice from the citizens.

''Through these meetings, we are able to shape policy and improve on delivering our promises to the people. The town hall meetings, undoubtedly, have yielded positive results with the kind of direct feedback we received from Nigerians. These interactions with Nigerians underscore the importance this administration attaches to the people in carrying them along in the task of governance," the Minister said.

He underscored the critical role of Information Officers in strengthening government communication to achieve national strategic objectives, particularly in managing the image, reputation and promoting the cultures of the people of Nigeria through a dynamic public information system.

He said because of the dynamics of public communication, ''the ministry is leveraging on various Social Media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype, Twitter and Instagram to reach our audiences, especially the youths. These Social Media platforms also provide unique opportunity for the Ministry to aggregate and gauge public opinions and perceptions of government."

The National Security Adviser, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Special Services, Ambassador Aminu Nabegu, challenged participants to come up with a strategic communication plan to counter the propaganda and negative narratives by terror and anti-state groups.

He said the present administration has eliminated inter-agency rivalry in order to achieve seamless and coordinated approach to effective communication.

The Workshop was organized by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP) to build the capacity of Strategic Communication Liaison Officers (SC/LO) across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs),

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

ICANN's new registration data directory services takes effect 2017

ITRealms:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has unveiled new Registration Data Directory Services (RDDS) effective by 1 February 2017, reports ITRealms.

This latest services, ITRealms gathered is specific for the generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) contracted parties; Registries and registrars are required to implement the new Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) gTLD Profile.

ICANN also said that registries must implement the data specifications defined in the Registry Registration Data Directory Services based on Consistent Labeling and Display Policy.

ITRealms equally reports that the RDAP gTLD Profile and the RDDS Consistent Labeling and Display Policy are the products of community efforts to improve the current system used to discover who controls a domain name, comprising data retrieval protocols – WHOIS and a web-based version of WHOIS – and databases controlled by registries and registrars that contain domain registration information.

Contracted parties, ITRealms further gathered, have been notified by ICANN that they are responsible for modifying their systems within six months, stressing that ICANN consulted these parties when defining the new requirements and implementation plans.

ITRealms recalls that the Registration Data Access Protocol was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force to eventually replace the WHOIS protocol. This new protocol is superior to WHOIS in terms of data access security, support for international characters, extensibility, and in the standardization of query, response and error messages. The RDAP gTLD Profile maps ICANN policy and contractual requirements onto technical requirements in order to standardize directory services across gTLD contracted parties.

The RDDS Consistent Labeling and Display Policy is a Consensus Policy developed and adopted in accordance with ICANN Bylaws. The policy is the result of recommendations adopted by the GNSO Council after the completion of the Thick WHOIS Policy Development Process. The ICANN board adopted these recommendations on 7 February 2014.

While the goal of the RDDS Consistent Labeling and Display Policy is to align the way registries and registrars label and display registration data outputs. The policy uses the output specifications found in the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement as the standard, thus only registries need to update their systems. Changes might include renaming or re-ordering fields and displaying additional data, such as registrar abuse contact information.

Nenye Dom/GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Next ICANN CEO: Can Nigeria fill-in the gap?

Features@ITRealms:

Preamble on search for Fadi’s replacement:

ON June 21, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the global body that administers domain names and coordinates the internet identifier announced the search commencement for its new president and chief executive officer by setting up a committee to that effect.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that ICANN current president cum Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Fadi Chehadé, had served the ICANN board his intention to move on from ICANN by March 2016. 

To steer this search, ICANN named an 8-man committee chaired George Sadowsky, comprising Rinalia Abdul Rahim, Cherine Chalaby, Steve Crocker, Chris Disspain, Markus Kummer, Ram Mohan and Ray Plzak.

Sadowsky revealed that the committee has opened an electronic mail (email) address for interested parties to make input viaceo-search-cmte-only@icann.org; in order to collect comments regarding the search, qualifications of candidates, job description, and special characteristics of best applicants.

Healso said that the search comment was open until July 12, 2015, urging for Internet community to freely contribute their views. Reassuring, he promised to revert to the Internet community with the outcome of the updated job description and qualifications statement for the position by mid-July. And living up to this, his committee did release details on this search as promised.

Criteria of ICANN CEO Search Party 2015:

One urgent and clear point of note for any individual wishing to be considered for the position of ICANN’s CEO with anticipation to replace the outgoing Fadi Chehade by March 2016, is the deadline for the submission of application slated for Sunday, September 20, 2015.

Based on the foregoing, ICANN Board of Directors, chaired by Dr. Steve Crocker, established a search committee to plan and execute a strategy to identify CEO candidates for submission to the Board, which entails that all candidate inquiries must be directed to Odgers Berndtson :icann-ceo@odgersberndtson.be.

Must know about ICANN:

It is vital for any applicant to note that ICANN has a global public interest mission to promote stability and security of global Internet through coordination of unique identifiers, comprising its naming and addressing systems; numbers, names, and protocol parameters.

ICANN’s mission avails engagement with a large global community of actively participating stakeholders representing the domain name industry, governments, businesses, academia, NGOs and individuals, dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. ICANN has three meetings a year that gather about 1,500 participants each.

Founded in 1998as a Californian public benefit not-for-profit corporation, ICANN’s current baseline operating expense budget excluding initiatives is estimated at US$113 million, about N22,515,250,000.00, mostly derived from fees levied on domain name registrations.

3 years of global expansion:

The past three years saw ICANN as a global organization with hub offices in Los Angeles, USA; Istanbul, Turkey, and Singapore, and engagement offices in Beijing, Brussels, Geneva, Montevideo, Seoul and Washington, but currently has 325 staff spread across 30 countries.

The globalization of ICANN also saw the advent of new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLDs) Programme, including gTLDs in both Latin and non-Latin scripts such as Arabic, Chinese, and Cyrillic. Over 1,300 new gTLDs are expected to be delegated in total.

Characteristics of ICANN:

Organisation-wise, ICANN could pass as a unique not-for-profit organization which comprises serving broad, global group of stakeholders from across all sectors that work to develop its policies through an inclusive “bottom-up” process embedded in transparency, inclusion and participation formingbasis of its business conduct and accountability towards stakeholders and the larger public.

ICANN’s open policy development mechanism promote well-informed decisions based on advice from a diversity of views, so ICANN staff supports policy development processes by the community, the Board’s steering cum validation role, and executes the resulting policies.

Noteworthy is that there is a delicate balance of distributed cum shared responsibilities between ICANN staff led by the CEO, global volunteer community, Board of Directors and stakeholder constituencies.

Internet Governance Ecosystem:

Recall also that ICANN is part of a broader, distributed Internet Governance (IG) ecosystem with other major players forming key partners in the technical community. These actors work together to preserve one single, interoperable and permissionless Internet, thereby inspiring ICANN work closely with related technical organizations, and each performs their technical functions within well-defined and limited remit.

Equally, ICANN works with a growing number of non-technical players in theIG ecosystem, including International Government Organisations (IGOs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), foundations, governments, associations, as well as private organizations and participates within its specific given responsibilities for the Internet’s system of unique identifiers.

The Candidate we want:

On behalf of ICANN, the Sadowsky-led disclosed that the candidate they want for CEO of ICANN requires a demonstrable public interest-minded leadership with a combination of business, diplomatic and organizational skills to assume this position with highest degree of experience and skills possible. 

The committee disclosed that these have been grouped in no particular order under several headings that embodies the multi-faceted nature of the role to consist of ICANN seeking candidates motivated to increase the effectiveness of the global Internet for the benefit of all.

On the management and operational experience, the ICANN search party requested a solid record of achievement in respected public, corporate, academic service, NGOs, foundations, and/or other public service institutions.

Potential candidates, DigitalSENSE Business News gathered, must have proven record of strengthening, fostering and consolidating operational excellence, with previous experience working on boards of non-profit and/or profit organizations. This is in addition to having the ability to foster consensus-building, just as significant experience of, and achievements in, a multi-stakeholder environment, and an understanding of policy development processes.

The new CEO search party said,experience forms a strong operational part of running an established organization of substantial size, like ICANN with ultimate responsibility for all key functions, maintaining that success in managing the continued evolution of a dynamic organization, with complex legal issues and significant contractual relationships, as well as experience in resource allocation and management of competing priorities, of course without leaving out background in establishing, strengthening and consolidating business systems and processes, backed with good negotiating skills to be able to represent ICANN and present it well in potentially adversarial environments.

For the search party, global experience cannot be left out as ICANN requires understanding of relevant political and policy processes, with awareness of current Internet issues around the world, stressing that global exposure based on experience working in leadership roles in different countries and with different cultures matters, just as experienced leadership of dispersed international teams of significant size and active and diverse stakeholders remain expedient.

Also, the committee seeks candidates experienced in managing complex and global process workflows and ability to anticipate issues and advance pre-emptive actions, evolving into strong diplomatic skills, ability to balance between all facets of a complex ecosystem, including technical, business, and political aspect, whilst significantly experienced in interacting and engaging with media.

Leadership Style:

ICANN, the committee said, is intellectually engaging and contributes to ‘thought leadership,’ which helps to define vision and strategy, and leverages the organization’s competencies. So, it is crucial to appreciate the aspects of multilingualism and how this affects many players in the developed and the developing world by way of handling the geopolitical currents and pressures that will affect the future of a global organization, even as they search for a candidate that understands and demonstrates empathy, and instills that quality throughout the organization as a core part of the values and mode of operation.

The candidate ICANN is looking for, they said, should thrive on motivating a high level team of functioning specialists and must be seen as a consensus builder, catalyst and motivator, who is practiced at, and enjoys, working in partnership and persuading others. Therefore, the candidate must embody and practice the inclusive and empowering multistakeholder approach and encourages significant volunteer involvement.

Personal Characteristics:

As said by the Committee, potential candidates must align themselves with ICANN’s values, namely integrity, trust, humility, technical excellence, and public service, as well as multicultural in nature with language skills, practiced communicator and public speaker. With strong belief in the value of the Internet: conscious of its role and complexity, fully embrace to ICANN’s mission, accountability requirements, and bottom-up process.

“Relishes work within a community empowered organization, while taking into account the different interests of the different communities in a balanced and fair way,” the Committee underscores, saying that there must be excellent interpersonal skills at all levels, showing commitment to strengthening diversity, ability to generate trust with all stakeholders and respect their input, whereas adept at rapid assimilation and adjustment to new environments.

Additionally, ICANN new CEO is expected to have passion of Internet technology and Domain Name Industry (DNI), the market structure and dynamics while working within ICANN’s technical remit in a rapidly evolving Internet governance ecosystem by way of ensuring the evolution of the organization within such a framework.

This is because, familiarity of Internet technologies and, in particular, an understanding of the global Internet’s systems of unique identifiers, including domain names, protocol parameters and addresses, and the functioning of domain name registries and registrars, including issues of competition, privacy, intellectual property, consumer protection and branding; Internet addressing challenges and opportunities, including deployment of IPv6, exhaustion of IPv4, and the implications of IPv4 scarcity on the fundamental Internet architecture.

Consideration, ICANN search party said, would be given to those who understand the IG ecosystem, the institutional environment of Internet and its administrative governance systems, such as Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), The Internet Architecture Board (IAB), Internet Society (ISOC), World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), among other organizations. 

Whereas, awareness of the international dimensions, and ability to interact with government and intergovernmental stakeholders as well as knowledge of the United Nations (UN) system and other international organizations and processes cannot be said to be less importance.

Good news:

The good news, however, is that the Committee is not oblivious of the difficulties in finding a unique candidate with all the features, hence, it gave a proviso that although candidates may not match every single criterion listed above, but those who reach the final shortlist will satisfy many of them.

Largely, the candidate will be expected to work at ICANN’s United States headquarters in Los Angeles, California, with substantial travel required.

Can Nigeria fill-in the gap?

A cross section of Nigerians was asked what they think about a qualified Nigerian occupying this position. For Nnenna Nwakanma, there may be no need limiting it to Nigerians as there are about two Africans in the corridors of power at ICANN, such as Adiel Akplogan who joined ICANN as Vice President for Technical Engagement and Anne-Rachel Inne, the Senior Advisor to the President on Government Engagement, declaring “They are internal already and they can represent Africa well.”

For the President of the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) Engr. Sunday Folayan lamented that unfortunately, such positions are not zoned invariably to Nigeria, otherwise he should have proposed him.

“If the recruitment is zoned to Nigeria, I will back Lanre Ajayi. He is clued on what ICANN does and is on the GNSO council. Unfortunately, that is not how they recruit for such positions,” Folayan decried.

Yet for anonymous analyst, Dr. Jimson Olufuye will not be a bad candidate after all, he serves presently as ICANN vice chairman, Finance & Operations at Commercial Business Constituency. 

Summary:

As we wait for who the cap of ICANN chief executive officer fits, developing economies should not fail short of encouraging their experts to key into the Internet community, especially from Africa.

Yes, the continent may be making some inroads as far as the Internet and domain name business are concerned, but definitely Nigeria and Ghana among other African countries could do better in taking their rightful places as ICANN continues to expand its engagement processes globally.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +ITRealms DSA +ICANN  

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!