Public Consultation on Internet Services


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Licening Framework for VSATConsultation on Internet Security
Every parent knows that the Internet is a powerful resource that can connect his children to the rest of the world, bringing valuable information almost instantly that was once only available in libraries. But parents also know that if not monitored, the Internet can expose children to harmful images and information. What can government do to help protect Internet users from harmful content?

ictQATAR is in the process of developing a policy for governing Internet services in Qatar. ictQATAR will soon be launching an online consultation to receive feedback from the public on how Internet services within the State of Qatar should be kept safe and secure. The intended purpose of this consultation will be only to seek feedback from interested parties on how confidence in internet use might be increased. ictQATAR has no legal mandate to regulate internet content. Information submitted in response to the proposed consultation may assist internet users, service providers and others to make informed decisions in managing internet content. The proposed public consultation is a part of ictQATAR's commitment to transparency and its dedication to engaging the public on important ICT issues to assist in achieving its objective of an information-based society.

We sat down with Farrukh Ahmad, ictQATAR's Manager for Critical Infrastructure Protection to discuss the forthcoming consultation.

What is the aim of the proposed Internet governing policy ictQATAR is developing?
The aim of the policy is to define principles and controls to ensure that Internet provisioning meets the requirements of the community at large, while providing clear guidelines to service providers. The Internet governance policy aims to fulfill the following objectives: Increase the public's confidence and broaden Internet adoption by addressing the issues of inappropriate content and malicious activity; ensure transparency in Internet governance and put in place mechanisms to fairly, efficiently, and consistently manage community complaints or feedback; help Internet Service Providers (ISP) and Content Service Providers meet legal and regulatory requirements in service delivery; and ensure that Internet services within Qatar provide a consistent level of availability and quality. In other words, we want to make sure that anything that hinders people from using the Internet is removed and make sure that we have policies in place that the ISPs (currently Q-tel and Vodafone) can apply so they know exactly what to do when they are going to address inappropriate content and malicious activities.

What area does the policy address?
The policy covers filtering of Internet content and how filtering errors will be rectified; what type of content can be hosted on servers; what type of data will need to be retained for law enforcement purposes; user identification and anonymisation; public Internet access and hotspot security; ISP resiliency and protection; the handling of malicious activity and national incident management.

What about the online consultation ictQATAR will be launching?
As part of ictQATAR's commitment to transparency, we will be launching an online consultation addressing issues of content filtering, social networking and related sites, use of public Internet access services and control of malicious content & SPAM on the Internet. The consultation allows us to understand how Internet services in the future should be provided within Qatar and ensures the views of the Qatari community are considered in any policy decisions.

Is it the responsibility of the ISP or ictQATAR to remove inappropriate content or filter content?
It is currently the ISP's responsibility to filter out inappropriate content. But, as we move on, ictQATAR will define polices for them to allow them to make the right decisions on what is appropriate or inappropriate. What we would like to do is give ISPs policy guidelines which include recommendations we receive through the public consultation.
We want to make sure that there is a strong mechanism in place to help if there is anything incorrectly filtered or blocked. If something is filtered or blocked we would like to have a mechanism which allows users to inform the ISP and asks them to reconsider the decision. If an ISP does not take proper action or does not know the right course of action, ictQATAR will be there to provide guidance.

Filtering is not perfect science. We can never be sure that every little thing is blocked. Television provides a good analogy for what may be acceptable; for example, when you turn on the TV in the daytime you do not expect to see pornographic content because the broadcaster will not allow that. The same should exist with the Internet but it is far more difficult as anyone can provide content. What we want try to do is to make sure that the general public is kept safe.

What specific considerations are there for businesses?
Basically, in the business environment the use of the Internet is very different compared to residential use. First of all, there are social controls preventing employees from using the Internet inappropriately while amongst colleagues. Then, there are often audit logs of Internet use. The employer can therefore check what websites their employees have gone to, and can have policies informing employees of what is permitted and what is not. These sets of controls are not normally present at home.

In Qatar we have had no filtering on business Internet since these services were first introduced. One problem we do have is with schools that often have business Internet lines so they have to provide their own filtering. The quality of these controls is often insufficient, mainly because effective software can be costly and requires a lot of work to ensure it remains effective. We hear from schools, for example, that some software does not effectively filter sites in Arabic. We would like to develop a mechanism where the ISP can provide improved filtering services to businesses and schools but maintain the performance of the Internet access which is an important requirement.

Is there anything else you want to add regarding this topic?
Honest feedback on the consultation is what we need and we want make sure that the process is useful so people feel they have a say on the Internet services in their country. We want people to know that filtering is not censorship, but tries to meet the requirements of the majority in the country in line with our cultural and religious norms. What we are trying to do is to ensure the Internet is seen as a useful and safe tool to benefit our community and especially our children in a future knowledge based economy.

- By: Zakaria Fawzi







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