[EURO-Discuss] [At-Large] UA Days

Mon Apr 1 16:44:19 UTC 2024

Evan, I didn't want to go into details. The majority of those disconnected are in countries that at some point were called third world. Many without access, others with very poor access where it does not matter if there is AI or not. And there are many millions of end users.

I'm not supposed to prove you wrong, nor am I saying you're misinformed. I am pragmatic and I believe that time should not be wasted.

Greetings

Alberto

De: Evan Leibovitch <evanleibovitch at gmail.com> 
Enviado el: lunes, 1 de abril de 2024 13:25
Para: alberto at soto.net.ar
CC: Andrei Kolesnikov <andrei at rol.ru>; EURALO Discuss <euro-discuss at atlarge-lists.icann.org>; At Large <at-large at atlarge-lists.icann.org>
Asunto: Re: [At-Large] UA Days

On Mon, Apr 1, 2024 at 10:18 AM <alberto at soto.net.ar <mailto:alberto at soto.net.ar> > wrote:

Without doing much analysis, there are hundreds of places in the world that require IDN.

Sorry, but I do not take such an assertion at face value, and neither should anyone here.

What is the evidence? All I encounter is guesswork and wishful thinking.

The preface "without doing much analysis" speaks volumes about acting on faith rather than fact. Said analysis is desperately needed.

And precisely those places are the most populated in the world and where the vast majority are "disconnected." There is no AI there.

I do not understand this assertion, it seems to me outrageous and likely ill-informed.

If you have Internet, you have access to AI. (And, more ominously, it has access to you -- but that's a very different discussion.)

If you don't have Internet, the problem is not domain names but lack of physical infrastructure -- cables, towers, satellite receivers, affordable devices, etc.

Let's please be accurate here; domain names are an insignificant component of connecting the unconnected.

For two years I had a UN contract where the job task was literally connecting the unconnected. In that time I observed that many in the barely-connected world have access to little more than Facebook and WhatsApp, which meet many needs in local languages. This situation, not without controversy, is accelerated by initiatives such as Meta's Free Basics <https://www.facebook.com/connectivity/solutions/free-basics/>  which provide funding for physical infrastructure in return for monopolizing the user experience of those connected. Mobile money and microfinance are more likely to be done by SMS than Internet. In these environments knowledge of domains -- ASCII or IDN -- is absolutely irrelevant. I witnessed this myself first-hand in environments where many tens of thousands of people had to share a single 3G cell tower.

I invite you to prove me wrong. Sure there is use for IDNs, but framing them as an international development issue is IMO disingenuous and not backed by evidence.

- Evan

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