Global forum on ‘internet for all’ begins in Colombo today

The Sri Lanka Chapter of the Internet Society is joining the world-wide Internet Society at 9 a.m. today to launch the ‘INET Colombo 2011’ at the Hilton Colombo.

Graced by the Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, as the chief guest, the two-day conference – INET – will be themed ‘Internet for all’.

ISOC Sri Lanka and the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) sources organising the regional conference today and tomorrow preceded by a two-day workshop said that INET Colombo 2011 was the fulfillment of a long felt need.  It will go a long way in Sri Lanka reaching the ICT4development goals put before the country by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, these sources emphasised.

Referring to the origin of the world organisation and the hard work that had been put together in forming the Sri Lanka chapter in March this year and the holding of INET Colombo 2011, ISOC Sri Lanka Chapter President Harsha Wijayawardhana said:  “The Internet Society or ISOC was founded in 1992 by internet pioneers as an International Non-Profit Organisation. It has more than 100 hundred Organisational members and many thousands of Individual members with over 85 local chapters worldwide. It has regional bureaus in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, North America and South Asia and South East Asia. We see a future in which people everywhere can use the Internet to improve the quality of life…when standards, technologies, business practices and government policies sustain an open and universally accessible platform for innovation, creativity, and economic opportunity.

“ISOC carries out many activities under three categories — standards, public policy and education. ISOC is the home for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) the main body for creating protocols and standards, the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) and the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF). In the policy category, ISOC works with the civil society, the private sector, and Governments. ISOC is prominently involved in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in the Internet Governance area. ISOC has taken the lead of promoting and educating of IPV6.

“While ISOC had played a major role in training some of the Sri Lankan internet pioneers, currently it plays a major role in promoting and popularising the internet throughout the world. ISOC also promotes the use of local language content and domain names which are of primary importance to countries like Sri Lanka.”

Emphasising that the inauguration of the ISOC Sri Lanka Chapter was a dream come true the Sri Lanka Chapter President went on to say: “For some who had for many years dreamt of the ISOC (Sri Lanka Chapter), the launch of it on 25 March this year was a dream come true. The Geneva based ISOC played a major role in training some of the Sri Lankan internet pioneers during the period 1990-2001. The Sri Lankan internet pioneers trained by ISOC are Prof. Gihan Dias, (University of Moratuwa), Dr. Nimal Rathnayake (University of Peradeniya), Dr. Ruvan Weerasinghe (University of Colombo School of Computing - UCSC) and Jayantha Fernando (an IT Law specialist and presently Director and Legal Advisor ICTA and the first Sri Lankan to be elected Vice Chair of ICANN-GAC). The UCSC founder director, late Prof. V. K. Samaranayake contributed greatly towards the creation of the ISOC Sri Lanka Chapter especially through the continued encouragement given in early 2000.

Gratefully recalling the institutions that have contributed to the goal of bringing the benefits of ICT including internet reach all the ISOC Sri Lanka Chapter President attested, “The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), the apex body for ICT in Sri Lanka, has contributed significantly to the development of the ICT sector and the Internet in Sri Lanka. As the implementing organisation of the flagship ICT development initiative known as the e-Sri Lanka Development Project, ICTA has made a significant contribution towards the development of ICT Sector, covering e-Government, ICT Private sector development, improving IT HR capacity in the Government and leading the Policy and Legal reforms efforts. ICTA has also empowered the Sri Lankan rural communities to access the internet with the establishment of over 600 Nenasala’s (Telecentres) and the creation of internet based content in Sinhala and Tamil.

“In addition to ICTA, the Telecom Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) has also played a crucial role in the development of the internet in Sri Lanka. In recent times TRCSL has taken the initiative to measure the broadband performance. TRCSL has also taken steps to increase the number of broadband coverage as well as to improve the performance of broadband connectivity across the country.

“ICTA, together with TRCSL and the LK Domain Registry (LKNIC), has supported the creation of the ISOC (Sri Lanka Chapter).

“The launch of ISOC will enable wider participation in standard creation and internet governance and promotion by the younger generation of Sri Lanka. By their active participation in these efforts the country’s youths will also be able to make an indelible mark in the world of internet” Wijewardhana concluded.

In the early years of ISOC, it held only one global conference per year for sharing knowledge and experience and ideas about improvement. But later it dawned on the organisers that having a mechanism for considering internet applications more appropriate for local and regional conditions was a great need. It was to fulfill this need that the concept of holding many INET conferences on internet per year instead of one and in different parts of the globe was developed. INET Colombo 2011 is, therefore, tailor-made to the needs of the region, particularly Sri Lanka. This becomes manifest from the list of international and Sri Lankan speakers, keynote speakers, plenary speakers and panelists and their topics assigned for today and tomorrow at INET Colombo 2011.

ICT for empowering  people by Digital Empowerment Foundation India by Founder Director Osama Manzar; Impact of online communities on national development by Niranjan Meegammana of Shilpa Sayura; Spreading the word — strategies for social media by Asia Pacific Internet Handbook Editor  Madan  Mohan Rao; Taking internet to the people — a Sri Lankan perspective by ICTA e-Society Senior Programme Head Chitranganie Mubarak; Personal Data Protection and Information Security by  Charles Mok, Chairman, Internet Society Hong Kong; Securing Web-Facing Applications by Lakshan Soysa, Manager Operations, Sri Lanka CERT/CC; Online Behaviour and Safety: The Young, The Brave and the Foolish by Rajnesh Singh, Director, Asian Regional Bureau, Internet Society; IPV6 Looking Ahead by Champika Wijayatunga, Training Unit Manager, APNIC (Australia); The Scramble for IPV6 — Business Opportunity in Migration by Amitabh Singhal, Director, Telxess Consulting Services (Pvt) Ltd and Board Director, .ORG, the Public Interest Registry; IPV6 and Security by Skeeve Stevens, CEO of eintellego Pty Ltd and Director of ISOC-AU (Australia); NBN: Taking the Internet to the People by Holly Raiche, Executive Director - Internet Society of Australia (Australia); Developing distributed Web applications: Where does REST fit in? by Srinath Perera, Senior Software Architect, WSO2 Inc. (Sri Lanka); Designing applications to meet the needs of the whole community by Gunela Astbrink, Principal - GSA Information Consultants (Australia); Establishing your Digital Identity by Gihan Dias - LK Domain Registry (Sri Lanka); LankaGate - A Platform for innovative e-Gov Applications Sanjaya Karunasena, Chief Technology Officer, ICT Agency, Sri Lanka; The impact of Social Media on Mobile Devices is changing the world by Skeeve Stevens, CEO, eintellego Pty Ltd. and Director of ISOC-AU (Australia); Differentiating Your Mobile Applications from the Competition by Aruna Dissanayake, Director of Engineering, Aepona International Lanka; Apps for the Majority by Sampath Paranavithana, hSenid Mobile (Sri Lanka); and Channa Munasinghe, Etisalat (Sri Lanka).