LACIGF side event - Internet in Venezuela

[Sam Lanfranco]

I would urge caution with making inferences here about both the Internet 
in Venezuela and the political situation in Venezuela.

As a development economist I spent time in Venezuela prior to the 
Bolivarian Revolution initiated by the late president Hugo Chávez. At 
the start of that “Revolution” I had friends on both sides. However, 
nobody could have guessed at the extent to which the process would 
immiserize Venezuela as a country, and immiserize the Venezuelan population.

It comes as a disappointment, but no surprise, that the government has 
increased internet censorship and online surveillance of its citizens. 
These moves have been criticized far and wide, from the UN Human Rights 
Commission and others. See: 
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/25/venezuela_increases_censorship_surveillance/

As for planned Venezuela Internet discussions at the Panama event, that 
should be welcomed, both inside and outside the Internet ecosystem 
community. There are lessons to be learned, both about the Internet as a 
venue for social agency and about Internet suppression. There are 
lessons to be learned about using the Internet for personal agency in a 
basic commodity scarce -food, toilet paper, whatever- environment. These 
are of course outside NCSG’s role within ICANN but need not be outside 
our scope of awareness and learning.

Sam Lanfranco

On 8/3/2017 6:19 AM, Renata Aquino Ribeiro wrote:
> Hi This is indeed a hot topic, Internet in Venezuela and the 
> challenges it is going through considering the government the country 
> has now. It is to be discussed in a roundtable in Panama by civil 
> society activists who have managed, somehow, to get out of the 
> country. Some will come back to it, some are already outside it. 
> Brazil is one of the main countries Venezuelans immigrated to 
> recently. Internet disruptions and challenges to freedom of expression 
> go hand in hand w/ the conflicts and even within internet policy 
> community you'll find divided opinions. Some say the current political 
> regime advocates for peace and the protesters are rioters. But 
> whichever opinion one may have on what is going on, the fact is that 
> we can't know if we can't get access to information, if people can't 
> communicate whatever is going on. This is not fake news, this is about 
> not having access to any news. Best, Renata

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