The Internet

Who Owns the Internet

The internet is a resource that belongs to everyone in the world. No one owns the internet and therefore it shouldn't be censored. It makes no sense to prohibit what you don’t own. However, certain types of people have exploited this policy and filled the internet with contents that are bad especially for children. Imagine your kid going to a porn site and some form of age verification is not requested. Wouldn't that be a disaster? That is why censoring the internet for specific people is the better that censoring whole websites for everyone. To understand this concept a little bit deeper, we must first know the concept of net neutrality.

The concept of “net neutrality" holds that companies providing Internet service should treat all sources of data equally. It has been the center of a debate over whether those companies can give preferential treatment to content providers who pay for faster transmission, or to their own content, in effect creating a two-tier Web, and about whether they can block or impede content representing controversial points of view[1].

As shown in the previous paragraph, companies decide whether to block a certain website and which content supplier has higher transmission. It’s all about the “benjamins.” Also a handful of companies own all of the internet cables and everything and therefore they give higher transmission to whoever is able to pay more money.

Laws regarding the internet in general should be made by every single person who uses the internet. There should be referendums held to decide what the majority of the people want. This way everyone but the internet companies is happy. However, laws regarding age or something similar should be common sense and therefore should be taken as they are (under 18... And the rest of it).

Finally, inappropriate things that are posted online should be censored by the government, not the ITU. The ITU is an international organization and to judge what’s inappropriate and what’s not, one must know the culture and the customs of the people and that is why the government is more suited determining what’s too inappropriate. However, there is a fine line between censoring government websites and censoring porn websites. Governments should only have the right to censor the latter. It doesn't have the right to judge people based on what they post and they should let the people know what they are censoring and why.

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[1] (Net Neutrality)

Somaliland's Biggest Setbacks

Obstacles Hindering Somaliland from Reaching Greatness

          Somaliland’s BIGGEST problems are probably, by far, Chat and income sources. The majority of Somaliland men consume chat and a huge percentage of the whole country’s economy comes from livestock. A country should have numerous income sources just in case if something happens to one, they wouldn’t suffer from starvation and economic crisis especially when its main income source is livestock. What’s more, families spend huge amounts of their annual income on this drug. An estimated 30%-50% of the total income of families is spent on chat.[1] This is obviously the biggest obstacle that is holding this country to be recognized and to flourish.

Chat is not only harmful for the economy, it also causes many diseases. Consuming a significant amount of chat can cause periodontal disease, stomatitis, esophagitis and gastritis. Reports of cirrhosis of the liver may be due to high ascorbic acid content which is said to have a hepatotoxic effect.[2] Just like any drug, it makes the subject feel happy and it gives him or her unlimited energy to do whatever. In a lot of countries, this would be considered to be illegal but since people have been consuming it for about centuries, it sort of made its way to become part of the Somali culture. About 80% of men consume chat on a regular basis and the amount of money the suppliers get is enormous[3].

Now, if I were the leader of this country, I would have solved these issues with the one move (I know I sound too confident, but follow my logic carefully) by not making chat illegal. People have been chewing chat for centuries who and it would be difficult to change that (NO we can’t, Obama). The thing I would do is make the drug very expensive so that only the rich will afford it. I would tax the suppliers extremely heavily and from that, I would make tons of money from the taxes and if something happens to the livestock, I would go to plan B which is the tariffs from chat. By doing that, I would be able to hit two birds with the same stone or in other words, make the limited income source and the chat problem partially solved. I might not be able to absolutely solve these problems but my plan is a huge step towards recognition and a brighter future for Somaliland.

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[1] (Distefano)

[2] (Distefano)

[3] (Distefano)

The Best Examination Trip

Our class was taking the SATs but Somaliland had no test taking center and for that, we had to go all the way to Addis Ababa and take it there. Most of the students were nervous but my friends and I were on a vacation. I can hardly remember a moment when we've even mentioned the exam! We had three teachers with us, Mike, Suzanne, and Will. They were so worried that we were not allowed to go anywhere without being supervised. Everything was going smooth until our first stop at Dire Dawa. The rooms were crap holes and the beds were as tiny as nests. We had to share rooms in groups of four! My roommates were Yusuf, Abdilahi, and Caydarus. The second we've arrived at the hotel (after complaining for a while, of course) we've all rushed towards the bathroom. I won't get into details, but yes, we all did it at the same time.

That was tough, but there was a reward waiting for us and it was well deserved. It's hard to find good, cheap food here, but in Ethiopia, that's all we needed as rewards and it was abundant! That was our first day and it obviously was a success.

The next day, we all woke up really early to hop in the Sky Bus! It was the fanciest bus I've ever been on.
Everyone fell asleep right away. The bus ride was tiresome, but it was all worth it when we've arrived at Addis. All those fancy buildings and beautiful women, I was willing to stay there for the rest of my life! What's more, the hotel was very nice. The beds were bigger and there was breakfast served every morning. Things were going smooth just like any "vacation" should be going.

The next day, we didn't really do all that much. We've all slept in, then had fried egg as breakfast then we've headed off to the mosque to pray. The mosque was so big and the crowd there could have easily been about   50,000 people. Then, after prayer, we've headed to the Addis Ababa University, where we would take the exam.

The next day, it was the final day in Addis and it was also the day we were taking the exam. We went there a couple of hours early just to avoid any incidents. We took the SAT and we've seen that this is a crazy world. Ethiopians were cheating like there was no tomorrow! We, Abaarso Tech students, were not affected by that and we took the test with fairness and with the help of Allah. After the exam, I really wanted to throw my clothes off but that would obviously be insane, so I kept my enthusiasm in my self. The next morning, we would head back to Somaliland, which none of us wanted to hear about.


That trip to Addis was really the best trip that I've experienced in about 17 years. I hope it all pays off for us and the organization!