Internet Society Chapter Norway

The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony of
1995 was broadcast on the Internet.

Tracing the origins of the Internet in this country, it turns out that Norway was the first non-english speaking country on the net. It also turns out that the reason for getting Norway on to the net was a highly laudable cause. In 1971, NORSAR (NORwegian Seismic ARray) at Kjeller just outside Oslo was connected to the Seismic Data Analysis Center (SDAC) in Virginia with a fixed, 2.4Kbits line. NORSAR and SDAC were financed by DARPA (US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) for the purpose of monitoring the early nuclear test-ban treaties, the Norwegian array being ideally situated close to the Soviet test sites on Novaja Zemlja in the Arctic.

Technically, bandwidth improved very quickly through the 70's and efforts to get Norway on to the ARPANET were under way in the middle of the decade. By the middle 80's the universities were on the Internet and by 1993 UNINETT (the Norwegian academic and research network) had connected all publicly funded Norwegian colleges into the national backbone with fixed lines of 64Kbits minimum bandwidth.

In terms of content, it is interesting (and no little matter of pride) the very first introduction net to this country should be in the cause of peace. That use of the net has continued throughout its history in Norway. Recent developments include Oslo University's project for networking the Baltic states, UNINETT involvement in academic networking in Africa and participation in academic networking in the Middle East.

Like most other European countries, Norway has a PTT monopoly (Telenor) which is under dismantling as part of our trade agreements with the European Union. The political reason for the single national carrier was to provide equal services in all parts of the country. While living up to the image of an intransigent bureaucracy during the post-war years, great effort was put into providing high quality infrastucture all over the country, largely fulfilling parliament's aims. At present, virtually all areas of dense population have ISDN coverage. The telephone net is of excellent quality giving capacities restricted only by standard serial modem technology. And restrictions on fixed, high capacity lines is basically one of pricing practices in a monopoly situation. Recent developments in European easing of restrictions on cable TV networks as telecommunications carriers and the inevitable dismantling of the monoplies by 1998, has the pressure building on expectations of cheap, widely available high speed networking.

While 1994 may arguably have been "the year of the net" in the US, 1995 certainly has seen the Internet move into the private sector in a big way in Norway. In terms of population, this country has had the highest concentration of Internet connectivity in the world. With a population of 4.3 million , Norway has a total of 500 top-level domains serving approximately 73 000 machines. Which is about 17 machines pr 1000 population. At the end of 1993, Win Treese's survey "Internet Index" ranked Norway on top with 5 machines per 1000. The dstribution is 200 domains with 57 000 machines in education and research (UNINETT), 300 domains and 14 000 machines in the commercial sector. With an increasing number of dial-up connections both from the schools sector into UNINETT and from commercial customers, especially private users, these figures are ever more difficult to get accurate.

The single most important reason for the great popularity of the net in Norway has been the proliferation of information accessible through the World-Wide Web interface. With the increasing use of the net both at educational institutions and in the private sector, specially in homes - come the inevitable controversies over information content. The growth of commecial providers has been allowed to grow over the last 2 years or so without comment or intervention by the government. In fact, during the autumn of 1994, during the most intense period of commercial innovation on the net, government, both local and central were blissfully ignorant of the net. While they were frantically trying to convince the country to vote for joining the European Union in the referendum of November 28, the pros and cons were quietly being debated on the net, which also published the results as they came in. Now that the official period of mourning over being rebuffed at the polls seems to be over, a government commission on information technology has been set up, headed by the prime minister herself.

While government attention was elsewhere, it was left up to individual ministers to fend off demands for sensorship of questionable newsgroups and what the press happily played around with as subversive and undermining information on the net. Now that broadcasters, publishers, the PTT and even the government itself have established their presence on the net, either by buying into existing providers or building their own services, the sensationalism has mostly died down.

At the end of October 1994, UNINET arranged it's second annual conference. One of the main aims of the conference was to reach both private and public sectors with the message that the Internet was primarily a mutually beneficial medium for communications and source of information for both groups. While attendance was encouraging at somewhat over capacity, representatives of government, media and business were conspicuously absent - worrying about a bleak future outside Europe no doubt. At the same time, the media were in a breathless frenzy over the moral iniquities of the networks. In the follow up to the conference UNINETT introduced the idea of a national Internet conference with the aim of covering the needs of all sectors of Norwegian society. After discussing the matter on the net a group of 9 persons with various interests in the future of the net met the following winter in Oslo to discuss the viability of an Internet Society chapter in Norway.

On April 4 this year, ISOC Norway was formed. A provisional board of trustees was elected to be replaced at the first regular annual general meeting. The board, which is chaired by Pål Spilling - one of the Internet pioneers in Norway, has representatives of both public and private sectors, including local government, Internet providers and the academic research networks. The board members areas of interest span from the purely technical to the more throny aspects of informational content.

The chapter has formulated an agenda of goals and purposes;

ISOC Norway shall:

Work in the interest of network users by:
• Participating in the development of an internet that ensures open and equal access for users and providers, and regulations that safeguard personal rights.
• Create a forum for cooperation between users.
• Support users interests with respect to net-operators and service providers.
• Support and participate in training for network use, establishing information services and general Internet use.
• Support and participate in the development and implementation of rules of ethics and responsibility in use of the net.
Encourage and participate in the developement of standards for a common data network for Norwegian institutions and organizations, which should appear simpler and more utilitarian for users.

Maintain Norwegian interests and participation in a common global Internet.

When the Nobel Foundation was founded by a clause in Alfred Nobel's will 100 years ago this year, it was left to a committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament to award the prize for peace. In the year that the Internet made its lasting presence felt in Norway, it is only fitting that the prize presentation ceremony in Oslo should have been broadcast on the Internet just as the signing of the Oslo II agreement is being braodcast as this is being written.

The signing of Oslo II agreement ceremony
in Washington was broadcast on the Internet
from Norway.

- Børre Ludvigsen 950928

"Internet Society Norway"  http://www.isoc-no-no/
"Norway"  http://www.service.uit.no/homepage-no
"Kjeller"  http://www.unik.no/hvor.html
"DARPA (US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency)"  http://www.darpa.mil/
"UNINETT"  http://www.uninett.no/
"Oslo University's"  http://www.uio.no/
"Baltic states"  http://www.litnet.lt/
"European countries"  http://www.tue.nl/maps.html
"Telenor"  http://www.fou.telenor.no/xtf/xtf-eng.html
"European Union"  http://www.echo.lu/
"4.3 million "  http://www.ssb.no/
"Internet Index"  http://www.openmarket.com/info/internet-index/
"education"  http://www.service.uit.no/homepage-no
"education"  http://www.service.uit.no/homepage-no
"research"  http://www.uit.no/norge/research.shtml
"broadcasters"  http://nrk.hiof.no
"publishers"  http://www.uit.no/norge/commercial.shtml
"PTT"  http://www.fou.telenor.no/xtf/telenor.html
"second annual conference"  http://www.hiof.no/innhold/uninett94/uninett94.html
"group of 9 persons"  http://www.hiof.no/isoc-no/admin/initiativ_gruppe.html
"April 4 this year"  http://www.hiof.no/isoc-no/admin/bakgrunn.html
"board of trustees"  http://www.hiof.no/isoc-no/admin/styre.html
"CU-SeeMe"  http://www.hiof.no/smm/

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