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Any Cancelations
by Scott Reubelt 06 Feb '97

06 Feb '97

I love to attend the meeting in S.F. Where do I find out about cancelations?? -- Scott F. Reubelt sreubelt(a)whistle.com (http://www.whistle.com)

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Attend workshop on obsessive-compulsive disorders
by bmanning＠ISI.EDU 06 Feb '97

06 Feb '97

Take verbatim notes... :) More exchanges, A couple from in the US and one in Spain: ESPANIX - an exchange in Madrid Spain TTI - The Tucson Interconnect BNAP - Baltimore -- --bill

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RBOC's on the move in Washington State
by Doug Tooley 06 Feb '97

06 Feb '97

Hi all- Below are excerpts from two articles published the same day, Tuesday, Feb 4, in the Seattle paper, the post intelligencer. In sum they give a nice picture of telco/isp issues, including modem surcharge and metered access service charges, as they play out in the Seattle market. In the Business Section: State Seeks More Data on US West Overloads "State regulators yesterday told US West that it hadn't provided all the information about recent problems with call overloads in downtown Seattle and asked the utility to deliver more by next week." .... "Much of the problem is blaced on the increasing popularity of the Internet services such as America Online. ... Last week, the State asked the phone company for its explanation. US West responded, but yesterday regulators siad their answer wasn't good enough." Glenn Blackmon with the Washington Utilities and Telecommunications Commission was the drafter of the letter, addressed to US West VP Scott McClellan. ****** In the same paper, on the editorial page, Mr. McClellan has a 'response', printed in the form of an op-ed piece: Outdated Policies Driving Force Behind the Traffic Jam at America Online By Scott McClellan "The first response of many people reading the headlines about the massive digital traffic jams plaguing America Online has been to place the blame squarely at the of AOL management. A closer look reveals a second culprit - outdated policies that govern the nation's local telcommunications networks, which actually deliver computer traffic from customers to AOL and then along the internet." The piece than continues claiming that re-dials from AOL customers attempting to find an open modem caused a 60 percent increase in traffic between Seattle and Bellevue (a major local suburb in the Seattle area) over the course of two weeks. ****** -Douglas Tooley

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questions and answers about IAHC
by Paul A Vixie 06 Feb '97

06 Feb '97

Someone who shall remain nameless asked me a question in followup to the discussions of new domains that went by on NANOG earlier today. I think there's enough confusion on the topic that a more general answer will do some good; note that this is not a North American issue per se, but it did show up here earlier so here goes. Note that no answers on this subject can be considered authoritative unless they come from the IANA. > I seem to have lost sight of the tld debates, though now there > seems to be a bit of generally accepted minutiae that it will > happen and become common. > > Is this your opinion? Yes. > What do you think about Curran's volunteering to host zones? I think he was making the point that it's a technical problem, amenable to technical solutions, if not enough people see dollars in it and do it for the dollar (or ruble, or whatever) reason. And in this, he's right. > Why did Fleming respond that he'd have to "get in line" with > everyone else? Is there money to be made in hosting the zone? > Perhaps you've knowledge of a FAQ or web site with ifno? Fleming is a pirate. He, and a bunch of other flamers calling eachother names like "AlterNIC" and "Root-64", believe that the unmet public demand for new entries in "." has created an opportunity for a coup. I disagree. Of the ~40000 name servers listed in a *.COM "NS RR", ~0.01% answered with pirate data last time I surveyed them. The other ~99.99% said NXDOMAIN. I draw from this the conclusion that any pirated preuse of an IAHC-recommended gTLD has precisely zero market standing and will shortly disappear. > What does gTLD stand for? Generic Top Level Domain. We used to call them iTLD's ("international") but the IAHC decided, for several reasons, to call them gTLD's instead. > BIND won't required any modifications, assuming something like > .biz is introduced with .com, right? It's just 1's and 0's. As I've pointed out, BIND doesn't care if you put in a half million names in the "." zone. It's all hashing and malloc()'s. > What do you think we should be doing wrt this issue? I think you should read the final report shown on http://www.iahc.org/, and that you should decide whether your customers will be well served by a coherent, unified namespace whose management is open to public debate and to competitive (non-monopoly) registries. I very much think that they will be. A network with multiple incoherent allocation authorities, which is what the DNS pirates wanted, would utterly have failed. On the other hand a network with no clearly defined allocation mechanism for new names under "." was not serving anybody well, either.

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Community Space and Cyberspace (fwd)
by Doug Tooley 06 Feb '97

06 Feb '97

Hi all- The following conference is highly recommended for all who have a bit of activist in their blood. The conference is part of a national series put on by the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. (CPSR) For those folks not located in Seattle it makes a great excuse to visit... -Douglas Tooley ----------------------------------------------------------------- Please distribute to interested colleagues and appropriate lists. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Community Space & Cyberspace What's the Connection? http://www.scn.org/tech/diac-97 March 1 - 2, 1997, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm University of Washington HUB Seattle, WA USA Will cyberspace destroy society by turning us all into high tech couch potatoes? Or will it provide unprecented opportunities for community involvement? On March 1 and 2, 1997, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) will present its sixth DIAC ("Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing") conference to help answer those questions. The theme is "Community Space and Cyberspace: What's the Connection?" and our aim is to challenge some of the cyber-spacy hype and bring the discussion back to earth to the communities we live in. Howard Rheingold, best-selling author of "The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier" will give the keynote address on March 1. Howard's presentation will be followed by panel discussions on economics, education, high-technology social mediation, and other topics. In these panels computer pioneers, activists, and other thinkers and doers will describe their experiences and ideas on what has changed, what may change, and, most importantly, what citizens can do to make the technology more responsive to community needs. Some of the Panelists include + Peter van den Besselaar, Social Science Informatics, University of Amsterdam and De Digitale Stad (the Digital City), Amsterdam + Amy Borgstrom, Executive Director, ACENET, OH + Amy Bruckman, Researcher, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA + Steve Cisler, Senior Librarian, Apple Computer, Cupertino, CA + Jamie McClelland, Libraries for the Future, New York, NY + Peter Miller, Network Director, Community Technology Center's Network (CTCNet), Newton, MA + Kevin Rocap, California State University at Long Beach + Rolland Waters, CTO, RTIME, Inc. And many others! The second day, March 2, will feature workshops on a variety of topics presented by practitioners from the Pacific Northwest, Boston, Amsterdam, New York City, and many other places. Workshop Topics include + Libraries in Cyberspace + Community Voice Mail for Homeless Clients + Networking for Non-Profits + City Government Programs On-Line + Telecommunications and Educational Reform + On-Line Services: Forum for Collaboration or Technology of Isolation? + Safety in Cyberspace + Civil Liberties in Cyberspace + Navigating the Maze of Telecommunications Policy Changes and many many more. Some Quick Notes... Location: HUB Auditorium, University of Washington, Seattle. Time: On-site egistation opens at 8:00 AM; program begins at 9:00 and ends at 5:00 pm. Registration: $25 students & low income; $50 CPSR and co-sponsors; $75 other. Some scholarships are available. CPSR Benefit: Meet with conference attendees informally while enjoying snacks, drinks, and demos! Saturday, March 1, at Seattle's Speakeasy Cafe. $25 is the suggested donation and additional contributions gladly accepted to help CPSR organize programs like this in the future. Volunteers Wanted: For registration, workshop coordination, virtual conference, and outreach. (And registration is free for volunteers!) Workshops: We are still interested in seeing your workshop proposal. If you have expertise, experience, or concerns to share, please consider proposing a workshop. Please use the form on the web site. Accommodations: We have reserved a number of rooms at the Silver Cloud Inn near the University. Their phone number is 800-205-6940. Rooms are $66 for a single and $78 for a double. Rooms will not be held after the first week in February unless reservations have been made. Air Travel: United Airlines is the official airline for the conference. Please see the conference web site for more information Please join us in Seattle! DIAC-97 will be one of the most timely and significant conferences on Cyberspace themes. We expect an exciting dialogue between educators, librarians, government officials, journalists, and other community members. Please mark you calendars to attend and help us make "Community Space and Cyberspace: What's the Connection?" as important and inspirational as possible. For more information: Doug Schuler, douglas(a)scn.org, 206.634.0752 ********************************************************************** Aki Namioka, President, Seattle Community Network Association akin(a)scn.org ~~~~~ Support SCNA - Join Today! ~~~~~ www.scn.org ********************************************************************** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * From the Listowner * * * * * * * * * * * * . To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to: majordomo(a)scn.org In the body of the message, type: unsubscribe scn END

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Re: FW: IAHC/IANA Verdict
by John Curran 05 Feb '97

05 Feb '97

At 12:49 2/5/97, Jim Fleming wrote: >In the "darwinian" world of the Internet, it is important for the >entire Internet community to select only the "best of the net", as >the net expands. > >In the interest of making progress and getting people to focus on >the large administrative and technical tasks facing everyone that >really operate the Internet, I suggest that we debate which of the >above names have merit and have registries standing behind them >ready to support them. > >In my opinion, only the .WEB Top Level Domain qualfies for >consideration at this time. If people know of other registries >that have stepped forward to support any of the other TLDs, >please speak up. Jim, I don't know if I qualify as one of the folks who "really operate the Internet", but I'd like to point out that we have customers who would like to have a readable, logical domain name and willing to be outside of ".com". Each of these domains seems to be well-thought out and I don't think they will be any shortage of users or candidate registries. If you need to know that there will be a registry for each new gTLD, then I'm willing to run any of them that cannot otherwise find a home. /John

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RE: FW: OIG Investigates the NSF (revised)
by Jim Fleming 05 Feb '97

05 Feb '97

On Wednesday, February 05, 1997 8:02 AM, Michael Dillon[SMTP:michael@memra.com] wrote: @ On Wed, 5 Feb 1997, Jim Fleming wrote: @ @ > 1. More government officials need to become educated about the @ > technology, the costs, the potential, and the need to fund @ > a broad cross-section of their constituencies as opposed @ > to the same old circle of friends that live off the NSF. They @ > are not going to get this education from the Internet Politicians @ > and therefore companies and indpendent people will have @ > to help. @ @ Education costs money and time. And time is money so the first problem is @ that education will cost a lot. In addition, the people who have an @ aptitude for management often do not have an aptitude for technology. @ Do you want governments to spend more of limited taxpayer dollars on @ educating themselves? Do you want government to become the exclusive @ preserve of technocrats? I think not. @ There are many ways that "More government officials need to become educated about the technology". One of the easiest ways, which does not cost one dime, is for people to elect officials that are familiar with the technology. This will occur naturally as a result of the fact that young people are learning about technology at earlier ages and some of that education is causing children to educate their parents. Some of those parents are (or will become) elected officials. Many people thought that the 1996 election would be the first Internet Election. In my opinion, the election here in the U.S. in 2000 will likely be the first. During this past election, the candidates knowledge or commitment to the technology was not even a minor issue. In 4 years it could be a major issue and who knows, maybe an Internet Party will develop by then as a strong third party to challenge the status quo. Until platform development, debates, elections, etc. are moved to the net, the net will not have an role other than advertising and hype. In 4 years, this might happen, at least in the U.S. @ > 2. Companies need to provide a stronger presence in the R&D @ > community and the Internet Infrastructure arena via the @ > dedication of people, servers, routers and networks @ > to help support the transition of the Internet FROM the @ > small group of Internet Politicians TO the real politicians @ > of the world and the real governments. @ @ Are you suggesting that corporations should take on a larger tax burden? @ No matter how you phrase it, using corporate resources to support @ government programs is a form of taxation. And increasing the jobs that @ governments do means increasing taxes. This sort of socialist agenda has @ pretty much been discredited in most of the world. @ No, not at all. Currently most of the Internet Taxes are flowing into Fairfax County Virginia. Anyone that watches CNN will note that the county now advertises, like a company. As more counties and states realize that millions of dollars each month are flowing from all parts of the globe to the suburbs of Washington, D.C. they will begin to ask why they are not part of those programs. In some cases, countries might wake up and ask this question. I am still amazed that Canadian companies have not clued the Canadian government into the fact that Canadian companies, like yours, are sending "tax" dollars to Washington, D.C. (Herndon, VA) when they could be sent to Ottawa. Companies can work hand in hand with local, county, state and federal governments to help them understand how the Internet Politicians are taxing the Internet. Once they better understand how the money is flowing, how jobs are being created, and how people are cashing in on huge fortunes, they will enter the game. Governments can "outsource" much of the Internet Taxation infrastructure to companies that are prepared to handle those services. This is essentially what happened with Network Solutions, Inc. Now, because of the huge influx of tax dollars, NSI is itself "outsourcing" many of the functions that they can not handle. Eventually, companies will see how the money flows in the registry industry. They may not get clued in from NSI, but those companies doing outsourcing will see that they could handle several NICs and it will only be a matter of time before other companies, say, "Hey, we can do that...in fact we can outsource to the same people NSI outsources to...". The registry industry is probably the last significant industry that will be formed in this century. It will some day take its place with Banking, Insurance, and other similar "paper businesses". It is currently in its infancy and most executives with the capital to invest do not have a feel for what is involved or the opportunities UNTIL they see an example and a Balance Sheet. Then they quickly understand. @ > 3. Taxpayers need to become better educated that the continued @ > funding of Internet Politicians is not in the best interest @ > of the taxpayers, because the Internet Politicians are @ > attempting to use that money to duplicate many of the @ > same government structures that already exist and the @ > taxpayers are going to end up paying twice for the same @ > functions. @ @ If you think that government bureaucrats are spending half their time @ doing nothing and therefore could be better occupied taking on new tasks @ then why shouldn't government simply lay off half the bureaucrats and @ cut costs while leaving the Internet to its own devices? In addition, you @ are incorrect when you say that taxpayers are paying twice because @ taxpayers do not pay for the Internet any more now that NSF has dismantled @ the NSFnet and removed funding for Internet infrastructure. @ I guess you missed this recent $1.4 million dollar allocation from the NSF to the USC/ISI home of the infamous IANA. > @@@ http://www.nsf.gov/ftp/awards96/awd9615/a9615927.txt > > Title : Testbed Routers for Advanced Internet Lab (TRAIL) > Type : Award > NSF Org : NCR > Latest > Amendment > Date : August 27, 1996 > File : a9615927 > > Award Number: 9615927 > Award Instr.: Standard Grant > Prgm Manager: Darleen L. Fisher > NCR DIV OF NETWORKING & COMMU RES & INFRASTR > CSE DIRECT FOR COMPUTER & INFO SCIE & ENGINR > Start Date : October 1, 1996 > Expires : September 30, 1999 (Estimated) > Expected > Total Amt. : $1,499,999 (Estimated) > Investigator: Herbert Schorr schorr(a)isi.edu > Allison Mankin > Sponsor : U of Southern California > University Park > Los Angeles, CA 900074363 213/743-2311 > > NSF Program : 4097 NETWORKING RESEARCH > Fld Science : 31 Computer Science & Engineering > 55 Engineering-Electrical > Fld Applictn: 0206000 Telecommunications > Abstract : > USC/ISI will create and maintain TRAIL, Testbed Routers for Advanced > Internet Labs. The TRAIL software will be a freely available, well > maintained, community research router source, featuring IPv6 in > particular. The work will extend and leverage developments and facilities > of the Collaborative Advanced Interagency Research Network (CAIRN), > organized by ISI under current DARPA funding. CAIRN is a T1, DS-3 and > OC-3 wide area router testbed. The software is for two classes of > hardware: 1) high performance but low-cost personal computers, supporting > small numbers of router interfaces and 2) specialized router hardware, > supporting the large numbers of interfaces that are characteristic of > internet interconnect points, and providing a realistic experimental > model of commercial IP routing technology. For the second class of > hardware, one vendor who supports such numbers of high-speed interfaces > proved interested in donating full source code to be used as the base of > TRAIL. Therefore, the second class of hardware for TRAIL is the > Ascend/Netstar, Gigarouter. It supports 32 OC-3 ATM ports, or > combinations of ATM ports with 16 to 128 fast ethernet ports. The > proposal focuses strongly on support of experimental users. ISI's care > will be devoted to supporting their software, and maintaining and > distributing versions for PC alone, and for PC along with Gigarouter. ISI > will also maintain facilities for IPv6 networking research collaboration, > and coordinate the North American portion of the experimental IPv6 > backbone, the "6bone". > > @@@@@ @ > In my opinion, the U.S. now has the advantage of "going it alone". @ > A close cooperation of the government, corporations, and taxpayers @ > is all that is now required to really accelerate progress in the U.S. @ > In essence, the IPv4 "experimental" Internet can be viewed as an @ > academic prototype and now the serious money will step into the @ > picture to move the playing field to a different level. @ @ Are you seriously suggesting that the USA should disconnect itself from @ the global Internet?! Somehow I can't see this idea receiving any @ corporate support whatsoever given that even small US corporations are @ able to support export activities using the Internet. It would certainly @ be a marvelous windfal for the rest of the world but I doubt that the @ US taxpayers would appreciate having their money used this way. @ Of course I am not suggesting that the USA disconnect itself from the global Internet. What I have said is quite simple, the U.S. does not need to sit around while the model that has been tested mostly in the U.S. is mapped to the rest of the world. The U.S. is free to move forward WITHOUT the Internet Politicians who will no doubt now spend most of their time educating the rest of the world and making a buck off that education. Imagine if the Internet Politicians were "missionaries", imagine if they came to the U.S. and set up churches (ISPs) along every river and road, imagine if most of the population was "converted". Now, given that, would the "missionaries" hang around ? No. They would set off for some frontier where they are needed. Would the U.S. be expected to stop all progress ? No. They would be free to "go it alone". As a real world example, look at the recent meetings in Hong Kong. The Asia-Pacific market is a huge market and many of the Internet Politicians are headed there to seek their fortunes. Another example is the ISOC meeting this year in Malaysia. In all of these meetings, people will not be talking about tomorrow's technology and developments they will be talking about things that have been proven in the U.S. market place. Small countries can not yet afford to take the risk of being a leader in these arenas. The U.S. does not have to wait. Closer to home, look at Canada. You have been very vocal about how far behind the times your country is. I believe that you once described that they could not even handle IP allocations correctly. Does the U.S. have to wait, while Canada learns how to run a simple address registry ? I don't think so. Just because the U.S. does not wait does not mean that it is cutting itself off. As an example, imagine that radio was everywhere and TV was the next major advance. Imagine that your country, Canada, was just getting comfortable with FM radio. Imagine that the U.S. TV broadcasts are picked up by Canadian citizens on their radios. The U.S. could move forward without being concerned that you can not see the picture. They have no reason to ask for your permission. Also, the U.S. would not have to delay T.V until everyone on earth has a radio. That would be foolish. @ > @ and losers. Lets get NSI's monopoly removed gracefully, thank the NSF for @ > @ their "assistance" over the years, and let industry take the lead. @ > @ @ > @ Bill Schrader @ > @ Chairman, President, CEO and Founder @ > @ PSINet Inc. @ @ Upon reading this little segment I realize that Bill's earlier comments @ probably did not have the spin which you put on them in this reply. @ @ > Yes, industry needs to take the lead. In my opnion, industry @ > needs to lead government. U.S. companies need to get together @ > to make specific proposals to the U.S. government to "assist" @ > the NSF out of the picture and as a replacement better more @ > reliable systems and services need to fill the void. @ @ Quite frankly, the NSF already is out of the picture. The one remaining @ thread is that they have a contract with NSI which does not expire until @ around April of 1998. Other than that, their Internet activities appear to @ be wholly in support of the research and education community which is @ quite appropriate. @ The NSF and the U.S. Government are very much in the picture at least in the U.S. While I fully understand why you would like to see the NSF disappear to create a void to be financially exploited by people you actively support, I am more concerned with making sure that the citizens and companies in the U.S. have an extremely stable IPv4 core network which can be used to support new innovations. @ > The ball is clearly in the NSF's court. The current investigation @ > of the NSF by the Office of the Inspector General will hopefully @ @ Sounds like you are continuing to harass anyone you can find to help you @ tilting against the windmills. @ @ @ Michael Dillon - Internet & ISP Consulting @ Memra Software Inc. - Fax: +1-250-546-3049 @ http://www.memra.com - E-mail: michael(a)memra.com @ @ @ Thanks for your comments... -- Jim Fleming Unir Corporation e-mail: JimFleming(a)unety.net JimFleming(a)unety.s0.g0 (EDNS/IPv8)

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IEPG agenda items?
by bmanning＠ISI.EDU 05 Feb '97

05 Feb '97

Howdy, its me again. Coming up in April is the Memphis IETF and the traditional IEPG session on the preceeding sunday. Geoff has asked if I would stick out my neck and ask if there are any specific items from these groups that may have been mentioned in their specific regional meetings that might be of interest to a larger audience. Or more directly, are there items that folks would like to see on the IEPG agenda? --bill

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Re: Final agenda
by sob＠academ.com 05 Feb '97

05 Feb '97

I need to recruit some helpers to cover the second BOF tracks for the notes. If you are willing and interested, let me know. Thanks. -- Stan | Academ Consulting Services |internet: sob(a)academ.com Olan | For more info on academ, see this |uucp: {mcsun|amdahl}!academ!sob Barber | URL- http://www.academ.com/academ |Opinions expressed are only mine.

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RE: FW: OIG Investigates the NSF (revised)
by Jim Fleming 05 Feb '97

05 Feb '97

On Wednesday, February 05, 1997 10:47 AM, William L. Schrader[SMTP:wls@psi.com] wrote: @ Jim, @ @ Thank you for your summary. I don't know you or your company, but as a member @ of the Internet community for many years, it is not often that I find people @ who see how truly biased the NSF has been, and are willing say what they think @ openly. You kindly gave the NSF the benefit of doubt. I disagree with that @ assessment. @ Bill, Thanks for your comments. I am glad that you took the time to draft a response to my comments. It is nice to see that the leader of one of the major Internet Service Providers (PSINet) is willing to use the Internet to openly discuss these important issues. You may not know me or my companies because I have been at this a long time. Since 1976 I have been designing on-line information systems. I was fortunate to work at AT&T Bell Laboratories in the early days of Videotex and I hold some of the patents on the early protocols, including the ANSI Standard NAPLPS used to launch Prodigy. I have given the NSF the benefit of the doubt because I have worked closely with governments and the private sector for many years. I truely believe that government administrators want to do the right thing, but they often get stuck serving a group with a short-sighted, and monopolistic agenda. Fortunately, most government systems have built in checks and balances which do not allow one group to dominate for a long period of time. It is interesting that the Internet has not yet matured to discover the wisdom of "term limits", it is still in a Wild West stage of development. @ The NSF not only allowed this monopoly architecture to develop, but encouraged @ its development by the original contract design. While members of NSF's @ former management (which set this up) may claim plausible deniability, I @ believe that it was their ultimate intent to have a monopoly (a monopoly is @ much easier for the government to control). The same approach was used a few @ years earlier by the same NSF managers when the NSFNet was transferred from @ NSF ownership to ANS (IBM&MCI) with neither payment nor open debate. @ Fortunately for both the U.S. taxpayers and the Internet industry worldwide, @ the NSFNet was shut down. @ I agree, but we have to be careful to treat the disease and not the symptoms. In my opinion, the disease is "rooted" in the Internet administration which is controlled by a tight circle of Internet Politicians who are trying to slowly expand their ranks while at the same time developing what amounts to a parallel form of world-wide government complete with taxes and corruption. For some reason, these largely socialistic Internet Politicians think that they will be able to create this government on the fly without the governments that represent the people taking note or taking control. They have skillfully used the existing governments when convenient, they hide behind university administrators for protection, and they hold their hands out for more federal grants to pay for servers, routers, and jet setting around the world. The National Science Foundation has been an obvious agency to use. Many of the NSF administrators float in and out of academic circles and the average tax payer does not feel a direct impact of their programs or the $250 million they disperse each year. As the Internet grows, and as more people use it in various aspects of their lives, this will change and government funding of Internet/Intranet and "GoverNet" projects will become more clear to people. In my opinion, the disease has to be treated in three ways: 1. More government officials need to become educated about the technology, the costs, the potential, and the need to fund a broad cross-section of their constituencies as opposed to the same old circle of friends that live off the NSF. They are not going to get this education from the Internet Politicians and therefore companies and indpendent people will have to help. 2. Companies need to provide a stronger presence in the R&D community and the Internet Infrastructure arena via the dedication of people, servers, routers and networks to help support the transition of the Internet FROM the small group of Internet Politicians TO the real politicians of the world and the real governments. 3. Taxpayers need to become better educated that the continued funding of Internet Politicians is not in the best interest of the taxpayers, because the Internet Politicians are attempting to use that money to duplicate many of the same government structures that already exist and the taxpayers are going to end up paying twice for the same functions. @ Given the government's interest in controlling the destiny of the Internet, I @ doubt very much that the OIG has much influence in the government's actions. @ The White House and now the FCC appear to have very clear agendas. It is my @ hope that ISOC might become independent of its government ties and listen to @ that portion of the Internet industry which is NOT beholden to the U.S. @ government for their clout and financing. @ In my opinion, the ISOC is moving "off-shore" with respect to the U.S. and I do not see any trend that the ISOC is addressing #1, #2, or #3. Based on the results of the IAHC/IANA activity <http://www.iahc.org>, the ISOC is rapidly being absorbed by much larger international bodies that have very little experience with the Internet such as the ITU, WIPO, etc. The ISOC derives its funding from corporate sponsors and from the enormous demand from developing countries hungry to learn more about the early stages of the Internet as opposed to the more mature stages the U.S. now faces. In my opinion, the ISOC will have very little to say about how U.S. networking evolves. Because the U.S. has a strong government (#1), a huge base of corporations (#2) and educated and vocal taxpayers (#3), I do not think that a generic "international template" can be placed on the U.S. by the ISOC/ITU/WIPO group. It will not fit. As was seen in the IAHC deliberations, Network Solutions, Inc. skillfully avoided becoming subject to ISOC governance. That would be 10 steps backward for them. In my opinion, the U.S. now has the advantage of "going it alone". A close cooperation of the government, corporations, and taxpayers is all that is now required to really accelerate progress in the U.S. In essence, the IPv4 "experimental" Internet can be viewed as an academic prototype and now the serious money will step into the picture to move the playing field to a different level. @ Many of the lambs have been silent while great but insidious activity has been @ undertaken over several years by our government. We have a chance to force @ the government to once again back away from selecting and promoting winners @ and losers. Lets get NSI's monopoly removed gracefully, thank the NSF for @ their "assistance" over the years, and let industry take the lead. @ @ Bill Schrader @ Chairman, President, CEO and Founder @ PSINet Inc. @ Yes, industry needs to take the lead. In my opnion, industry needs to lead government. U.S. companies need to get together to make specific proposals to the U.S. government to "assist" the NSF out of the picture and as a replacement better more reliable systems and services need to fill the void. I have written many suggestions with specific steps that can be taken by the industry to get this ball rolling. One area which needs immediate attention is the area of Root Name Server deployment and organization. Many companies have been working for years on testing and deploying experimental servers in anticipation of the need to replace the 9 popular Root Name Servers controlled by the National Science Foundation. The NSF needs to recognize those efforts and to step forward with proactive programs to phase out their servers in favor of solid, stable, secure, servers. If the NSF continues to operate their Root Name Server collection with closed policies and allowing only certain companies to participate, then they are actively making a statement that they do not intend to accept the help of the industry in "gracefully" bowing out of the picture. The ball is clearly in the NSF's court. The current investigation of the NSF by the Office of the Inspector General will hopefully help to show that the NSF (and the FNCAC) have been giving indications for years of wanting to get out of the hot seat with regard to control of the Root Name Servers, but they have not taken any steps to accept people's offers to assist them. Instead, they continue to bow to the pressure of the Internet Politicians who keep a tight lock on the keys to those servers. @ > @ > @ > ---------- @ > From: Jim Fleming[SMTP:JimFleming@unety.net.] @ > Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 1997 11:26 AM To: 'New @ > Newdom' @ > Cc: 'ckuehn(a)nsf.gov'; 'lsundro(a)nsf.gov' Subject: @ > OIG Investigates the NSF (revised) @ > @ > @ > The United States of America is a great nation that has been one of @ > the primary leaders in the development of information technology. @ > The Internet is largely derived from government funded projects @ > and without the security, stability, and staying power of the @ > U.S. Government the large number of Internet users around the world @ > would not be jumping on board the Information Superhighway. @ > @ > Many people and companies have placed trust in the U.S. Government. @ > The U.S. Government places trust in God. (According to the back of a @ > one dollar bill). @ > Despite the fact that many people on the Internet place trust in the @ > IANA, the IETF, the IAHC, the IAB, the IESG and other I* @ > organizations, the fact remains that the U.S. Government backs @ > the Internet. @ > @ > Within the U.S. Government various agencies and organizations have @ > helped to move the Internet forward and to provide the @ > representative government needed on the Internet for people to safely @ > make investments in time and money with the knowledge that a @ > democractic and capitalistic group of people are in control. One of @ > the primary agencies helping to fund the Internet has been the @ > U.S. Government funded National Science Foundation (NSF). @ > <http://www.nsf.gov> @ > @ > The NSF has been the primary agency helping to fund and provide the @ > clout for the cooperative acitivity commonly called the InterNIC. @ > The InterNIC was originally made up of three companies, General @ > Atomics, AT&T, and Network Solutions, Inc. These three companies @ > were supposed to work together in various capacities to provide a @ > variety of services including the important clerical duties @ > commonly called "registrations". @ > @ > In the original plan, General Atomics was supposed to be the NIC of @ > NICs and coordinate the activities of the other two companies. The NSF @ > was supposed to oversee the entire activity. If managed properly, @ > many NICs would have been developed through education programs and @ > the Internet Infrastructure would have been expanded beyond the State @ > of Virginia and the few companies originally contracted to be part of @ > the cooperative agreement. That has not occurred. @ > @ > The history of the evolution of the InterNIC has been well-documented @ > and is very clear. In their original proposal to the NSF, @ > Network Solutions, Inc. @ > suggested that they should do the entire job. Jon Postel and @ > Joyce Reynolds of the IANA, are listed on the original Network @ > Solutions, Inc. bid as subcontractors to Network Solutions, Inc. @ > As history has shown, the IANA, working in conjunction with the @ > "InterNIC" (Network Solutions, Inc.) has helped to continue to @ > promote Network Solutions, Inc. to a point where most people consider @ > NSI to be the InterNIC. @ > @ > Throughout the evolution of the InterNIC from a three-company @ > cooperative to a one company monopoly, the NSF has apparently been @ > caught like a deer in the headlights of a car, frozen in indecision @ > but providing mass when needed to allow a few individuals and companies @ > to leverage themselves into positions of great wealth. The NSF has @ > been skillfully used to provide the U.S. Government seal of @ > approval, while policies are enacted by private parties who openly @ > claim that the NSF is "backing" their agendas. @ > @ > Many companies operating within the United States under Federal and @ > State laws, have been shocked over the past few years at how their @ > tax dollars are used to fund the NSF which in turn funds @ > Internet infrastructure with apparently no control over the @ > outcome. Furthermore, despite repeated efforts for other companies @ > to participate in and make investments in the Internet infrastructure, @ > the NSF has stood by and allowed plans and systems to be developed @ > which lock certain companies out while others are given a free pass and @ > in some cases millions of dollars to jump start their business. @ > @ > The recent IAHC <http://www.iahc.org> activity is an excellent example @ > of how a private company (ISOC) <http://www.isoc.org>, with less @ > members than many ISPs, is provided an NSF representative, Dr. @ > George Strawn, <http://www.cise.nsf.gov/ncri/Georgehome.html> @ > for credibility, while they develop a plan to sell what amounts @ > to Internet Domain Registration Franchises to companies willing to @ > pay large fees to fund the private ISOC. @ > @ > Another example is the recently proposed ARIN <http:// @ > www.arin.net> organization which claims to have strong support from @ > the NSF to charge fees for IP addresses. The proposed Board of Direcors @ > of ARIN are mostly people funded directly, or indirectly, by the @ > National Science Foundation. @ > <http://www.arin.net/arin_board.html> @ > @ > @@@@@ <http://www.arin.net/arin_faq.html> @@@@@@@@@ "Network Solutions @ > is leading the ARIN proposal based on a mandate from the @ > Internet community reached in rough consensus with strong support from @ > the National Science Foundation and the Internet Assigned @ > Numbers Authority (IANA)." @ > @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ > @ > Fortunately, the U.S. Government had the wisdom to set up an agency @ > within the NSF to provide some of the checks and balances needed @ > to regulate the NSF. That agency is the Office of Inspector General @ > (OIG) <http://www.nsf.gov/oig/oig.htm>. OIG is headed by the @ > Inspector General (IG), who reports directly to the President (via the @ > NSB) and to Congress. @ > @ > ---- Inspector General ------- @ > @ > name: Sundro, Linda G. @ > email: lsundro(a)nsf.gov @ > directorate: Office of Inspector General @ > phone: (703)306-2100 @ > office_phone: (703) @ > fax: (703)306-0649 @ > address: 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 1135S @ > : Arlington, VA 22230 @ > @ > -------------------------------------- @ > @ > In a recent discussion with Ms. Sundro, she indicated that the NSF @ > Office of Inspector General has been investigating the matters @ > surrounding the InterNIC and a Report to the Deputy Director is about @ > to be published. @ > Ms. Sundro indicated that Ms. Clara Kuehn, a physicist AND ATTORNEY, @ > has been assigned to handle the investigations and can provide @ > information on the status of the report. @ > @ > -------------------------------------- @ > @ > name: Kuehn, Clara @ > email: ckuehn(a)nsf.gov @ > directorate: Office of Inspector General @ > phone: (703)306-2001 @ > office_phone: (703)306-2001 x 1505 @ > fax: (703)306-0649 @ > address: 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 1135S @ > : Arlington, VA 22230 @ > @ > ------------------------------------------ @ > @ > Ms. Sundro also noted that the e-mail address (oig(a)nsf.gov) listed on @ > the Office of Inspector General as an "Electonic Mail Hotline" is @ > not useful in contacting her office. She indicated that Ms. Kuehn @ > will welcome input from people on all topics related to these matters @ > and that the above e-mail address (ckuehn(a)nsf.gov) should be used. @ > @ > In summary, I think that U.S. citizens should be proud that their @ > great country developed much of the technology and infrastructure for @ > the Internet. I also think that the world population should be aware @ > that the hundreds of years of government development in the U.S. @ > has resulted in a system that has the proper agencies to not only help @ > to foster increased growth of the Internet but also to help ensure @ > that citizens around the world are able to compete in this @ > marvelous advancement on a playing field that is fair and level. @ > @ > @ > -- @ > Jim Fleming @ > Unir Corporation @ > @ > e-mail: @ > JimFleming(a)unety.net @ > JimFleming(a)unir.net.s0.g0 (EDNS/IPv8) @ > @ > @ > @ > @ @ @ -- Jim Fleming Unir Corporation e-mail: JimFleming(a)unety.net JimFleming(a)unety.s0.g0 (EDNS/IPv8)

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