Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: Re: "Domain names and the threat to the Net" by Meeks
From: David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 08:18:01 -0400
Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 07:58:52 -0400 To: farber () central cis upenn edu From: gaj () portman com (Gordon Jacobson) David - The following was a reply to a post I made on the Boston on-line mailing group: GAJ Forwarded message begins:
From: hapgood () pobox com (Fred Hapgood) Subject: Re: "Domain names and the threat to the Net" by Meeks Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 00:29:07 GMT X-Mailer: Forte Agent 1.5/32.451
It starts with a group of self-appointed "technocrats," a kind of Internet cabal, which operates with no authority of law or formal governance, which has simply rushed in to fill the power vacuum on the Internet, which has, since inception, operated in a spirit of consensus and community.
I disagree emphatically with every line of this essay, but the debate is a good one that should be made. So far the internet has been governed ("governed" here refers to a fairly small group of issues: domain namespace management, managing the limited stock of IP addresses, and defining and operating the root servers pretty much covers the agenda) on the model of industrial standards-setting groups: you wait for problems and issues to emerge, and then you invite the people whose consent and participation you need to get those problems solved. The focus is on defining and solving problems. It's not a 'democratic' system in that representatives to these bodies are almost never elected and often are invited. So far this model has done pretty well, not just in the context of the internet but in industry generally. Some people call this the 'self-governing' model. Meeks prefers the term 'self-appointed', as opposed to appointed by an elected official or his or her representative. The idea that IANA and ISOC have "absolutely no formal authority to proceed with this process" is really all he needs to know about the situation. The idea that "they just decided to do it" completely freaks him out. It doesn't freak me out because I think standards-setting bodies work pretty well (in the first place) and when I consider how politicians get nominated and elected the term 'self-appointed' seems even more appropriate in that context. But there is a superstition of legitimacy -- or better a superstition of control -- that clings to the representative process, at least for the time being, that can't be denied. Fred <http://www.pobox.com/~hapgood>
---------------------------------------------------------------
End of forwarded message
Current thread:
- IP: Re: "Domain names and the threat to the Net" by Meeks David Farber (Aug 08)