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IP more on IP: Domain names and "The Network $olution", from
From: David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 17:42:15 -0400
From: Dave McClure <dpmcc () bellatlantic net> The National Science Foundation, moving rapidly to privatize the Internet, has approved the ARIN proposal advanced by Network Solutions, Inc. In that proposal, a group of seven Trustees selected by NSI and including Dr. Donald Telage and Kim Hubbard of that company will manage a monopoly that will have complete authority over the assignment of IP addresses in North America. The proposal was drafted by NSI, largely authored by Hubbard, and submitted to the NSF for approval by Network Solutions. Kim Hubbardwill be the president of ARIN, and some seven other current NSI employees will become the staff of ARIN. The ARIN Board of Trustees, having selected itself, will continue to elect itself. The Trustees will not be elected by the membership under current plans, and will not be accountable to anyone for its actions. ARIN will immediately begin charging fees for IP registrations and annual maintenance, with the base fee for a single Class C (/24) set at $2,500. Large IPSs will pay for IP address assignments on a sliding scale depending on the block size, from $2,500 to $20,000 per year. It is anticipated that these costs will be passed along to smaller ISPs and organizational users, as will the annual maintenance fees. To sell the proposal, NSI has claimed that: ** It will operate as a non-profit, though it does not currently meet the requirements for a non-profit set forth in section 501(c) of the US tax code. It will have difficulty qualifying, since its only purpose for existence is to sell IP allocations and registrations. ** That it will have a minimal affect on the industry, and on most ISPs. Except, of course for the estimated $3.5 million they will pay in its first year. ** That it will be accountable to the industry. There is no mechanism for accountability to anyone in the current ARIN proposal. ** That ARIN is similar to RIPE and APNIC. Except, of course, that those organizations (which manage IP registrations for Europe and Asia) elect their officers and Board members, have bylaws and a mission, and are operated under the direction of the ISPs who pay for their services. As we have consistently stated, we support the formation of a non-profit to coordinate IP addresses and allocate them effectively. Nor do we particularly have a problem with either Dr. Telage (by all accounts an honorable man) or even Kim Hubbard (who does have experience managing the current database). Our objection is to the structure of ARIN, not its intent. But the devil is in the details, and in the case of ARIN the details are a problem for our industry. FYI, we spoke last week to Edelman PR, who have been brought in to help clean up the dismal public communications at NSI. We have asked them to broker a meeting between Dennis and Donald Telage in an effort to clear up these problems so we can support ARIN. Our efforts to do so in the past have met with silence or ridicule, but NSI has a new president and we remain hopeful. -----Original Message----- From: Sky Dayton [SMTP:sky () earthlink net] Sent: Monday, July 14, 1997 12:25 PM To: exec () aop org Cc: farber () cis upenn edu Subject: Re: Any idea what this means Dave, Can you shed more light on this? cc Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu> on the reply. Thanks. Sky --
============================================================= AOP Bulletin Monday, July 11, 1997 Volume 97:25 =============================================================
...
The investigation comes as NSI has made a bold bid to retain exclusive control of the world's most popular top-level domain names after its contract with the National Science Foundation ends next March. *******In addition, NSI executives have won approval of a scheme to give a small group of NSI employees a monopoly over the sale of Internet IP addresses.*********
... -- Sky Dayton, Founder & Chairman | Voice: 818-296-3072 EarthLink Network, Inc. | Fax: 818-296-4139 sky () earthlink net | 3100 New York Drive http://home.earthlink.net/~sky | Pasadena, CA 91107
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