Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: How the Internet got its rules
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 14:42:21 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: "Bob Frankston" <Bob19-0501 () bobf frankston com> Date: April 7, 2009 12:56:37 PM EDT To: <dave () farber net>, "'ip'" <ip () v2 listbox com> Subject: RE: [IP] Re: How the Internet got its rulesWe need to be very cautious about generalizing from the success of the IETF. It’s success is very much related to the domain area – digital computing and connectivity which makes it feasible and even easy to tolerate experiments and failures, and to reproduce and improve what works. It is not so much an international rulemaking body as a virtual water cooler where people gather to work out kinks.
We can look at IPv6 as an example of what happens when the body attempts to impose solutions. Fortunately it has limited ability to force adoption.
ICANN, in sharp contrast, is trying to be such a rulemaking body and seems to revel in the degree to which people continue to be dependent upon it like they are dependent upon the ITU and other agencies.
-----Original Message----- From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 11:57 To: ip Subject: [IP] Re: How the Internet got its rules Begin forwarded message: From: "Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law" <froomkin () law miami edu> Date: April 7, 2009 11:24:38 AM EDT To: David Farber <dave () farber net> Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com> Subject: Re: [IP] Re: How the Internet got its rules Reply-To: froomkin () law tm IP Readers might also be interested in an article arguing that through the RFCs the IETF created a rare example of a Habermasian rule system that is both self-reflexive and legitimate. Habermas () discourse net: Toward a Critical Theory of Cyberspace, 116 Harv. L. Rev. 749 (2003) http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=363840 Abstract: In the spirit of Jurgen Habermas's project of linking sociological observation with legal philosophy, this Article analyses the Internet standards processes - complex nongovernmental international rulemaking discourses. It suggests that the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards discourse - a small, slightly formalized, set of cooperative procedures that make the other Internet discourses possible - is a concrete example of a rulemaking process that meets Habermas's notoriously demanding procedural conditions for a discourse capable of legitimating its outcomes. As evidence, the Article offers a social and institutional history of the IETF's Internet Standards process; and argues that participants in the IETF are engaged in a very high level of discourse, and are self-consciously documenting it. Identifying a practical discourse that meets Habermas's conditions removes the potentially crushing empirical objection that Habermas's theory of justice is too demanding for real-life application, although it does not prove its truth. Habermas's work provides a standpoint from which social institutions can be critiqued in the hopes of making them more legitimate and more just. Armed with evidence that Habermasian discourse is achievable, the Article surveys other Internet-based developments that may approach his ideal or, as in the case of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), that already claim a special form of legitimacy. This Article finds most of these other procedures wanting and argues that the existence of even one example of a functioning Habermasian discourse should inspire attempts to make other decisions in as legitimate and participatory a manner as possible. Habermas seeks not only to define when a rulemaking system can claim legitimacy for its outputs, but also to describe tendencies that affect a modern society's ability to realize his theory. Speaking more as a sociologist than a philosopher, Habermas has also suggested that the forces needed to push public decisionmaking in the directions advocated by his philosophy are likely to come from a re-energized, activist, engaged citizenry working together to create new small-scale communicative institutions that over time either merge into larger ones or at least join forces. Like Habermas's idea of a practical discourse, this may sound fine in theory but is difficult to put into practice. New technology may, however, increase the likelihood of achieving the Habermasian scenario of diverse citizens' groups engaging in practical discourses of their own. Technology may not compel outcomes, but it certainly can make difficult things easier. A number of new tools such as slash servers, blogs, wiki webs, community filtering tools and e-government initiatives show a potential for enabling not just discourse, but good discourse. While it is far too soon to claim that the widespread diffusion and use of these tools, or their successors, might actualize the best practical discourse in an ever-wider section of society, it is not too soon to hope - and perhaps to install some software. On Tue, 7 Apr 2009, David Farber wrote: > > > Begin forwarded message: > > From: John Kemp <john () jkemp net> > Date: April 7, 2009 8:54:20 AM EDT > To: dave () farber net > Subject: Re: [IP] How the Internet got its rules > > Hi Dave, > > Just to note that the links in David Isenberg's original email (now) > point to different articles than the one on 'How the Internet got > its rules". The correct link to Steve's op-ed appears to be: > > http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/opinion/07crocker.html > > Regards, > > - johnk > > > > ------------------------------------------- > Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now > RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com -- http://www.icannwatch.org Personal Blog: http://www.discourse.net A. Michael Froomkin | Professor of Law | froomkin () law tm U. Miami School of Law, P.O. Box 248087, Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA +1 (305) 284-4285 | +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax) | http://www.law.tm -->It's warm here.<-- ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- Re: How the Internet got its rules David Farber (Apr 07)