IP: The ITU Camel

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Sun, 05 Dec 1999 10:17:18 -0500
> To: <farber () cis upenn edu>
> From: "A.M. Rutkowski" <amr () chaos com>
> Subject: The ITU Camel
>
> Hi Dave,
>
> Thought that you and your readers might
> be interested in the following column
> that appeared last week in Com Week
> International - which isn't generally
> seen in the US.
>
> The comments filed by NGI Associates to
> the Dept of State at last last Friday's
> deadline in the proceeding involving
> the ITU Internet role can be found at:
> http://www.wia.org/ITU/NGI_comments.HTM
> The filing also contains some useful
> reference information on the INT domain.
>
> best regards,
> tony
>
> ========================================
> Bottom Line Column
> Communications Week International
> 29 Nov 1999
> Page 10
> http://www.totalteli.com/cwi
>
> Keep that ITU camel out of our tent
> by Tony Rutkowski
>
> The ITU is asking for help.  A few weeks
> ago one of the General Secretariat staff
> sent out a formal circular letter to all
> the ITU's member states and the
> private-sector telecoms players who play
> in its standards groups.  The letter,
> which describes questionable Internet
> dabbling over the past four years, asks
> what more the ITU can do to help the Net
> it has been trying to kill in the past
> 20 years.
>
> The letter and its attached report are
> themselves studies in cluelessness.  The
> ITU's turf is radio spectrum management
> plus legacy PUBLIC telecoms networks and
> services traditionally provided by
> government monopolies, and it moves at a
> glacial pace under the careful scrutiny
> of the world's governments. The Internet
> consists of global PRIVATE shared user
> networks and computer resources
> completely outside ITU's purview and
> harnesses the autonomous activities and
> innovations of millions of
> entrepreneur-users to move at
> hyperspeed.
>
> Some ITU staff have been trying the past
> few years to get the ITU camel's nose
> under the Internet tent.  Indeed, the
> latest circular letter is directed at
> nudging the nose a little further.  The
> amusing thing is that the nudging is
> justified on assertions that the ITU's
> members "provide most of the
> infrastructure of the Internet," and
> that the PSTN is "providing most of the
> physical pipes over which the Internet
> Protocol and related application
> services.
>
> Well, guess again.  While this may have
> been true some years ago, it certainly
> is not today for the preponderance of
> Internet infrastructure.  However it is
> an indication of just how remote these
> folks are from the real world; or maybe
> it's just delusional.
>
> So, one of the first things I did was to
> call my old friend Bill Schrader.  Bill
> is chief executive of PSI -- the first
> private ISP and the only remaining large
> independent one.  He describes himself
> as aggressively focussed on being the
> world's best large-scale ISP.
>
> Bill also doesn't mince words.  His
> recent keynote speech to the
> libertarian-oriented CATO Institute
> annual meeting in Silicon Valley had
> people cheering in the isles.  He
> regards traditional telecoms
> institutions as dead; and had the
> chutzpah to boycott the ITU's Telecom'99
> tradeshow, while creating a media event
> by floating a huge lighted PSI balloon
> over the Palexpo and holding press
> conferences to celebrate the dying days
> of the ITU.
>
> Bill's response to my query came
> swiftly.  He said "even working against
> them seems like a waste.  Its like
> observing a dying dinosaur convention.
> Since they are almost too dead to hurt
> us any more, why go there only to listen
> to them explain why they are dying and
> wishing to harness all the wild young
> turks to extend their doomed existence
> for even another few months.  Nope, I am
> a busy guy."  He suggested however that
> others "might wish to assist their
> funeral or something."
>
> So is it time to call the death doctor
> Jack Kevorkian over to Geneva?  Well,
> considering two-thirds of the ITU
> provides useful services to spectrum
> managers and assisting developing
> countries to transition to competitive
> environments, the ITU's demise is not
> going to happen.
>
> In the Internet arena, however, the best
> thing it could do is realize finally
> that this is outside its jurisdiction
> and competence, and become a good user.
> In other words, realize that Bill
> Schrader really knows what he is talking
> about, and focus on other things that
> need reforming within the ITU's existing
> purview, such as removing the controls
> on spectrum and creating a global
> Internet-like revolution for wireless
> connectivity.
>
> --
> Tony Rutkowski (amr () ngi org) is
> principal of NGI Associates in Herndon,
> Virginia, and executive director of the
> Center for Next Generation Internet.
>
> Copyright Communications Week International
> 1999
> ========================================