IP: Today's ICANN Senate Hearing: an open letter from Sally Richards

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: WRYTE4U () aol com
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 19:31:08 EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Today's ICANN Senate Hearing: an open letter from Sally Richards

Good Afternoon!

I just finished participating in ICANN's tele press conference regarding
Stuart Lynn's testimony to the Senate today. I've enclosed his testimony. I
am worried and have become increasingly so over the last year of tracking
ICANN's meetings, contracts and decisions. It seems as though (from Stuart's
testimony) that in his ICANN story he negated Jon Postel's place in the
history of what would become ICANN (after all, Internet protocols did not
spring forth in 1998 without great wisdom and guidance). Although when I
questioned him today about whether he thought Jon Postel would have approved
of bringing the government into matters of technology, he did pay homage to
the work Jon had done and said that he thought Jon was moving in that
direction.... When I asked whether government should be trusted in the
matters of voting (considering its own recent SNAFUs), or matters of doing
what was right (using the examples of the commercial interests that played a
part in the heinous DMCA coming about and even Dave Farber's own frustration
in trying to shed light on technology for the people in power) he evaded the
question. So I restated it as just a personal observation. Stuart has worked
hard during his presidency and as he steps down for a new president to take
over he has moved things along as much as he could have with all of the
issues involved. I wish him well.

I can't help but look back in wonder at the way Jon handled things with such
finesse and what a cesspool of politics the ICANN org has become. What the
hell happened? I think bringing in an anthropologist to map out what has
occurred might be a good idea; different tribes have come together to make
one tribal law that governs all - I think some data mapping may be in order.
Bringing in the government and partnering with commercial entities that
can't 
figure out ways to do things with reasonable protocol or in a timely manner
for the most part are only a few things I see going very bad. Since when has
more government intervention been a good thing when technology was involved?
The days of Vannevar Bush are over. Let's remember that it wasn't long after
that time of the blossoming of technology being supported by the gov that we
had the McCarthy hearings come down on creative types and technologists
(much 
like we're seeing now after 9/11). The government has single-handedly been
responsible for destroying the lives of people they thought were crossing
them, and for creativity being killed. For a look at that whole mess and
what 
more government intervention has done for us recently, take a look at
http://www.eff.org. I'm interested to see how ICANN handles itself in the
future, and looking forward to seeing who steps up to the plate as the new
president and other ICANN positions that I hope are freed up. I can only
hope 
that the replacements are more in tune with what is good for technology, not
purely for commercial interests or linking with the government in something
the government should steer clear of.

I'll draw your attention back to the 1800s when Leland Stanford helped build
the Transcontinental Railroad...when Stanford died the US gov called in
loans 
early and the only way Stanford University stayed open was due to many
things 
Jane Stanford did including selling her jewelry (back then it was a free
university and Stanford's assets were frozen except for a very small
allowance). Years later it was proven that the gov was wrong, the hold on
Stanford's estate was lifted and it was just the beginning of how the gov
would take over that first US infrastructure. It nearly destroyed the
university that brought forth HP, Cisco, Varian (and the development of the
Klystron that played a huge part in winning WWII), and scores of people who
would lead technology. Now, all these years later the gov is again reaching
for its guns to take over this infrastructure we've tried so hard to build
and keep free - our Internet. What will it destroy this time? Larry Roberts
has always thought the Internet was a great way to take down communism - he
was correct. What is now occurring is now that the Internet has proved
itself 
viable, the gov has its controlling eye on it. As ICANN figures out how it
will put protocols and policies into place; I don't think they wholly
understand what has come before and how exactly they are inviting the
vampire 
across the threshold. I am currently writing a book on government
intervention in the creation and use of technology, feel free to call me to
talk more on the subject. For more links and info, go to http://icann.org/ ,
http://cavebear.com/icann-board/index.htm ,
http://www.domainhandbook.com/icannt.html

History is known to repeat itself and as Jerry Glenn, a UN futurist says,
"Historians tell us when two tribes fight they usually fight again." We've
already fought for Fair Use, we're fighting again...the gov has already
proved its penchant for infrastructure and control - what more do we need to
know? We all have a responsibility in how this plays out. And if we do
nothing? Well...we'll be trying to explain to our grandchildren how we let
the power slip through our hands and why they have to fight to get it back.

Keep fighting the good fight, Dave - I'm behind you 100 percent!

Thank you,
sally richards
650.592.3444

www.SallyRichards.com
Author of
FutureNet: The Past, Present & Future as Told by its Creators and
Visionaries 
(Wiley, 2002)
Inside Business Incubators & Corporate Ventures (Wiley, 2001)
Dot-com Success! Surviving the Fallout & Consolidation (Sybex, 2001)
Sand Dreams & Silicon Orchards: 1,000 years of Silicon Valley's history
(coffee table book, Heritage, 2000)
Cofounder WiWoWo (Wild Women of Wonder):
http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=artcol.jhtml&doc_id=206092
Founder of LiLoTe (LIfe, LOve, TEchnology) & DuraLiNi
Recent BBC interview at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/siliconvalley.shtml
___________________________________________________________________
Here is Stuart's oral testimony and a link to the prepared written
testimony http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/061202lynn.pdf.  

STATEMENT OF M. STUART LYNN
President and CEO, ICANNSenate Commerce Committee,
Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space 12 June, 2002

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity
to 
appear here today to discuss the ongoing process of reform and restructuring
of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which I
have served as President and Chief Executive Officer since March of last
year. ICANN was launched in 1998. It was a new venture that had not been
tried before: global coordination of a significant Internet resource, namely
the Internet¹s naming and address allocation systems. What was new was that
ICANN was and is a private, not-for-profit corporation, private but acting
in 
the global public interest. When you think about where it started, ICANN has
made remarkable progress. At its birth, ICANN had no funding, no agreements,
no staff, no organization. What it had was broad support from the United
States and other governments around the world and from significant sectors
of 
the global Internet community. Along with that support, it has enjoyed the
dedication of countless volunteers and the tireless efforts of a small staff
that now numbers 17.

Following its mandate from the Department of Commerce and the community
ICANN 
has: (1) established a functioning organization that is open, transparent,
and participatory; (2) introduced competition in the market for .com and
other domain name services, where before there was none; (3) initiated
competition at the registry level with the launch of several new global top
level domains; (4) successfully introduced a global domain name dispute
resolution policy; (5) reshaped our approach to security; and, above all of
which we are most proud (6) have maintained the stability of thecritical
Internet functions that ICANN coordinates.  And it has done so without one
dollar of governmental funding. Is everything perfect? Of course not. There
is much left to be done. That is why I strongly advocated a fundamental
reform effort in my report to the ICANN Board of Directors this past
February. ICANN¹s achievements have been significant, but I pointed out that
ICANN must change if it is to accomplish its mission and to become the fully
effective and accountable organization that ICANN needs to be.

I am pleased to tell you that ICANN¹s reform effort is well on track. The
Board will consider a blueprint for reform at its meeting in two weeks. The
basic form of this blueprint has already been placed before the community
for 
comment. I have been pleased to see so much engagement by so many
stakeholders in this effort.
ICANN¹s mission is narrow and well-defined. ICANN ensures that certain
essential technical tasks are effectively performed. But ICANN¹s charge from
the United States Government requires it to undertake those policy tasks -
and only those policy tasks - that are necessary to the execution of its
technical responsibilities. One cannot, for example, add a new top level
domain without asking what name, who operates it, for how long, under what
conditions and so forth. Someone has to address those policy questions. And
if not ICANN, then who?
One can take a view of ICANN that is half-full or half-empty. One can choose
to emphasize ICANN¹s many accomplishments or emphasize what has not been
done. I am an unabashed half-full optimist. But I recognize it is easier to
focus on the half-empty: no organization can lay claim to perfection, and
there is no doubt that ICANN has serious problems to address. It would be
truly amazing had the founders of ICANN gotten everything right in 1998. As
ICANN reforms, we welcome your advice and your suggestions. And we welcome
the continued oversight of the Department of Commerce which throughout
ICANN¹s history has been a constructive and understanding - yet demanding
and 
forthright - partner.

I was not there at the beginning of ICANN and I will retire next March. But
before I move on, I am committed to leaving behind a restructured and
reformed ICANN - an ICANN that is well-poised to take on the challenges and
opportunities of the future; an ICANN that preserves our core values of
transparency, openness and accountability; yet an ICANN that is effective
and 
efficient in fulfilling the mission that has been placed before it.
Thank you very much for allowing me to tell ICANN's story today.


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