Re: NY Times: Time to build a new Internet?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Gene Spafford <spaf () cerias purdue edu>
Date: February 19, 2009 11:54:25 PM EST
To: ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Cc: David Farber <dave () farber net>, jdakin () gmail com
Subject: Re: [IP] Re:   NY Times: Time to build a new Internet?


On Feb 17, 2009, at 3:50 AM, David Farber wrote:

> From: David Akin <jdakin () gmail com>
> Date: February 16, 2009 8:30:13 PM EST
>
> Finally Markoff quotes Spafford. I think Spafford qualifies as a  
> disinterested observer. To be honest, Spaf could be blowing smoke  
> for all I know as I don't have anywhere close to the ability to be  
> able to evaluate his background [http://spaf.cerias.purdue.edu/narrate.html 
> ]. But looking through his c.v., I can't see anything that jumps out  
> that ought to force a journalist to challenge him on any perceived  
> bias.

I don't think any academic or researcher can be completely unbiased  
when it comes to a question that might involve research!   If there  
are things that can be improved or questions to be answered, we could  
benefit from funding from companies and government agencies.

That said, I don't currently get funding for research on network  
protocols or changes.

As to John's intent in quoting me, well, I do work in this arena and  
have over 2 decades experience in security, and I've been quoted  
frequently in the press.   Thus, it wouldn't be that out of line to  
seek me out for an opinion.


> And Spafford does not suggest that he has been misquoted or had his  
> views taken out of context. But it's clear from Gene's posts here  
> and today on his own blog that he has some different conclusions  
> when it comes to the issue of solving the problem of Internet  
> security. In the piece, though, Markoff seems to bring Spafford in  
> to the piece to try to back up the observations made by others.

John quoted me accurately.  He also properly represented to me the  
story he was writing when he obtained that quote.   He did use only a  
small portion of our conversation (common in my experience across many  
journalists).   John has interviewed me before for stories and he has  
always accurately quoted me, he has kept "off-the record" comments  
private, and he has not attributed opinions to me that I did not  
express.   I didn't read this article as having me endorsing any  
particular opinion for or against the main question posed  in the title.

My views are that I do not believe that the Internet needs to be  
"redesigned" as I do not believe that is the main part of the problem  
(you can see my blog post for more: http://snipurl.com/new-internet).   
Some protocols could be changed/improved, but that might be possible  
to do incrementally.   However, changes that fix some of the problems  
may exacerbate others so long as we try to have the same set of  
mechanisms support so many, often incompatible, models of communication.


--spaf






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