nanog mailing list archives
Re: an example individual response to Verisign spin
From: "Brian Bruns" <bruns () 2mbit com>
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 16:33:58 -0400
Ok, I've been working on this for a while, its still v1.1 of the document, so it needs some more work including references and stuff like that. I wrote it in AbiWord, but it didn't translate to HTML so well, will work on getting it better later on tonight. Comments are welcome. http://www.sosdg.org/papers/VSGNWCD.html I tried to write it as simple as I could in the hopes it might help end users understand the issues created by the SiteFinder 'service'. -------------------------- Brian Bruns The Summit Open Source Development Group Open Solutions For A Closed World / Anti-Spam Resources http://www.2mbit.com ICQ: 8077511 ----- Original Message ----- From: <Jeff.Hodges () KingsMountain com> To: <nanog () merit edu> Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2003 2:02 PM Subject: fyi: an example individual response to Verisign spin
Subject: [IP] Yesterdays WJS article on Versign
http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200310/msg00057.h
tml ------- Forwarded Message Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 04:45:48 -0400 To: ip () v2 listbox com From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: [IP] Yesterdays WJS article on VersignDate: Mon, 06 Oct 2003 15:17:34 -0700 From: Dave Crocker <dcrocker () brandenburg com> Subject: Today's WJS article on Versign To: newseditors () wsj com Cc: Nick Wingfield <nick.wingfield () wsj com>, Dave Farber
<dave () farber net>
Re: Nick Wingfield's article<http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106519977252395300,00.html?mod=dartTech
tod
ay>Hello, "VeriSign's critics, of course, see it differently, accusing VeriSign of undermining the collectivist culture of the Internet, through which
engineers
hash out key changes to the network through standards groups. Unlike the
Web
and e-mail, which have become thoroughly commercialized through
advertising,
the low-level Internet routing software that VeriSign altered with its
new
service has remained relatively insulated from efforts to make a profit."
...
Although notably better than most of the articles on this topic, Mr.
Wingfield
still managed to buy Verisign's spin, both its erroneous facts and its erroneous perspective. First of all, the service that Verisign runs has been for profit for as
long
as it has run it. That's roughly ten years. In addition the problems
caused by
Verisign were not just in the eyes of "technologists". Second of all, consider the service they suddenly changed in terms of its equivalent in the world of telephone. Imagine dialing a non-existent
number or
asking 411 for the number of a non-existent entry, and not being told
that
there is no listing. Instead, you are given a phone number that feeds you advertising. Would you view this as "a valuable navigational aid for
users who
might otherwise hit an online dead-end?" Probably not. The problem, here, is not a culture-clash between commercial ventures and naive technologists. Verisign contracted to provide a critical
infrastructure
service that maps domain names to Internet addresses. The only "clash" is between responsible and irresponsible approaches to providing that
service. If
Verisign cannot operate it at a profit, without breaking it, there are
others
quite willing and able to do the job. d/ -- Dave Crocker <dcrocker-at-brandenburg-dot-com> Brandenburg InternetWorking <www.brandenburg.com> Sunnyvale, CA USA <tel:+1.408.246.8253>-------------------------------------- Archives at:
http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
------- End of Forwarded Message
Current thread:
- fyi: an example individual response to Verisign spin Jeff . Hodges (Oct 07)
- Re: an example individual response to Verisign spin Brian Bruns (Oct 07)