Subject: Battle Heats Up - but the real issues are still being hidden

From: Ronda Hauben <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 16:05:56 -0400 (EDT)

Alert: Internet Folklore is in the making ;-)

An important prototype battle currently is going on over the question
of who is to control the Internet? 

Is the Internet to be allowed to continue to be a place where the 
people (users/ netizens) can represent themselves, or is someone's
selected set of corporate representatives to take over to fundamentally 
change the nature and environment of the Internet. 

Up to now the Internet has been recognized as a way to make 
possible "power for the people", at least online.

People can have their say and the U.S. Federal District court even
noted that the U.S. Govt must protect this autonomy of the people
that the Internet makes possible. (in the ACLU vrs. Reno case)

The U.S. Government, however, has been saying that the essential 
functions of the Internet must be turned over to the private sector 
so they can own and control the Internet and make their millions off 
of it. 

The U.S. Govt is offering to set up a private corporation 
for them to be able to carry on their control over the Internet 
with no accountability or oversight over what they do.

With this melodrama in the background, an important real battle
has appeared on the front lines:

This issue is that as the Internet becomes more and more international, 
it is important that control over the essential functions be shared with 
the international community rather than the U.S. Govt. feeling it 
can determine who to give control to.

So there is a battle on in Washington and around the world 
with the press being basically silent about what it is all
about.

The U.S. Govt has just posted 3 proposals for comment. Two are
to privatize into a non accountable corporation and to 
make a present of ownership and control over the essential 
functions of the Internet (and big bucks will be possible for 
those who get control and the favor of this new entity. So 
there is quite a fight going on to get some of the handouts.)

This might be comical except for the fact that it is our Internet 
the U.S. Govt is proposing to give away :-(

And the cooperatively created resources of the Internet are not 
something to give away to someone to own since they have been 
created on the basis of a cooperative agreement.

It is the ownership and control of IP numbers, of domain names,
of protocols, etc. These are the result of huge amounts of tax
money, lots of cooperative contributions by many people around
the world etc.

Therefore, the third proposal is one I was asked to write by Ira 
Magaziner, after I complained to him and the world
online and at ISOC in Geneva, about what was happening in 
privatizing these essential functions.

My proposal is based on study of the history and impact of the 
Internet and Usenet.

It proposes a prototype collaborative international research 
project to do work to figure out how to protect these essential 
functions of the Internet and how to put them into hands that 
will represent the cooperative International community.

I expect the much of the commercial media will ignore my proposal
as it doesn't help anyone to make their millions off the Internet,
but I hope any media and those users online who care for the Internet 
as a precious means of worldwide communication will help get the word 
out that my proposal is up for comment and that there needs to be 
discussion on it.

(One online hearst newsletter already totally obliterated the 
fact that there is a third proposal for comment at the NTIA
online site.)

Following is the information needed to get to the NTIA web site
where the proposals are posted and the comments are being taken:

The US Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and
Information Administration has published several proposals received for
the New Domain Name Corporation. These can be found on:
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/domainhome.htm

See in particular 
   Proposal of Ronda Hauben (English Version)
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/proposals/hauben/hauben.html

and Proposal of Ronda Hauben (French Version)

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/proposals/hauben/hauben-fr.htm

Ronda
[email-masked]

                  Netizens: On the History and Impact
                    of Usenet and the Internet
                http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook
                also in print edition ISBN 0-8186-7706-6

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From: Fred Baker <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 15:51:05 -0700

>with no accountability or oversight over what they do.

With all due respect, I don't believe that's an accurate description of the
current IANA proposal. There are three "supporting organizations" that have
this oversight. They are explicitly not US in origin, and are intended to
be international. There is also a specific comment about the make-up of the
board (if it's still in the current draft) which suggests an equal number
of persons from each major geographic region of the planet.

>privatizing these essential functions.

As I understand your proposal, you would have the US government, with other
countries who choose to participate, fund a project to write a proposal.
That proposal would include a record of history about the DNS, and suggest
a way to manage it.

First, check me on that - do I correctly understand your proposal?

Second, assuming that I do understand it, let me say that I believe that we
are past the time for a research project. We are at a point where the
discussions that needed to happen have for the most part happened, and most
of the parties understand each other's viewpoints. Now is the time for
closure and action.

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From: Fred Baker <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 15:51:05 -0700