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Netizens-Digest Volume 1 Number 172
Netizens-Digest Tuesday, September 22 1998 Volume 01 : Number 172
Netizens Association Discussion List Digest
In this issue:
[netz] Whose Interet Society is it?
[netz] Consequences of commercialization?
[netz] Election 98 Online Public Service Effort
[netz] The Internet-only basis for a model of how to govern the Internet
[netz] Conference in NYC about Internet Privatization
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 15:10:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jay Hauben <jay@dorsai.org>
Subject: [netz] Whose Interet Society is it?
On Sept 14 the Internet Society announced with pride that "Microsoft Corp.
[MSFT], has become a Sustaining Gold member of the society...". As part of
that announcement Martin Burack wrote:
"In addition, ISOC provides an international forum to address the
most important economic, political, social, ethical and legal initiatives
influencing the evolution of the Internet. This includes facilitating
discussions on some key policy decisions such as taxation, copyright
protection, privacy and confidentiality, and moves towards international
self-governance of the Internet."
Not included in this list of ISOC's key policy decisions is anything about
universal access, community networks, defending the public uses of the
Internet such as by governments disseminating socially important
information or hearing from their citizens via the Internet. None of
ISOC's concerns as stated here include broad access to the growing corpus
of digital data and digitalized books and journals. Nor is there any
concern for the growing use of the Internet for the exchange of medical
information or for the support of people with illnesses. Nor does the
current ISOC have any where on its agenda support for the study of the
history of the current Internet and its principles. How does ISOC's
concerns for taxation, copyright protection, privacy and confidentiality
cntribute to the use of the Internet by all those who exhange email or
collaborate on scientific projects?
Perhaps ISOC's key policy decisions are narrowed down to those serving
narrow commercial concerns because it chooses to be funded by those like
Microscoft who see the reason for its sponsorship as:
"The ISOC organization with its strong relationship with the IEFT and IAB
provides Microsoft with an important opportunity to work with the industry
on Internet related issues such as directories, scaling, security and
future innovations."
In other words Microsoft regards sponsorship of ISOC as giving it "an
important opportunity to work with the industry..."
There was a time when among those who started the Internet Society some
advocated that ISOC be funded by an annual membership fee of $10 a member
encouraging all who wanted to see the Internet develop and grow to
contribute in that way. This serious suggestion was defeated. It was
argued that sufficient money could be raised more easily from major
players than from the users of the Internet. It is interesting to note
that at the INET98 this summer in Geneva a number of ISOC chapter
members complained that very little if any ISOC attention is devoted to
the concerns of non commercial users.
Whose Internet Society is it?
Jay
- --------------------------
See also articles concerning ISOC posted on
http://www.columbia.edu/~jrh29/geneva/
- -----------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 11:59:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jay Hauben <jay@dorsai.org>
Subject: [netz] Consequences of commercialization?
Hi,
I am surprised that there has not been more discussion on
this list of the US government's announced intention to
privatize the control and administration of the nerve center
of the Internet, which includes IP number allocation, domain
name registration, the root server system, the protocols and
standards process, assignment of protocol numbers and
services, and more. The hope of the US administration is
that it can begin the latest phase of this process on Oct 1,
1998 and finish it by Sept 30, 2000.
A friend in Africa has asked me to find out what might be
the consequences if this privatization and the concurrent
commercialization of the Internet is achieved. For example
it seems to me that the proposed competition in Internet
Protocol Address number (IP number) allocation and domain
name registration can only lead to a fragmentation of the
Internet into separate competing internet like nets. Already
Alternic connects domains not in the Internet Domain Name
System root server domain name tables which are therefore
not reachable from the Internet. Likewise privatization of
Internet can lead to different number registries issuing the
same IP numbers thereby ending the unique addressing which
makes the Internet possible. Whoever controls the root
server system can decide to pull a ccTDL (country code Top
Level Domain) or gTLD (generic Top Level Domain) name out of
the servers' tables. That would have the effect of
disconnecting every user attached to a machine at such a
domain from the Internet.
I hope others on this list will share what they understand
might or will be the consequences if this privatization and
commercialization is achieved.
If there is interest, I will post those I figure out or learn about.
Thanks.
Jay
,_ /\o \o/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The above graphic is from the director of a French gov't
research center. He says it is the Internet: someone is in
trouble (drowning) and someone else is coming to help.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 00:09:33 -0500
From: "Steven Clift" <clift@publicus.net>
Subject: [netz] Election 98 Online Public Service Effort
To: Roundtable, TPR-NE, Cyber-Rights, Public_Tech, Netizens
Greetings. Enclosed is a post about the Web White & Blue online
public service campaign to promote easy access to election
information this fall. This effort represents a turning point in
developing new ways to promote collaborative public interest
efforts in the dynamic and very competitive Internet environment.
Please help spread the word and consider joining as a general
participating site.
Steven Clift
Web White & Blue Project Coordinator
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Web White & Blue http://www.webwhiteblue.org
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Project Announcement Sign up your web site!
Contents
1. Announcing Web White & Blue - Join today!
2. Future announcements via e-mail
3. Spread the word - Make a difference this election
- - - - -
*> 1. Announcing Web White & Blue - Join today!
Web White & Blue (WWB) is the online public service campaign for
easy access to 1998 election information.
Sign-up your web site today and join over 100 sites from across the
United States in this public service effort. From the largest
commercial online sites and non-profit election information sites to
individual sites, Americans are linking up to promote the tremendous
power of the Internet as a tool for building an active, participatory
democracy.
On October 7, Web White & Blue Day will call attention to the
thousands of web efforts providing important access to the
election-related information and interaction. Do your part by
displaying the WWB icon on your site without delay.
Visit the WWB web site now, sign up as a Participating Site, and
place the WWB icon on your site:
http://www.webwhiteblue.org
Please add the WWB icon to your site before the full citizen-oriented
WWB site with content links to select election directories opens in
early October. Consider using the optional banner ads that are
available as well.
WWB is a non-profit, non-partisan Internet-wide public service effort
coordinated by the Markle Foundation and Harvard's Shorenstein Center
on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. An exciting list of Charter
Participating Sites, including more than 40 of the top commercial and
non-profit sites, is available
<http://www.webwhiteblue.org/participating.html> along with extensive
project details on the WWB web site. Special thanks go to America
Online for its donation of web hosting services.
*> 2. Future announcements via e-mail
To receive weekly project announcements and updates, please join
our one-way e-mail announcement list.
Send a message to:
listserv@webwhiteblue.org
Leave the subject line blank. In the message body write:
subscribe wwb-announce Your Name Here
*> 3. Spread the word
This unique Internet-style public service effort needs your help. It
will only be successful if we all roll up our sleeves and add the WWB
icon to our sites, encourage other sites to join, and help spread the
word across the United States.
Please forward this message appropriately to those you think should
join the WWB public service effort. Pass it through your company or
organization to a decision-maker for quick permission to add the WWB
icon today. If you would like to help us spread the word to a
specific community or audience, drop us an e-mail at:
wwb@webwhiteblue.org
Thank you. And together, we will paint the Internet Web, White and
Blue!
- - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Web White & Blue http://www.webwhiteblue.org
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Steven Clift - E: clift@publicus.net - ICQ: 13789183
3454 Fremont Ave S, Mpls, MN 55408 T:+1.612.822.8667
Web White & Blue, Project Coordinator - Consulting
http://www.webwhiteblue.org - http://www.publicus.net
Join Democracies Online Newswire To: listserv@tc.umn.edu
"Best of" E-mail-list -> Body: sub do-wire Your Name
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 10:07:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ronda Hauben <ronda@panix.com>
Subject: [netz] The Internet-only basis for a model of how to govern the Internet
>A Bad Turn for Net Governance=20
>By Lawrence Lessig=20
>One needn't question motives. The conflict here comes in part from clashing=
> cultures: Technical types are struggling to maintain control over a=
> quasitechnical body, and nontechnical types are insisting on a role. And,=
> in part, it reveals the problem that any stakeholder system will suffer:=
> Insiders view stakeholders as "those they know," and outsiders must=
> struggle to be recognized. But, in this case, something more significant=
> has been lost.
This leaves out that none of the above represent the scientific
and technical processes that built the Internet.
The IANA/NSI drafts are not the drafts of "technical types" but
of U.S. Government contractors who are not independent of the
the will of some forces in the U.S. Govt to privatize the
essential functions of Internet.
The article by Lessig makes it seem as if there is *no* Internet,
as if there are no users around the world who contribute to the
Internet on a day by day basis. It makes it seem like the Internet has
no history, no development.
The basis of the Internet is a new view of the computer as a
communication device. Based on work developing time sharing
and noticing that online communities formed and contributed the
programs and direction that were needed, research work was begun on
connecting up those communities into an online supercommunity --
that was the vision and reality that gave birth to the work
on the ARPANET.
Thus there has been a form of self governance from the earliest
days, of communities of computers and people in a partnership
- -- has been the vision that gave birth to the work on
the ARPANET (See chapter 6 of Netizens, p. 88 if you want more
background).
This partnership of computers and people continued to be
developed as the work on the ARPANET developed, in some
way surprising some of those involved in ARPANET development.
This is a new form of development.
It grew out of the funding by the U.S. Government for Project
MAC in the early 1960's and later of the funding of ARPANET
and other networking efforts.
It grew out of U.S. Government support for the development
of computer science, and out of that grew the Internet,
an amazing new means of worldwide communication connecting
people and computers around the world.
Now the U.S. Govt is retreating on this support for computer
science and internetworking and trying to freeze the
development by cutting off the research and scientific
collaborative work that has given birth to and built the
Internet.
Instead of Lessig opposing this, he is misportraying
the origins and foundation of the Internet as the so called
"technical types" which is the way the article hides what the
U.S. Government, * not * the technical community, is doing.
>This was the Net's first try at a self-organized governing process. Any=
> definition of "stakeholders" must include IANA as one among many. But by=
> refusing to deal except in a context that it controls, IANA forgets "among=
> many." By what right? Decisions about corporate structure are not=
> technical; they are not matters taught at MIT. They are legal and political=
The U.S. Government privatizing efforts have nothing to do with
any "self-organized governing process" of the Internet.
It has to do with the opposite. And this is certainly not the
"Net's first try" as the Internet has been built on a new process
of collaboration which is something Lessig's article seems to miss
entirely.
The current privatizing effort is an effort to stop the regenerative
collaborative process that is the vital motive force of the Internet
from its earliest days to today.
> =AD judgments about governance =AD and no single group has special standing=
> in their formation. Rather than something different, IANA gives us politics=
> as usual: Insiders, in closed meetings, answering to ideas and arguments as=
>only they think best. Not a promising start for the process of=
>self-governance on the Internet.
The U.S. govt effort to unilaterly change the process of control and
ownership of essential functions of the Internet which include
the root server system, IP numbers, protocols, domain names etc.
is *NOT* in any way any effort at instituting self-governance.
It is the opposite. First time-sharing and then the ARPANET
and then the Internet have been built on a scientific research
process - of identifying if there is a need or problem, doing
the research and study to determine the nature of the need or
problem, and then supporting the colalborative online work
to solve the problem.
The IFWP activity or other activity undertaken by the U.S.
government to privatize the DNS is the opposite of the
process that has made it possible for the Internet to
grow and flourish and can only be intended as an effort
to harm the Internet.
I have made many efforts to express these concerns. At INET '98
I sat through a forum where Lessig and others insisted there were
*NO* models for Internet governance. I had proposed a paper
about MsgGroug Mailing list (one of the earliest ARPANET mailing
lists) as a model for Internet governance and was told
by the Internet Society Program Committee that the proposal was
interesting but NOT a topic to be part of what was being taken
up at the conference. I was told I could do it as a poster. I
brought the poster with me to ISOC and found that it was not
listed on the list of posters in the program.
The program committee of ISOC has not encouraged the presentation
of papers that show how the models created during the development
of the Internet itself are the basis for its governance.
The U.S. federal district court in Philadelphia in the case
involving ACLU vrs. Reno about the CDA law passed by Congress,
noted that the Internet is a unique new means of worldwide
communications and that it has to be studied to understand what
is unique about it.
The U.S. Govt. IANA/NSI draft fails in that it isn't built on
an understanding of what is unique and important about the Internet
as a means of worldwide communication.
And most of the discussion on this list fails as well to be
addressing what is the unique nature and requirements of the
Internet.
I was asked to submit a proposal to Ira Magaziner about these
concerns. I did and I have also submitted it to this list
"The Internet as an International Public Treasure".
When he spoke to me on the phone he said that the U.S. Govt
did *NOT* want to destroy the worldwide communication
that the Internet makes possible though it may seem that way.
That is why I did the proposal, to put into the set of
alternatives a proposal that is based on the lessons learned
during the development of the Internet and one which
recognizes that only by researching and studying that development
itself can one figure out how to solve the problems of its
further growth and development.
Also that from the growth and development of the Internet come
the needed models for solving any real problems.
Ira promised me his response to the proposal.
I welcome discussion on the proposal.
And I have submitted the proposal to IANA and NSI etc. and
the commerce dept, etc. as a proposal toward what is to
happen on September 30.
Also I have several additional papers I have done (some of which
I submitted to ISOC in previous years only to be told they could
not be presented. ) These papers document the way that
the Internet and Usenet have been developed through a process
that has made possible a new and more functional means of
self governance.
Two recent papers include: "ARPANET Mailing Lists and Usenet
Newsgroups: Creating an Open and Scientific Process for
Technology Development and Diffusion" and
"Hello Usenet: The Broadsides of Our Day"
Also there is a draft paper
"From the ARPANET to the Internet: A Study of the ARPANET
TCP/IP Digest an of the Role of Online Communication in
the Transition from the ARPANET to the Internet"
(I can make these papers or draft available if anyone is
interested.)
Also many of the articles in "Netizens: On the History and Impact
of Usenet and the Internet" provide the basis for understanding
models of Internet self governance.
(The book is published by IEEE Computer Society Press and there
is also an online draft version available at the URL in
my signature.)
This is all very different from the rush to create a corporate
private organization and to give that private organization
control over essential aspects of the Internet.
>Lawrence Lessig is the Berkman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.=
> E-mail him at lessig@law.harvard.edu.
Ronda
ronda@panix.com
See also
http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/other
Netizens: On the History and Impact
of Usenet and the Internet
http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/
in print edition ISBN 0-8186-7706-6
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 23:15:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: Michael Hauben <hauben@columbia.edu>
Subject: [netz] Conference in NYC about Internet Privatization
Its questionable whether this event will be an open forum or not.
However, I thought it important people know about the event.
/Michael
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 20:12:34 -0700
To: "Red Rock Eater News Service" <rre@lists.gseis.ucla.edu>
From: duguid@socrates.berkeley.edu (Paul Duguid)
Subject: [RRE]INTERNET USERS CONFERENCE
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Date: Sun, 20 Sep 1998 16:20:38 -0400
From: Michael Sondow <msondow@iciiu.net
INTERNET PRIVATIZATION:
OPEN COMPETITION OR MONOPOLY CONTROL?
Featuring:
MILTON MUELLER, Syracuse Univ
LAWRENCE LESSIG, Harvard Univ
(and a panel of distinguished representatives of
public interest on the Internet)
Will Users have a voice in determining the future of the Internet?
Forum on Domain Names and Internet Governance, September
Sept. 23, 7 - 10 PM, at Cooper Union for the Advancement of
Science and Art in N.Y. (and on the Net Sept. 21 - 23)
=============================================================
INTERNET USERS CONFERENCE
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, in
collaboration with the International Congress of Independent
Internet Users, is hosting an Internet Users Conference. The main
topic of the conference will be: "Internet Privatization: Open
Competition or Monopoly Control?". The key event will be a forum on
the evening of September 23rd, 7 - 10pm, in the Great Hall, 7th
Street & 3rd Ave in Manhattan, with Milton Mueller (Syracuse U.
School of Information Studies), Larry Lessig
(Harvard Law School Berkman Center for Internet and Society), Marcy
Gordon (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility), Paul
Garrin (PGMedia, Inc.) and others. The forum will be videotaped by
NYU-TV and netcast by Cooper Union and will include teleconferencing
with major Internet personalities worldwide as well as the debut of
a new online conferencing program developed by the Cyber Law
Institute.
Sponsors include:
New York Free Media Alliance
InternationalCongress of Independent Internet Users
Cooper Union
NYU-TV
Cyber Law Institute
TAKING BACK THE NET: FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND FREEDOM OF CHOICE ON-LINE
Come to an Open Forum and Panel Discussion on Domain Names and
Internet Governance on Wednesday, September 23, 1998, from 7:00 to
10:00pm in the
Great Hall of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and
Art in
New York City. The Great Hall is located in the college's Foundation
Building, 7th Street at Third Avenue, Manhattan.
***** .net, .org, .art, .com, .media, .gov, .law, .edu
These are Top Level Domains (TLDs), the critical part of your
Internet Domain Name or Web address. They help define your identity
on the Internet, and they tell people how to access your content.
A single U.S. corporation has a monopoly over them. It decides which
are valid. Now this domain name system may be further privatized.
Find out how this relates to the issues of free speech, public
access, and freedom of choice, all of which are at serious risk on
the Net due to the closed discussion between corporate and
government interests.
IF INDEPENDENT INTERNET USERS MOBILIZE QUICKLY, THEY CAN BE PART OF
THIS HISTORIC DEBATE
Some questions that will be addressed at the Cooper Union forum:
* What do monopolies have to do with the Internet? How will this
affectusers?
* Who wants to privatize the Internet? How is it being done? Why
should we care?
* How are free speech and freedom of choice on the Internet being
jeopardized? What can we do about it?
* What is public opinion about the future of the Internet, Top Level
Domain monopoly control, and user representation on the governing
board of the new central Internet authority? How can we affect the
coming changes?
WHAT YOU CAN DO: THE DNS.FORUM
You can get involved right now by joining DNS.FORUM, where you can
help shape the policies that will govern domain name registration
and the future of the Internet.
* Join the on-line mailing list: send a message to
majordomo@lists.xs2.net, with the words "subscribe dns.forum"
(without the quotation marks) in the message body. After you've
joined, you can ask questions, get answers and talk things over
with other users by sending email to dns.forum@lists.xs2.net (the
list address). You'll be in the online conference right away.
* Starting September 21, a special new software,
"Deliberation.Space", developed by the Cyber Law Institute, will
host a revolutionary asynchronous conference space where users can
debate the issues Web.
* The DNS.FORUM will culminate in a live panel discussion at the
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art on Wednesday,
September 23,
1998, from 7:00pm to 10:00pm, with panelists who specialize in the
Internet, telecommunications, free speech, public access and
privacy. The live audience will be invited to submit comments,
questions, and criticism to the panel.
The goal of the three-pronged Forum is to educate the public about
the current Internet DNS situation and create a constituency of
independent Internet users who will have a say in the future
governance and management of the Internet.
This is your chance to get involved in shaping the future of global communications before it is decided by the corporate interests that seek
control of publicly-funded assets at the expense of your free speech, privacy and public access!
***** Contact:
The New York Free Media Alliance (Jessica Glass: (212) 650-2767; email:godbox@ix.netcom.com; voicemail: (212) 969-TOFM)
The International Congress of Independent Internet Users (MichaelSondow:
(718) 846-7482; email:msondow@iciiu.net)
Cooper Union (Steve Cantrell: (212) 353-4197)
Visit the International Congress of Independent Internet Users
Web site at http://www.iciiu.net for further background on DNS,
information about the forum, and links to all Forum activities.
============================================================
------------------------------
End of Netizens-Digest V1 #172
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