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Netizens-Digest Volume 1 Number 182
Netizens-Digest Wednesday, October 14 1998 Volume 01 : Number 182
Netizens Association Discussion List Digest
In this issue:
[netz] Latin America Blasts IANA Proposal
[netz] A Foretaste of Commercial DNS?
[netz] 2nd Int'l Congress on Citizenship in Information Society
[netz] Public or private for the future of the Internet?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 10:46:35
From: John Walker <jwalker@networx.on.ca>
Subject: [netz] Latin America Blasts IANA Proposal
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- -----------------
Latin America Blasts IANA Proposal
By Juan Carlos Perez
http://www.thestandard.com/articles/display/0,1449,1970,00.html?ext.nl
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. A group representing about one million
Internet users in Latin America is angry that the region could lack
representation on the board of the new organization that will manage
Internet domain names.
The Latin America and Caribbean Networks Forum (Foro de Redes de
America Latina y el Caribe), commonly known as Enred, decided
Wednesday to send a letter outlining its complaints to Jon Postel,
head of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, the group drafting
a set of bylaws for the new organization.
In a proposal last week, Postel nominated four people from the U.S.,
three from Europe and two from the Asia/Pacific/Australia region to
form the interim board of the new organization, called ICANN
(Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). The
nominations were submitted along with the fifth draft of the proposed
ICANN bylaws, which Postel sent to the National Telecommunications
and Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce on
Oct. 2. Another set of bylaws was also submitted.
"The board should have a more diverse representation. In the current
proposal, there is no representation from Latin America or Africa.
The board should have at least one member from each region," said
Oscar Robles-Garay, director of InterNIC in Mexico and head of the
Latin America & Caribbean Top Level Domain Association (LACTLD),
which is endorsing Enred's letter.
The letter, which should be going out today, also requests that the
bylaws prevent a region from having more than three members on the
board, instead of the four-member limit proposed, said Robles-Garay,
who works in the networking and telecommunications department of the
Technological and Higher Learning Institute of Monterrey (Instituto
Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey), in Monterrey,
Mexico.
Enred's letter also requests that the bylaws specify that members
will have to pay to be part of ICANN and that ICANN stakeholders will
be the owners of the group, thus preventing the organization from
having to depend on specific governments for its survival,
Robles-Garay added.
The approximately 200 members of Enred are individuals involved with
a variety of regional Internet backbone networks in the public,
private and education sectors of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Some of the networks represented are Argentina's Interuniversity
Network, Chile's National Network of Universities, Colombia's
National Science Council and Mexico's National Technological Network.
Enred was founded in 1996.
The LACTLD was formed in August 1998 and is made up of the InterNIC
directors of Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, El
Salvador, Uruguay and Venezuela, Robles-Garay said.
Juan Carlos Perez writes for the IDG News Service, Latin America
Bureau.
Mentioned in this article
PEOPLE
Jon Postel Director, Computer Networks Division, University of
Southern California
http://www.thestandard.com/thenetwork/person_display/0,1407,1360,00.h
tml
Related Articles
Postel Proposes Group to Govern Internet
http://www.thestandard.com/articles/display/0,1449,1907,00.html?relat
ed.1449
A key Internet group has issued a long-awaited proposal late Friday
on how it would take over responsibility for distributing domain
names and overseeing other aspects of Internet operations. (October
02, 1998)
- ----------------
Also in this issue:
- - Tech industry reinvents the pen
British researchers striving for the ultimate in miniaturized
telecommunications have created a handheld computer in the form of a
pen.
- - The Kiss of Death for Linux?
In 1981, the analysts were telling us that Unix would soon replace
CP/M as the operating system of choice on personal computers. That
would have been fine with me. CP/M, apart from fathering an
illigitimate child named MS-DOS, was an honest, hard-working
operating system well-suited to the machines of the day, but if
someone could have figured out how to make Unix work effectively in
the 48K of RAM I had on my Northstar I'd have been at the front of
the line. Unix was a better operating system.
- - Klan site appears under news domain names
Web surfers hunting this week for online versions of at least 10
newspapers have risked landing, instead, on the Web site of an ex-Ku
Klux Kan leader promoting white separatism.
- - Mobilizing the Web with HDML
An introduction to the Handheld Devices Markup Language
- - Choosing Your Web Partners Wisely
To most small medium enterprises wishing to take their company and
products online, it's a daunting task to understand, evaluate and
select the right web design agency and website hosting company. More
often than not, the confused sales manager or company owner has to
rely on the advice and guidance of an external consultant. The
dangers are many.....
- - PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide
In ten years, or even five, we'll think nothing of surfing the Web
on a piece of gadgetry smaller than an index card. Today, however,
most Piloteers are shocked to hear that this tiny gizmo can browse
the Internet's most famous feature, complete with graphics,
bookmarks, and hotlinks. After all, the PalmPilot's manual,
advertising, and Web site say not a word about this capability.
- - Half the human genome now available on the Net
Scientists lost in the wilds of the human genome -- the collection
of all our DNA -- got some help on Wednesday with the publication of
a new human gene map.
- - Latin America Blasts IANA Proposal
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. A group representing about one million
Internet users in Latin America is angry that the region could lack
representation on the board of the new organization that will manage
Internet domain names.
- - New Lists and Journals
* CHANGE: EDU-ONLINE -- Online Distance Education Discussion
* NEW: Halacha Yomit -- Daily Jewish Law Learning Group
* NEW: Make-a-Note - Frugal Living
On-line Learning Series of Courses
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Excerpt from CSS Internet News (tm) ,-~~-.____
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- -------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 22:34:37 -0400
From: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller)
Subject: [netz] A Foretaste of Commercial DNS?
Drillbits & Tailings
Volume 3, Number 19
October 7, 1998
EXXON'S TIGER EMBROILED IN CATFIGHT
A catfight has broken out between between Exxon's Whimsical Tiger and
Kellogg's Tony the Tiger. Kellogg, the breakfast cereal multinational
which is based in Michigan, is suing Exxon, an oil multinational based in
Texas, for infringing on its tiger trademark.
Tony the Tiger was invented by Kellogg in 1952. Standard Oil of New Jersey
(now Exxon) and Esso, its subsidiary, invented the slogan, "Put a Tiger in
Your Tank" in 1964.
"I was quite surprised. The Kellogg's tiger and Exxon tiger have
peacefully co-existed for 30 years now. Their suit makes no sense," Jim
Carter, Exxon vice president of marketing, told the Houston Chronicle.
Kellogg says the difference now is that Exxon is using the Whimsical Tiger
to sell food. In 1997, the oil giant started selling a Exxon-brand drinks,
called Wild Tiger which come in flavors like fruit punch and iced tea.
Also Exxon has developed its own brand of coffee, Bengal Traders.
"We are not going to allow Exxon to misuse this valuable Kellogg equity
and confuse consumers," said Kellogg spokesman Anthony Hebron. Exxon's
Carter said his company is "not going into the food business. We are in
the convenience store business. No one has come into our stores asking for
Kellogg's gasoline. And I've not seen any evidence that anyone has gone
into a grocery store looking for Exxon cereal."
SOURCE: "Kellogg, Exxon in cat fight over tiger logos" Associated Press,
October 1, 1998.
Drillbits & Tailings is the mining, oil and gas update published
twice-monthly online by Project Underground. Back-issues are archived on
our web site <http://www.moles.org>.
Project Underground
Supporting communities facing the mining and oil industries
Exposing corporate environmental and human rights abuses
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 13:37:35 -0400
From: kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca (Kerry Miller)
Subject: [netz] 2nd Int'l Congress on Citizenship in Information Society
http://www.dipoli.hut.fi/pi99/
Dear friends!
I have the pleasure to invite you to Finland to take part in
the Second International Congress on Electronic Media &
Citizenship in Information Society, which will be held 6-9
January 1999 on the highly topical theme of Politics & the
Internet. Close to 100 organisations are already involved in
the preparation of this venture: companies, associations,
universities, research institutions, public agencies,
representatives of political parties, NGOs,
telecommunications operators, the media. The project,
which will include interactive multimedia participation
before, during and after the congress, will examine the
issues of democracy and the exercise of power in Europe's
information society. In Finland we take particular pride in
our role in cultivating a user-friendly information society.
Our aim is that the public will be in a position to
understand, make use of and benefit from new technology
and know its possibilities and limitations, as well as its
potential dangers.
The ability of the Finnish Parliament to
learn new ways and devise new operational models has
been superbly shown in the progress of our work in recent
years. One example of Finnish uniqueness is a special
Parliamentary Committee for the Future. This committee,
consisting of 17 MPs, is the responsible player in a dialogue
between Parliament and the Finnish government. The
committee has defined the all-encompassing success
factors which, after a plenary debate, have been approved
by Parliament. These factors, which also form the basis for
this congress, are: wisely influencing globalization, exploiting
information and technology to the full, the human aspect in
innovation, and governance of matters and of life. This
year, the Committee for the Future's major task is to
prepare Parliament's response to the government report on
the future prospects for Finland. This 'White Paper' contains
the intriguing statement: Finland is seeking a role in the
European Union as an information society laboratory.
What
do we mean by this? Firstly, it signifies an openness and
enthusiasm for European interaction and cooperation.
Secondly, it indicates that in terms of both technical
advancement and public administration we are moving at a
massive rate with the help of information technology from
being under the spell of new technology towards effecting
internal development, bringing people together and shaping
social innovations. This congress forms a challenging step
on our way towards social innovation. As your host we
offer an occasion for deliberation and discussion in a
stimulating and warmly welcoming mid-winter northern
environment. Come and join us - it's time for thinking
together, working together and learning together!
The Finnish National Fund for Research and Development
(Sitra), on the initiative of the Committee for the Future of
the Finnish Parliament, has decided to arrange this
international conference on the theme Politics and Internet
in order to turn the focus of public discourse onto the
political implications of the information society and related
questions.
The theme of the congress, Electronic Media and
Citizenship in the Information Society, combines discussion
of the most advanced information technology like the
Internet and multimedia with more fraught questions such
as those relating to the role of citizens and their means of
exercising influence in the information society. Concerned
voices have been asking what this society has to offer
ordinary people. Will it raise the quality of life and give
people better services and opportunities to influence
matters, or will it lead to unemployment, alienation and a
technosystem that is no longer under human control?
Finding answers to these questions is the biggest challenge
facing the conference.
Sitra has special reasons for arranging the gathering. First,
Finland is a very advanced country in use of information
and telecommunication technologies; e.g. Finland is the
leading country both in number of internet and mobile
phone subscriptions per capita. Secondly Sitra has revised
the Finnish national strategy on the information society to
include a vision of making the opportunities that it offers
accessible to everyone. That vision could also serve as the
mission of this congress.
- --------------
On whose terms are the information society and technology
being developed? How are information technology and
communication affecting democracy and making of joint
decisions? What new networks and models are emerging to
pave the way for decisions? Is the responsibility for content
production being left to the entertainment industry? Is the
government under obligation to influence the trend in
information society, and if so, what is its role and scope?
What do the new trends have to offer different groups or
the individual?
...Close to thousand
participants are expected to visit the four congress venues
- Espoo, Tampere, Jyväskylä, and Oulu - on 6-9 January
1999, making the congress a joint national effort. For the
first three days it will be based on Dipoli in Espoo, after
which delegates will proceed to the satellite congress of
their choice in one of the other towns. The contents of
the congress will be highly varied. Leading thinkers from
Europe, the USA and Asia will be invited to speak at the
joint sessions, which will be complemented by sessions on
related themes viewing the issues from the point of view of
the ordinary citizen, business, research and politics. There
will also be an exhibition featuring various projects and new
technologies. The language of the congress will be English.
- -----
The congress will have its own web site providing a meeting
place and information both before and after the event. The
numerous projects and discussions proceeding via the net
will create the concrete framework for the congress.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 14:44:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ronda Hauben <ronda@panix.com>
Subject: [netz] Public or private for the future of the Internet?
Part I of response - more to follow
Responding to an email message from J.Shahin@selc.hull.ac.uk
about the planned privatization of the DNS and other essential
Internet functions:
Dear Jamal (and I am also sending this to the Netizens list
as I know there are people on the list interested in the same
issues you raise)
>I've tried to highlight a couple of key concepts that we have been
>talking about. They seem to be "commercial interest" in "technological
>development" and "communication". Do you agree?
I am glad to discuss these three issues, but I haven't had a chance to
review the previous preliminary discussion to determine if these
are the issues I would agree are the ones we mentioned in the other
few emails we exchanged.
I want however, to answer this email now and can look back at another
time to see if I have any issues to add to your list.
>I think that this helps us in our discussions, not least because it
>provides us with a framework to work within. Please bear in mind that I
>am being critical here in order to further debate, and not to disregard
>your argument. I agree with you in many areas, and these are questions
>that spring to mind in order to help formulate a better argument.
I appreciate that you are trying to create a framework for discussion
of the differences and agreements we may have.
>"Commercial Interest"
>I am not an advocate of the commercialisation of the Internet, or of the
>Net (as Dyson makes the distinction in Release 2.0). However, I'm not
>sure that I altogether see the opposition between commerce and
>communication. Scientific research in itself is fine, but it has to have
>a `market'. At a conference I attended in March, I was speaking to an
>employee of Philips, who said that their research units had terrible
>trouble, because the company was asking them to imagine what was wanted
>in the world, and then this research was not being implemented becasue
>there was no demand for the appliances the research team were designing.
>My supervisor has also done some research on this area (his name is Dr.
>Xiudian Dai, heard of him??).
The kind of scientific research that has built the Internet and that
the Internet still needs to scale and to help to solve the problems
that develop so it can grow and flouish, is different from the product
oriented research that the employee of Philips was referring to.
Important to the development of the Internet is that there be
long range and more immediate research that takes on to oversee
how the Internet is developing and to look at the development itself
and see what may be the next step forward and how to help that
to evolve.
This is the process I have observed in my research about how th4e
Internet has developed.
For example, after the development of time-sharing, two of the
networking pioneers, J.C.R. Licklider and Robert Taylor observed
the achievements that timesharing had created and saw that there
was a need for a further set. They saw that time-sharing communities
had sprung up and they observed that there was a need to link these
time sharing communities together in a supercommunity of
networking communities. This provided the vision for the research
in packet switching networking that then began as part ofthe
ARPANET research.
This is kind of research had (as far as I know) *no* commercial
value at the time.
But this kind of research was crucial to the qualitative development
that the Internet now makes possible.
There needs to be Govt support for such research, otherwise the
more long term developments are not possible.
(This kind of development of Netizens which is available in draft form
at http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook )
And this is the kind of work that continues to be needed to make
it possible for the Internet to scale. There was a very interesting
report from the Inspector General's Office which oversees the NSF.
It was made available in Feb. or April of 1997. And it describes
the crucial need for support for research and also to have
a scientific research entity like the NSF continue to oversee the
development of the Internet as such an entity has the requisite
expertise to support the continued development of the Internet.
My proposal calls for the collaboration of the research entities
of different nations or regions, but is based on having those
with the necessary expertise be involved in overseeing and
supporting the proper development and functioning of the
essential functions of the Internet.
>I think that in terms of Internet governance (governance OF the
>Internet), a commercial interest is vital (as long as it is kept in
>check), so as to maintain interest in the Internet, precisely as a
>framework for (global) communication.
What do you mean by "a commercial interest"?
The Internet grew and flourished before commercial activity was
allowed. At the same time, commercially oriented networks like
Compuserve in the U,.S. didn't grow and flourish in the same way.
The superiority of the research and scientific processes and
collaborative and cooperative efforts is demonstrated by both
the growth and the international reach and participation in
the Internet.
>I agree with you when you say that the US is defending its corporations,
>but isn't that natural? And in _some_ senses, isn't that a good thing?
>Shouldn't the US befend its national economy in the Era of the Internet?
No I don't feel that it is helpful that the U.S. govt is defending
the multinational corporations with regard to the Internet,
as the Internet is a communications system.
I just spoke with someone this weekend who worked for one of the big
corporate entities that are now being supported at the expense of the
scientific and researcher and education and citizen etc. population.
The person told me that this corporate entity had ints own internal
network, and wouldn't let employees be involved in the Internet.
As a result of this the company didn't understand the Internet.
governance should be carried out by some kind of a research unit
They didn't understand it as a communications medium.
Thus this company is not in a position to be able to understand
and act in the best interest of the Internet.
But the U.S. Govt Office of Inspector General in their report
of Feb. 1997 did demonstrate that they were concerned with the best
interest of the Internet.
Therefore the U.S. govt needs to consider their recommendations
and figure out how to make their recommendations apply to an
international situation, but the U.S. govt has ignored the OIG
report as far as I can tell.
>Also, in today's age of the liberal/thin-client government, doesn't it
>make sense to field out such an administrative role to a
>non-governmental org? Therefore, I agree with you that Internet
>(international), with all sorts of interests represented
>(governmental/political should be one of them).
To the contrary, the OIG report and a subsequent 1/2 yearly report
I got sections of when I went to visit Congress, show that where
policy issues are concerned there is the need to have government
involved. That the issues being discussed by the U.S. Govt
for a private entity are policy functions and that these require
the expertise and broader view that government can help to supply.
How this can be done in an international arena has to be understood,
but my proposal suggests a way to begun, by having governments
who are willing to be involved support researchers and protect
them from narrow commercial or political interests, so they
can set up a prototype that will involve the international
community in the kind of management needed of the essential
functions of the Internet.
Also my experience and research shows that the online community,
when it understands the issues involved, can make a significant
contribution to solving difficult problems that arise regardng
the Internet or Usenet.
Part of my proposal, and part of the obligation of the collaborative
group of researchers is to make possible online participation by users
in these issues.
A corporate form is *NOT* appropriate to set policy for the Internet
for many different reasons. Usenet and the Internet were set up
as online systems, and at times seen as a way to solve the problems
that corporations or committees exhibit.
It would be the tail wagging the dog to put key policy issues for
the Internet under the control of a corporation.
Also the form of corporation being created by the various proposals
submitted to the NTIA are actually the worst form of centralized
control over key and essential functions of the Internet.
The Inspector General's Report called for the U.S. Dept of Justice
to investigate the anti trust violations such a corporate form
represents. It is taking government functions, with none of the
protections that go with government. It is a very abusive use
of power.
What I realized in reading the OIG Report is that there are over
4 billion IP numbers. 2 billion ofthem are already allocated leaving
2.3 billion. If this new coporate entity that is being considered
by the NTIA to give control of these key functions to --
if this corporate entity decides to charge a $50 annual fee
to maintain the IP numbers, it will gross $100 billion.
And consider the impact on the Internet if this organization
decides to issue IP numbers to certain people but not to others.
Already in the U.S. the newly created ARIN is charging high
fees for IP numbers, and it is very difficult for many who
apply to get any IP number.
This is putting a tremendous amount of wealth and power into the
hands of a nongovernmental, and thus non accountable entity.
There is a reason that such functions are best kept in govt hands,
or at least under govt protection.
I have written something that I submitted to the NTIA about this
issue yesterday, and I will send it to the Netizens list later today
or tomorrow and I welcome discussion on this issue.
I feel that the Internet makes it possible for govt to be more
responsive to its citizens because of the Internet, and my proposal
provides a way to encourge and support input by the online community
into the decisions involving the Internet. The proposals creating
a private corporation, institutionalize the worst abuses that have
already grown up and set the basis for much more serious ones.
I am sending this part of my response out and will answer the
rest in another email message, as this is already becoming quite long.
Ronda
ronda@panix.com
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
------------------------------
End of Netizens-Digest V1 #182
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