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Netizens-Digest Volume 1 Number 270
Netizens-Digest Monday, February 8 1999 Volume 01 : Number 270
Netizens Association Discussion List Digest
In this issue:
Re: [netz] Re: A Call to Arms?
[netz] ICANN Signs Up a Spin Doctor
[netz] First 8 Findings of Fact in Feb 2 1999 US Court Memorandum
[netz] ICANN: Spin doctor
Re: [netz] Re: thy grammar
Re: [netz] First 8 Findings of Fact in Feb 2 1999 US Court Memorandum
[netz] Re: Feb 1 '99 US Court Memorandum: First 8 Findings of Fact
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Feb 1999 16:59:56 -0800 (PST)
From: Greg Skinner <gds@best.com>
Subject: Re: [netz] Re: A Call to Arms?
Ronda Hauben <ronda@panix.com> wrote:
>If the U.S. government had a legitimate plan for privatization
>and the authority then they could have funded IANA under
>DARPA as they worked out the details.
>They didn't do that.
>But it isn't even clear who the "they" is that planned all this
>and is carrying it out.
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,29280,00.html?st.cn.nws.rl.ne
It mentions Magaziner and ICANN, explicitly. Draw your own conclusions.
- --gregbo
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 07 Feb 1999 00:51:38
From: John Walker <jwalker@networx.on.ca>
Subject: [netz] ICANN Signs Up a Spin Doctor
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The following is an excerpt from the CSS Internet News. If you are
going to pass this along to other Netizens please ensure that the
complete message is forwarded with all attributes intact.
- --------------------
ICANN Signs Up a Spin Doctor
by Leander Kahney
2:05 p.m. 4.Feb.99.PST
http://www.wired.com/news/print_version/politics/story/17742.html?wnpg
=all
The nonprofit corporation charged with the technical management of
the Internet has hired an outside PR agency to address charges of
secrecy and inaccessibility.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, (ICANN) on
Wednesday retained Alexander Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide to
deal with inquiries from the press and public.
But critics say the move is merely cosmetic and that the corporation
should institute democratic decision-making processes.
"I think it's a bad idea and silly waste of money," said Jim Dixon,
telecommunications director of EuroISPA, a European ISP trade group
based in Brussels. "They should open up their [board] meetings and
hold them in public rather than hire a PR firm to spin their
decisions."
ICANN is a private, nonprofit organization charged with taking over
management of the Net from the US government. In addition to
overseeing technical standards, the group will devise and administer
a new plan for managing the top-level domains: .com, .org., and .net.
But since its inception late last year, ICANN has been widely
criticized for being secretive and unaccountable. In November, the
White House halted its operations and ordered the group to realign
its membership structure, hold open meetings, publish minutes, and
set up a process for appealing decisions.
Despite protests, board members -- who were appointed by the late
John Postel before his death last October -- still meet in private.
Dixon said there is widespread mistrust of ICANN's board.
"They're making some very important decisions and have a great
public trust.... The only thing they can do to make the people trust
them is to conduct their meetings in public," he said.
"The fundamental problem is that they are not engaged in two-way
communication," said Gordon Cook, a long-time critic of ICANN and
editor and publisher of The Cook Report on Internet newsletter.
"The PR firm now stands between them and the Internet community. It
polishes their pronouncements and puts them out. It's just a
familiar means of continuing the same kind of failed, bankrupt effort
at communication that's not a meaningful two-way dialog, but merely a
series of pronouncements."
ICANN's interim president and chief executive, Mike Roberts, said
his group is responsive to criticism and that important policy
proposals are submitted for public scrutiny and comment. "We are
incredibly open for a private, nonprofit organization.
"Some of those people think the management should check with the
public every time they make a decision, which is crazy," Roberts
said. "That's flat-out crazy."
As for retaining Ogilvy, Roberts said ICANN is a worldwide
organization that gets worldwide press coverage and needs
professional help.
"I'm not very warm and fuzzy about the opinions of a bunch of
self-appointed critics out there," Roberts said. "They create a
context of their own, they create their own standards and then
criticize us against those standards.... I am responsive to
criticisms that we don't live up to the standards set out in the
White Paper [that mandated ICANN]."
Alexander Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide has 41 offices across
the US, Europe, and Asia.
Links:
http://www.icann.org/
http://www.alexanderogilvy.com/
http://www.euroispa.org/
http://redirect.wired.com/redir/10025/http://www.wired.com/news/news/p
olitics/story/16469.html
http://www.cookreport.com/
- ----------
Also in this issue:
- - Virtual Doctors May Improve Rural Stroke Victims' Care
Using computer technology to link emergency physicians
across the country could greatly improve the care of stroke patients,
according to some stroke experts.
- - China silences popular Internet forum
Chinese authorities shut down a popular Internet bulletin board less
than five days after singling it out for criticism, a human rights
group reported Friday.
- - Chancellor: All German schools online by 2001
Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, visiting a school with
Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, said his government would bring all German
schools online by 2001.
- - FCC keeps Net access intact
NEW YORK -- In a potential blow to America Online and other Internet
providers, Federal Communications Commission Chairman William
Kennard said Thursday that the government won't force AT&T and
Tele-Communications Inc. to share high-speed Internet access systems
with competitors.
- - U.S. to track impact of e-commerce
The secretary of the U.S. Commerce Department today announced that
the government will begin publishing figures for the first time that
will show the impact of online shopping on retail activity,
considered a major indicator of the country's economic health.
- - Oregon woman grateful to her Internet angel
A very sick Oregon woman, saved by a Calgary Internet "angel" who
sent paramedics to her home, appreciates being rescued, says her
cousin.
- - ICANN Signs Up a Spin Doctor
The nonprofit corporation charged with the technical management of
the Internet has hired an outside PR agency to address charges of
secrecy and inaccessibility.
- - IAB plans regular UK Net audience surveys
The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is responding to the demand
for clear information on the Web from UK advertisers with a regular
National Audience Survey (NAS) of UK Internet users demographics and
behaviour.
- - Comment: The Destructive Potential of the Internet
An American court has fined anti-abortion activists $107
million for an Internet campaign that publishes a ``hit list'' of
doctors.
- - Half of small French companies connected to the Internet
Half of small French companies are now connected to the Internet,
double the number in 1997, French Finance Minister Dominique
Strauss-Kahn said Thursday.
- - New Lists and Journals
* CHANGE: COMPUTERLADY - Ask The Computer Lady
* NEW: Friends_Sharing
* NEW: narcissism - Pathological Narcissism and NPD revisited
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- -------------------------------
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- -------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1999 23:48:26 -0500 (EST)
From: Jay Hauben <jay@dorsai.org>
Subject: [netz] First 8 Findings of Fact in Feb 2 1999 US Court Memorandum
On Feb 1 1999 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania a Memorandum was issued in the case of ACLU et al vs Reno (Civil
Action NO. 98-5591). I have not had time to read the Memorandum but have found
the first 8 Findings of Fact interesting and so I am copying them here. The
full Memorandum is available at:
http://www.aclu.org/court/acluvrenoII_pi_order.html
It is of interest to me that the opinion of the Court represented by these
findings is never echoed by statements on the IFWP list because the
partipants in the ICANN't process have a narrower view which serves
their narrower interest.
"From the Findings of Fact:
A. The Internet and the World Wide Web
1.The Internet is a giant network that interconnects innumerable smaller
groups of linked computer networks: a network of networks. (Joint
Exhibit 3 1).
2.The nature of the Internet is such that it is very difficult, if not
impossible, to determine its size at a given moment. However, it is
indisputable that the Internet has experienced
extraordinary growth in the past few years. In 1981, fewer than 300
computers were linked to the Internet, and by 1989, the number stood
at fewer than 90,000 computers. By 1993, however, over 1,000,000
computers were linked. The number of hosts computers has more than
tripled from approximately 9.4 million hosts in January 1996
to more than 36.7 million hosts in July 1998. Approximately 70.2
million people of all ages use the Internet in the United States
alone. (Joint Exhibit 3 3).
3.Some of the computers and computer networks that make up the Internet
are owned by governmental and public institutions; some are owned by
non-profit organizations; and some are privately owned. The resulting
whole is a decentralized, global medium of communications -- or
"cyberspace" -- that links individuals, institutions, corporations,
and governments around the world. The Internet is an international
system. This communications medium allows any of the literally tens of
millions of people with access to the Internet to exchange
information. These communications can occur almost instantaneously,
and can be directed either to specific individuals, to a broader group
of individuals interested in a particular subject, or to the world as
a whole. (Joint Exhibit 3 4).
4.The content on the Internet is as diverse as human thought. The
Internet provides an easy and inexpensive way for a speaker to reach a
large audience, potentially of millions. The start-up and operating
costs entailed by communication on the Internet often are
significantly lower than those associated with use of other forms of
mass communication, such as television, radio, newspapers, and
magazines. Creation of a Web site can range in cost from a thousand to
tens of thousands of dollars, with monthly operating costs depending
on one's goals and the Web site's traffic. Commercial online services
such as America Online allow subscribers to create a limited number of
Web pages as a part of their subscription to AOL services. Any
Internet user can communicate by posting a message to one of the
thousands of available newsgroups and bulletin boards or by creating
one of their own or by engaging in an on-line "chat", and thereby
potentially reach an audience worldwide that shares an interest in a
particular topic. (Joint Exhibit 3 12).
5.Individuals can access the Internet through commercial and
non-commercial "Internet service providers" of ISPs that typically
offer modem access to a computer or computer network linked to the
Internet. Many such providers are commercial entities offering
Internet access for a monthly or hourly fee. Some Internet service
providers, however, are non-profit organizations that offer free or
very low cost access to the Internet. (Joint Exhibit 3 18).
6.Another common way that individuals can access the Internet is through
one of the major national commercial "online services" such as America
Online or the Microsoft Network. These online services offer
nationwide computer networks (so that subscribers can dial-in to a
local telephone number), and the services provide extensive and well
organized content within their own proprietary computer networks. In
addition to allowing access to the extensive content available within
each online service, the services also allow subscribers to link to
the much larger resources of the Internet. Full access to the online
service (including access to the Internet) can be obtained for
modest monthly or hourly fees. The major commercial online services
have millions of individual subscribers across the United States.
(Joint Exhibit 3 19).
7.In addition to ISPs, individuals may be able to access the Internet
through schools, employers, libraries, and community networks. (Joint
Exhibit 3 14-17).
8.Once one has access to the Internet, there are a wide variety of
different methods of communication and information exchange over the
network, utilizing a number of different Internet "protocols." These
many methods of communication and information retrieval are constantly
evolving and are therefore difficult to categorize concisely. The most
common methods of communications on the Internet (as well as within
the major online services) can be roughly grouped into six categories:
(1) one-to-one messaging (such as "e-mail"),
(2) one-to-many messaging (such as "listserv" or "mail exploders"),
(3) distributed message databases (such as "USENET newsgroups"),
(4) real time communication (such as "Internet Relay Chat"),
(5) real time remote computer utilization (such as "telnet"), and
. . . "
- ----------------------------------
Jay
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 08 Feb 1999 09:55:21 -0500
From: "P.A. Gantt" <pgantt@icx.net>
Subject: [netz] ICANN: Spin doctor
Please excuse the cross-posting in advance.
Dear Netizens and wwwedu listmembers,
Perhaps you might be interested in the following.
See how privitizing Internic is welllll you be
the judge...
Source: CSS Internet News
- -------------------------
Original: Wired News
"ICANN Signs Up a Spin Doctor"
by Leander Kahney
http://www.wired.com/news/print_version/politics/story/17742.html?wnpg
"...The nonprofit corporation charged with the technical management of
the Internet has hired an outside PR agency to address charges of
secrecy and inaccessibility.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, (ICANN) on
Wednesday retained Alexander Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide to
deal with inquiries from the press and public.
But critics say the move is merely cosmetic and that the corporation
should institute democratic decision-making processes..."
See the original article for more details.
- --
P.A. Gantt, Computer Science Technology Instructor
Electronic Media Design and Support Homepage
http://user.icx.net/~pgantt/
mailto:pagantt@technologist.com?Subject=etech
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/vision/1998-11.asp
Common sense is not common, and conventional wisdom is not
wisdom. But at least you can have conventional sense. ~~ Daily Whale
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 08 Feb 1999 10:02:39 -0500
From: "P.A. Gantt" <pgantt@icx.net>
Subject: Re: [netz] Re: thy grammar
Thought it was sorta catchy myself ;^}
> > Re: [netz] FYI: my posts re: THEYCANST
> thou canst, maybe, but they cant is thy better choice ;-)
can't???
I can they canst-> tad cuter. Say theycanst 5 times fast ;^P
Cheers to yea.
- --
P.A. Gantt, Computer Science Technology Instructor
Electronic Media Design and Support Homepage
http://user.icx.net/~pgantt/
mailto:pagantt@technologist.com?Subject=etech
http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/vision/1998-11.asp
Common sense is not common, and conventional wisdom is not
wisdom. But at least you can have conventional sense. ~~ Daily Whale
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 09:19:55 -0800 (PST)
From: Greg Skinner <gds@best.com>
Subject: Re: [netz] First 8 Findings of Fact in Feb 2 1999 US Court Memorandum
Jay Hauben <jay@dorsai.org> wrote:
>On Feb 1 1999 in the United States District Court for the Eastern
>District of Pennsylvania a Memorandum was issued in the case of ACLU
>et al vs Reno (Civil Action NO. 98-5591). I have not had time to read
>the Memorandum but have found the first 8 Findings of Fact
>interesting and so I am copying them here. The full Memorandum is
>available at:
> http://www.aclu.org/court/acluvrenoII_pi_order.html
>It is of interest to me that the opinion of the Court represented by these
>findings is never echoed by statements on the IFWP list because the
>partipants in the ICANN't process have a narrower view which serves
>their narrower interest.
Would you please explain in what way these findings are in conflict
with is stated on the IFWP list.
- --gregbo
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 10:29:44 -0800 (PST)
From: Greg Skinner <gds@best.com>
Subject: [netz] Re: Feb 1 '99 US Court Memorandum: First 8 Findings of Fact
Jay Robert Hauben <jrh29@columbia.edu> wrote:
>On Feb 1 1999 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of
>Pennsylvania a Memorandum was issued in the case of ACLU et al vs Reno (Civil
>Action NO. 98-5591). I have not had time to read the Memorandum but have found
>the first 8 Findings of Fact interesting and so I am copying them here. The
>full Memorandum is available at:
> http://www.aclu.org/court/acluvrenoII_pi_order.html
>It is of interest to me that the opinion of the Court represented by these
>findings is never echoed by statements on the IFWP list because the
>partipants in the ICANN't process have a narrower view which serves
>their narrower interest.
[rest deleted]
Since there seems to be some dispute over what parts of the Internet
are "private" and "public", I suggest as an exercise, interested
parties enumerate all of the extant IP (sub)networks, and obtain the
names of the network contacts from the registries that manage those
allocations. From there, ask each contact the following questions:
* What is the charter of your organization?
* From whom do you get your network connectivity, etc?
* What Internet services do you provide?
* What Internet services do you make use of?
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/ipv4-address-space is a
possible starting point, although you may wish to go to the registries
(ARIN, RIPE, etc.) directly if you wish.
When you have compiled all of this information, you can bring it back
to us, and *then* we can discuss what parts of the Internet are and
are not "private" and what services the "users" are using.
- --gregbo
------------------------------
End of Netizens-Digest V1 #270
******************************
