In message <9510061242.AA19794@dxcern.cern.ch> Ben Segal writes:

...

I think RIPE should formulate a position statement in this matter and send to Council of Europe and EC. ... The Internet society has already sent message to US government arguing against the clipper chip and I guess ISOC could also send such a message to the EC and the council.

I fully agree with this, Frode. ISOC has a (small) presence at the massive Telecom'95 exhibition being held right now in Geneva

From the London Evening Standard ("Business Diary"), 5 October 1995:

(Headline: AT&T condemns Internet policing) "US Telecoms goliath AT&T has launched a stinging attack on American and European politicians who are seeking to regulate the Internet. AT&T chief strategist Dick Bodman warned governments that interference would deter business and `slow down a magnet of creative activity by companies and individuals who are providing a catalyst for huge changes within the communications industry'. Bodman, speaking at the Telecoms 95 Exhibition in Geneva, referred to a variety of pressures building up at government and intergovernmental level. These include moves to impose conditions on companies seeking to provide Internet services, to specify common technology standards that would prevent new competitors from entering the market or coming up with new ideas, and to grant exclusive franchises to some companies to operate on world networks unfettered by competition. Bodman concedes that while pornography remains a real problem, commercial and other security issues could be worked out through co-operation between private firms. Even when it comes to such questions as pornography, Bodman believes that the solution probably lies in allowing consumers an option of "blanking out" what they do not want to see. `The Internet and related networks came about because people found an unregulated way to swap information and come up with new ideas without recourse to the authorities. To that extent, the Internet is an expression of the people,' he says." I, personally, remain unconvinced that a longer term goal of corporations such as AT&T is not to eat the RIPE and any similar not-for-profit expressions of the people involved in the operation of the Internet, but in the short term some joint approach with such powerful potential allies on these regulation issues may be useful. -- * nick@dreamy.demon.co.uk * nick.reid@demon.net *