On Sun, Feb 01, 1998 at 07:08:51PM -0500, Antony Van Couvering wrote:
At 05:49 PM 2/1/98 -0600, Karl Denninger wrote:
IMHO, Mr. Postel, who recently tried to put in place a way to hijack the roots, deserves to end up EXACTLY where Eugene is right now - facing federal criminal charges.
Karl,
Where would you put NSI, who have effectively hijacked the roots?
One "hijacking" makes others legitimate?
Or the U.S. Gov't, for that matter?
The US Government owns the roots and owns IANA (since it funds it). Without direction from the government and absent their *constructive* abdication, the root system is effectively theirs. NSI's operation of "A" is under NSF directive - aka, the US Government. Now its under the Department of Commerce's directive. Again, the person paying the piper calls the tune. The piper has said they intend to pass control to a private, non-profit US corporation with the FULL IMPLICATIONS OF US ANTI-TRUST LAW bearing on that organization. That organization is *NOT* the current IANA, although it might bear the same name. To which I say "Its about darn time", and "while you're at it, prosecute any EXISTING anti-trust violations you might be able to find in the current IANA or any other so-called 'oversight' organziation for the Internet." And yes, I do mean Mr. Postel and Mr. Manning, specifically, should be investigated - in my opinion - and if cause is found, brought up on charges. Heh, if they did nothing wrong, then what's the problem with a look back at all of their decisions over the last 10 years in the areas of TLD management (or mismanagement), IP number assignment, etc? I can think of a few explicit instances where I believe that there could be trouble.... but heh, I might be wrong. That's what prosecutors and investigators are for though - to figure out whether or not laws were violated.
Overnight, the Internet mode of opeation has changed from bottom-up cooperation to top-down diktat. Jon was "ordered", to quote the Washington Post, to point everything at NSI.
You bet. This is as it should be. "Ye who pays the bill calls the tune."
I thought the roots didn't belong to anyone, that they existed and ran smoothly as a result of root server operators' consensus.
Wrong again; consensus requires discussion and OPEN PROCESS, neither of which has been present in the past. What has been present is an effective monarchy. I saw no discussion, comment, or public input into what Postel did - in fact, he did it "under the sheets" explicitly, and it wasn't until it was leaked that people became aware of it! That's not CONSENSUS - its control by an Emporer and, IMHO, an abuse of power.
Until yesterday, no-one had challenged Jon Postel's authority to do what he thought was best with regard to the roots, because he has earned the respect of those operators.
Wrong again. Jon Postel is an employee of the US Government in the function of the IANA, since the IANA is funded by the US Government directly and indirectly. Therefore, he has no authority to act on his own in this matter, and in fact never did have that authority.
You have long been an expert at seeing power grabs where none existed. Now that there is one with huge implications for the Internet, right in front of your eyes, your only reaction is to be first in line to kick one of the fathers of the Internet while he is down. Bravo.
Antony
IMHO he deserves to be brought up on charges for that action, and I believe he has deserved that same "reward" since September of 1995. In fact, this situation is far more serious than the one in 1995. Its rather obvious to ANYONE looking at this that Postel's actions were a prelude to a hijacking of the root system DIRECTLY IN THE FACE OF THE US GOVERNMENT - with the purpose of adding the CORE TLDs. If there's a violation of law in there somewhere (ie: conspiracy, or perhaps racketeering?) I ask that the Federal prosecutorial system bring charges. "Father figures" are supposed to be held to HIGHER accountability standards than the rest of us. Mr. Postel has breached the public trust placed in him and should be fully and maximally held to account for those actions. I have maintained precisely this position since that time, and the last time I looked I was entitled to my opinion (and to express it). -- -- Karl Denninger (karl at MCS.Net)| MCSNet - Serving Chicagoland and Wisconsin http://www.mcs.net/ | T1's from $600 monthly to FULL DS-3 Service | NEW! K56Flex support on ALL modems Voice: [+1 312 803-MCS1 x219]| EXCLUSIVE NEW FEATURE ON ALL PERSONAL ACCOUNTS Fax: [+1 312 803-4929] | *SPAMBLOCK* Technology now included at no cost -------- Logged at Mon Feb 2 02:50:38 MET 1998 ---------