No us gov't funding for ARIN [clarification from CWI]

[K. N. Cukier]

As the author of the article, I'll clarify:

Michael Dillon wrote:
>The news article that I read said that the US government was funding ARIN
>with an injection of $250,000 and that NSI was only giving $50,000. That
>does not sound at all like NSI is funding and staffing ARIN.

And later wrote:
>I've got to learn to stop trusting the press :-)
>Now that I read over http://www.emap.com/cwi/187/187news6.html again I see
>that they have ARIN and IANA all garbled up together.
>*sigh*

The article (posted at the bottom of this msg) doesn't confuse ARIN and IANA.
However, due to an unfortunate editing error, Jon Postel is incorrectly referred
to in one place as the head of ARIN. Other than that, the story is pretty clear.

En bref: In an interview in late June, Ira Magaziner said NASA and Dept. of
Energy will provide IANA with temporary, partial funding of $250,000 for 12
months. Postel in late June said he was aware of the decision, but had not yet
received the funds. Separately, Kim Hubbard said that ARIN had already budgeted
$50,000 to partially fund IANA (a move that was expected due to the current
funds RIPE NCC and APNIC are giving).

Any reader ever wishing clarification on an article is always free to contact me
directly, at kenc at cwi.emap.com. (I follow naipr regularly, so there is no need
for msgs here to be duplicated, and cc-ed to me.)

Kenneth Neil Cukier
Senior Editor
Communications Week International
Paris, France

--------------------
Below is the article, which appeared in the 30 June 1997 issue of Communications
Week International:

US backs plan for Net to go it alone
By Kenneth Neil Cukier

KUALA LUMPUR -- After months of uncertainty over its policy direction, the
United States government has moved to promote Internet self-governance on a
international scale. 

Last week the U.S. National Science Foundation approved the creation of the
long-delayed American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), which will oversee
the allocation of Internet Protocol addresses to Internet service providers and
large corporations.

 "I'm happy that this long and careful process is finally over," said Scott
Bradner of Harvard University, and a trustee of ARIN. The body's creation was
stalled due to a White House taskforce's concerns over how ARIN would function.

The U.S. government is also set to reverse an earlier decision and provide
interim funding for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the body
which oversees global IP number allocations.

Ira Magaziner, special advisor to President Clinton, said the Department of
Energy and NASA will jointly provide $250,000 to partially fund 12 months of
operation until a formal Internet-based funding model can be established. "If
the Internet is to flourish, it must be international," Magaziner said. 

Jon Postel the head of ARIN [sic, head of IANA -- KNC], said he was pleased with
the funding, but emphasized it was for a "transition period" until the bottom-up
structure of IANA was established, based on the regional IP registries in
Europe, Asia, the United States, and possibly elsewhere. Since IANA deals with
other network matters, such as domain name data and standards, Postel said other
groups that use IANA services, such as domain name registries, might also be
appropriate sources of funding.

Kim Hubbard, the current head of the InterNIC, the body which now allocates U.S.
IP addresses [sic, also IP addresses in the Americas, and elsewhere... -- KNC],
and who is expected to head ARIN, said the organization has already budged
$50,000 to support IANA.

Meanwhile, The U.S. Department of Commerce will this week issue a 45-day
"request for comments" on Internet domain names, and the International Ad Hoc
Committee's proposal to create a shared-registry model. Magaziner said the
administration "will try to form a position that will encourage the movement to
a more private, competitive system for domain name allocation." He also said
that the IAHC's aims "are goals that we [the U.S. administration] share." 

The U.S. move to reopen the issue will not jeoprodize the IAHC plan, said David
Maher, the interim chairman of the Policy Oversight Committee [sic, Maher is the
chairman of the interim POC, or iPOC -- KNC] charged with implementing the
changes.

end

[Nota Bene: It is extremely rare that errors such as these appear in CWI. In
this case, I wrote it at 2am the night of layout, and a copy editor in London
typed in a few mistakes as the piece was cut to 400 words from the 800 filed.
Apologies to sources and readers.... -- KNC]