Rebuttal to Mr. Weisberg's insinuations

[Jim Fleming]

On Thursday, July 17, 1997 6:42 PM, Robert T. Nelson[SMTP:rnelson at internoc.com] wrote:
@ 
<snip>
@ 
@ Absolutely agreed. Why don't you become a member of ARIN. I think you'd be
@ well advised to take a good look at how ARIN can work for you.
@ 

ARIN has no members. According to Gordon Cook, three
employees of Network Solutions, Inc. are the only people
actually involved with ARIN. Evikdently, the proposed Board
members are not yet involved, it is not clear why.

One of the ISOC leaders tells me that Board members step
into the hallway at ISOC meetings when votes are taken.
Apparently, this is to avoid any legal involvement and they
think they can later say, they were not involved.

Maybe ARIN intends to run the same way. With all of the
FTC and DOJ interest in these matters, it might be difficult
to get people to step forward to claim ownership of ARIN.
Obviously, the NSI people have a huge financial interest in
ARIN and making it happen. It should not be a surprise that
they are the onese pushing the proposal forward.

The NSF of course, just wants "out"...they seem to care
less what people do with U.S. Government assets as long
as they (the NSF) get to slip out the back, just like they
did with the transition from the NSF "backbone" to the
major carriers.

@ I think that the fact of the matter here, is that memory space (IP
@ addresses) in any programmable system is limited, and at a premium. It
@ confuses the process if you have more than one entity assigning space in
@ the Original Place. After that entity assigns space to functions
@ (downstream registries in charge of how *they* allocate space) they can do
@ with their space as they please. 
@ 

That is not necessarily true. Space can be allocated, sold, delegated
etc. with restrictions about how it can be used. As an example, I have
suggested several times that multi-homed ISPs be provided /18 allocations
with the restriction that they can not advertise more specific routes
in the defaultless core.

@ Up till the present day, the Internet has been "under the care of" its
@ original programmers. In order to have an orderly transition, those
@ original people have to pass on their functions to a larger, but still
@ limited group. That group can then, in turn, delegate some of those
@ functions downstream. ARIN fulfills that function. NAIR could fulfil the
@ role of downstream registry. 
@ 

Those people are not passing on anything. They are instead cultivating
a group of tax collectors who then feed back money to the original
leaders.

Why is ARIN given a status over NAIR ?
ARIN is new....why isn't it "downstream"...?

@ In the DNS, CORE should fulfil that function, delegating responsibilities
@ down to individual registries. Just as with IP space, I think that it
@ would be quite possibly disasterous if we went from 1 provider to a
@ completely open field operating the root zone. 
@ 

No one is suggesting that, F.U.D. is not necessary, people see the
whole picture and they will not be fooled by these tactics.

@ In general, people operating networks are not necessarily qualified to do
@ so, and thus would have problems keeping up with developments - this is
@ relatively new on the net to have such a proliferation of such networks.
@ 
@ I would prefer that we, as a community, delegate that responsibility to a
@ group of entities who, collectively, have shown expertise and committment
@ to development of DNS.  POC and CORE should meet those criteria, just as
@ ARIN meets that criteria for IP Space allocations. Don't get me wrong. I
@ can certainly see room for improvement in either process. I don't,
@ however. think that the proper way to improve the situation is to derail
@ the process.
@ 

Again, ARIN is three people from NSI.
Why do people in Virginia have a monopoly on
"Taxing the Internet"....?

@ If you want a say in IP allocations, join ARIN. Form a registry.
@ If you want a say in DNS, sign the MoU, and participate. Form a registry.
@ 
@ 

My suggestion is to first develop a Root Name Server
Confederation. Those people will ultimately call the shots.
IPv4 allocations eventually make it into IN-ADDR.ARPA.

Here are some of the Root Name Server Confederations.
More are developing around the world.

http://doorstep.unety.net/Java/root97.html

@ > They say that a benevolent dictatorship is the most efficient form of
@ > government.  How do you ensure that the dictator is benevolent?
@ 
@ Jefferson said that you need a revolution, regardless, every 70 years. 
@ That's 10 years in Internet Time. My bet is that Internet Time will speed
@ up. We better get planning.
@ 

Yes, July 4, 1998 will be here sooner than we think....

--
Jim Fleming
Unir Corporation