[Fwd: Ripe and APNIC Rescue IANA - a quick heads up]

[Jim Fleming]

What is "proto-ARIN" ?

On Monday, June 02, 1997 8:14 PM, David R. Conrad[SMTP:davidc at apnic.net] wrote:
@ Ken,
@ 
@ >Is this article right?
@ 
@ More or less.  The IANA really is more than just Jon...
@ 
@ >Just curious but how much money is APNIC planning to contribute to fund
@ >IANA?
@ 
@ APNIC obtains Internet registry services from the IANA for which we
@ pay a yearly fee of US $50,000 -- a situation that is not
@ coincidentally very similar to the way APNIC derives its
@ funding. 
@ 
@ APNIC is working with RIPE and proto-ARIN to formalize this structure.
@ It is possible this fee will increase or decrease depending on just
@ how things get structured (e.g., the number of organizations that are
@ paying for the IANA to continue operation), however as it is critical
@ for just about everyone that the IANA continues to operate, APNIC, in
@ conjunction with the other regional registries will do whatever is
@ necessary to insure just that.
@ 
@ Regards,
@ -drc
@ ------
@ Communications Week International reports in the edition Monday, 2
@ June 1997, page one:
@ 
@ Plan to Protect Net's Key Central Authority Underway
@ 
@ Bottom-Up Structure to Make Net Less U.S.-Centric
@ 
@ By Kenneth Neil Cukier
@ 
@ DUBLIN -- Internet leaders around the world are quietly orchestrating
@ a daring plan to assure the stability of the Net's fragile central
@ authority, and make it less U.S.-centric.
@ 
@ IP address registries in Asia and Europe have taken over the funding
@ of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) from the United
@ States Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency
@ (DARPA), which halted its funding on 1 April. California-based IANA
@ oversees IP number allocations used for global routing and controls
@ the Internet domain name system data. DARPA funded much of the
@ Internet's early development.
@ 
@ The heads of the regional IP registries in Europe and Asia, which
@ allocate the Internet Protocol numbers under IANA's authority,
@ signaled that funding is the first step towards a more ambitious goal
@ of creating a bottom-up structure that will include regional
@ registries in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.
@ 
@ Daniel Karrenberg, the managing director of the European IP number
@ registry RIPE NCC in Amsterdam and David Conrad, the director of the
@ Asia-Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) in Tokyo, stunned
@ senior Internet executives at the trimestrial meeting of RIPE in
@ Dublin in late May, where they announced the move.
@ 
@ But executives at the meeting were unanimously in favor of the move,
@ and officially declared that IANA's stability must be ensured. Asian
@ industry executives are expected to be briefed on the matter at a June
@ meeting in Kuala Lumpur.  CThe heads of the regional IP registries in
@ Europe and Asia, which allocate the Internet Protocol numbers under
@ IANA's authority, signaled that funding is the first step towards a
@ more ambitious goal of creating a bottom-up structure that will
@ include regional registries in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.
@ 
@ Daniel Karrenberg, the managing director of the European IP number
@ registry RIPE NCC in Amsterdam and David Conrad, the director of the
@ Asia-Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) in Tokyo, stunned
@ senior Internet executives at the trimestrial meeting of RIPE in
@ Dublin in late May, where they announced the move.
@ 
@ But executives at the meeting were unanimously in favor of the move,
@ and officially declared that IANA's stability must be ensured. Asian
@ industry executives are expected to be briefed on the matter at a June
@ meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
@ 
@ IANA issued an emergency request for funds in late March, and APNIC
@ contributed $50,000 for a full year's operation, combined with RIPE
@ NCC's contribution of $25,000 for an initial six months.
@ 
@ IANA currently lacks formal authority because it developed during the
@ early days of the Internet, when such legal foundations were
@ ignored. Yet now that the Internet has become the world's information
@ infrastructure, this critical piece of the Internet, and Internet
@ governance, must be stabilized, said Christopher Wilkinson, an
@ official at the European Commission Directorate General XIII, which is
@ responsible for telecommunication matters, who learned of IANA's
@ situation at the RIPE meeting.
@ 
@ Wilkinson warned with "any change [to the Internet] from the point of
@ view of public policy, [the Internet] has got to work, it's got to be
@ stable, it's got to be really global and international," and concluded
@ that "disputes in the U.S. could jeopardize the Internet in Europe."
@ 
@ Jon Postel, the head of IANA, said: "The regional IP registries have
@ been supportive both with funding and with input on possible
@ organizational structures." IANA and the registries are currently
@ "considering several options and timelines," he added.
@ 
@ If the project is successful, IANA will be insulated from
@ U.S. domestic political intrusion that has shaken up the Internet
@ recently (CWI, 10 March and 7 April). This has severely thwarted
@ Internet self-governance and generated mistrust of government among
@ influential members of the Internet community.
@ 
@ Indeed, RIPE NCC's Karrenberg described the cut in funding as offering
@ "a unique opportunity" to build a lasting structure for IANA and gave
@ the international registries "influence." Conrad emphasized that "the
@ people who depend on the existence of IANA are funding IANA." Both
@ highlighted that the plan would wean IANA away from its U.S. nature
@ and create a truly international body.
@ 
@ The plan will likely make IANA more effective and responsible to the
@ Internet community because -- like the Net itself -- power is
@ distributed. And for users and ISPs, especially those outside the
@ United States, an IANA founded on regional representation may be
@ easier to hold to account.
@ 
@ But if the bid fails, and IANA's authority is lost, say Internet
@ experts, the Net may become fragmented, new sites unable to be created
@ and coordinated, accurate routing jeopardized, and certain standards
@ such as "port numbers" thrown into doubt.
@ 
@ "We're at a juncture here," said Karrenberg.
@ 
@ A DARPA offical said IANA's funding was stopped since the Internet is
@ no longer a research project, and that IANA was well aware of the cut
@ beforehand.  "DARPA is watching with interest and providing advice
@ when called upon as the U.S. and world Internet community works
@ together to shape its [IANA's] future," the official said.
@ 
@ High-level Internet leaders, who requested anonymity, contend the lack
@ of funding represents tacit approval for IANA's plans from DARPA,
@ which is aware of the body's crucial global importance and wants to
@ protect it from national U.S.  politics.
@ 
@ A senior Clinton administration official, who also requested anonymity
@ due to the controversial nature of the topic, was unaware of the
@ changes taking place at IANA. "We're not dropping IANA," he stated,
@ referring to the U.S.  government.  He said he expected "some other
@ research agencies" would "step into the breach" and fund IANA.
@ 
@ Although the plan is not held secret, the speed and hushed nature of
@ the project suggests the Internet community is exploiting the chaos
@ surrounding the most visible Internet controversy -- the creation of
@ new top level domain names -- to push through IANA reforms while the
@ attention of government bureaucrats is diverted. A RIPE official said
@ it is hoped IANA1s new structure will be solidified before the end of
@ the year. Indeed, the registries will likely act quickly this summer,
@ when many government officials around the world take vacations.
@ 
@ The Asian and European registries plan to work closely with people in
@ the U.S. slated to operate an IP registry for the Americas, called
@ American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN). Once ARIN is
@ functioning, it too will partially fund IANA. And the model allows for
@ the future creation of registries in Latin America and Africa to also
@ buttress IANA.
@ 
@ Yet the key obstacle facing the IANA's new structure is the U.S.
@ government. ARIN, for example, missed its initial start date of 1
@ April due to hesitations by a White House taskforce studying the
@ issues surrounding IP numbers (CWI, 19 May).
@ 
@ And IANA's stability was called into question earlier this year when a
@ law suit was filed against individuals working at IANA concerning the
@ organization's authority to enter new domain name routing data into
@ the "root" servers they maintain. The suit was dropped in May.
@ 
@ The issues of IANA, ARIN and domain names (alongside a reform of the
@ system by the International Ad Hoc Committee) are intertwined because
@ the separate functions are all based on a convoluted series of
@ cooperative agreements by the U.S. National Science Foundation with a
@ private company, Network Solutions Inc.  in Herndon, Virginia.
@ 
@ IP addresses are the globally unique routing numbers that "map" to the
@ user-friendly domain name system. IANA and the regional registries are
@ imperative for the Net's operation because IP numbers are scarce, must
@ be handed out sparingly, and could create havic if accidentally
@ duplicated.
@ 
@ Currently, IANA is based at the Information Sciences Institute at the
@ University of Southern California in Marina del Rey. It is run by
@ essentially one man, Jon Postel, who helped create the Internet and is
@ widely trusted in the Internet community. He is expected to remain in
@ his position after the new structure is in place.
@ 
@ ###
@ 
@ 
@ 

--
Jim Fleming
Unir Corporation
http://www.Unir.Corp