Re: [IFWP] RE: Lou Gerstner on what IBM wants from ICANN

[Ronda Hauben]

"A.M. Rutkowski" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

>I would argue that no one should have "the authority to make exclusive
>assignment of Internet identifiers."  Indeed, there is no such thing.
>You can today use any identifier you choose - and many institutions do.
>However, unless you have made special arrangements, your traffic might
>not end up in the right place.  As a shared user network, the users
>vote as to whose identifier system is used and on what terms, not
>some higher authority - ICANN or otherwise.

The point is that unique global identifiers are needed for IP
number as part of TCP/IP.

That that is how the protocol was designed.

Tony would you claim that there shouldn't be any exclusive assignment
of license plate numbers as well?

The Internet flourished because computer scientists were able to 
play a crucial role as part of a government entity.

The Internet isn't some wild and wooley west. It grew up as
a communications system because of the collaboration of 
government and scientists and those operating the computers and 
the networks, etc.

Isn't it necessary to figure out what made this collaboration possible
and do something to build on those lessons, rather than pretending
that the Internet is some figment of someone's imagination and 
one can make up any means one wants to manipulate it.

Ronda


             Netizens: On the History and Impact
               of Usenet and the Internet
          http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/
            in print edition ISBN 0-8186-7706-6