>Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1904 05:51:29 -0500
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: David Farber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: ICANN and IBM
>Cc:
>Bcc:
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>
>[please note this is from John Patrick from IBM not me (some IPers
>assume everything they read comes from me :-) djf]
>
>
>Dave, recently there has been a lot of discussion about ICANN and the role
>IBM plays in the organization's efforts. A lot of what I have read is
>inaccurate and I'd like to use this posting to clarify what's really going
>on.
>
>Let me start with my strong belief -- shared by IBM, government leaders
>and many technology organizations -- that the Internet is rapidly becoming
>the global medium. Not a medium. *The* medium. We already see that
>e-business is dependent on the Internet, and we're starting to see people
>around the world relying on it for education, disease management,
>entertainment, real-time communications and collaboration, and even
>government services, to name just a few uses. In fact, it's hard to see
>what won't be dependent on the Internet. So what makes the Internet work
>and who is responsible to ensure it will continue working in the future as
>the growth continues? That's the role that ICANN was designed to play.
>
>We all know that when you type "www.myfavoritewebsite.com," it has to be
>translated to an all-numeric address that the Internet infrastructure
>understands. Because the Internet is made up of many heterogeneous and
>separately-managed networks, the early Internet inventors and pioneers
>realized that a central third party was needed to manage the assignment of
>domain names and network addresses so that "www.myfavoritewebsite.com"
>always translated to the correct address, even though different users
>would consult different servers to do the translation.
>
>And because most of the early Internet development happened under U.S.
>Government auspices, that central third party was originally designated by
>the US government. But now that the Internet is a global entity, there is
>broad agreement that having one country be the ultimate authority is
>inappropriate. In fact, it's clear that the central third party needs to
>be a global, non-profit, private-sector organization. And, after a long
>and public design process, ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned
>Names and Numbers) was created to fill that role. IBM was one of the
>many private sector organizations that chose to provide input into the
>design process, and we felt then, as we do now, that a neutral, global,
>non-profit organization is the right choice to oversee the administration
>of Internet domain names.
>
>Once the ICANN charter was recognized by the U.S. and the European
>governments, the organization was quickly recognized as the legitimate
>manager of the domain names and numbers by more than 40 countries and many
>of the major private sector organizations with an interest in this area.
>The Internet Society, International Chamber of Commerce, Internet
>Engineering Task Force, U.S. Council for International Business,
>International Trademark Association, Global Internet Project, World Wide
>Web Consortium, and all of the Internet IP address registries (APNIC,
>RIPE, ARIN, etc) are just a few of the organizations that have publically
>supported ICANN.
>
>So who pays for ICANN? ICANN depends on fees charged to users of its
>services. But those fees will not be determined or charged until ICANN
>has a permanent board which will determine the appropriate fee structure.
>Right now, ICANN is in "start-up" mode, with an acting board of directors,
>and no income. As a result, transitional funding has been necessary.
>
>Toward that end, there have been some private sector organizations and
>companies that have stepped up to help out. The Global Internet Project
>(GIP) initiated a fund-raising program in July 1998, and raised
>approximately $400,000. (Note: I am the chairperson of the GIP.) Also,
>MCI and Cisco have made loans or loan guarantees to ICANN. IBM has
>announced (see following link to letter) a $100,000 grant.
>http://www.icann.org/correspondence/ibm-letter-24sept99.htm There are many
>others that have contributed and ICANN has posted the names
>of these donors on their Web site at http://www.icann.com. Considering the
>support for ICANN in the industry, I expect more
>companies will help with funding during this transitional period.
>
>Some people have questioned whether there needs to be an organization
>managing the administrative hierarchy; they'd like to see it handled by
>some distributed self-managing approach. And perhaps such an approach
>could work *if* we were starting with a clean sheet of paper. But with
>hundreds of millions of people and millions of computers using the Net
>every second, there is great risk involved with changing the model. It
>just isn't practical. ICANN plays a critical role in addressing a narrow,
>well-defined list of tasks that define the plumbing of the Internet:
>Coordinating the assignment of the top level of the domain name system;
>overseeing the root name server system; coordinating the assignment of
>parameters for technical standards; and overseeing the assignment of IP
>addresses.
>
>In many respects, ICANN is an unprecedented effort by the Internet
>community to create a globally representative, non-governmental entity - -
>one which will ease the transition of the Internet from a non-commercial,
>research network to the global medium. This transition, unfortunately,
>won't be without growing pains. ICANN has been very open to suggestions
>and criticism and has reacted positively to all constructive input. In a
>relatively short period of time, ICANN has taken significant steps to more
>effectively manage the core functions I described. Among its efforts has
>been the adoption of a new set of rules designed to reduce piracy and
>trademark infringement in the domain name system and the creation of
>competition for domain name registrations.
>
>The bottom line is that I believe - and IBM agrees - that ICANN is an
>essential organization to ensure the long-term growth and health of the
>Internet. If ICANN were to fail, I think that the likely result would be
>governmental agencies - subject, as always, to political influences -
>taking over the management of the Internet. Few people think this a
>good idea; I certainly don't. Neither IBM nor I have any official
>relationship to ICANN, but I am happy to say that when ICANN has asked for
>help, IBM has been responsive; we intend to continue to provide assistance
>and support to ICANN in the future.
>
>So what does IBM get from ICANN by helping them? Nothing more or less
>than everyone else who uses the Internet gets: stability of the Internet.
> We're helping ICANN through its transition because we think it's the most
>effective way to move the authority for Internet names and numbers from
>the U.S. Government to the global private sector - in fact, to the
>Internet community itself. And the sooner we can get through this
>transition, the sooner the stakeholders of the Internet - individual
>users, as well as institutions - can continue to take advantage of the
>Internet instead of arguing about it.
>
>John Patrick
>Vice President - Internet Technology
>IBM Corporation
>http://www.ibm.com/patrick
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
