Re: [IFWP] from IP ICANN and IBM

[Jay Fenello <Jay@Iperdome.com>]

Marie Antoinette, when told that her people 
were starving and had no bread to eat, replied:  
"Let them eat cake!"


Hello John,

Could it be that you are so insulated behind
your castle walls, that you are not hearing 
the cries of the people?

Your comments in support of ICANN ignore the
most egregious of its faults -- ICANN does not
follow the White Paper, it does not follow its
MoU with Commerce, and it does not follow its
own by-laws.

In a recent New York Times article, Esther Dyson 
was quoted as saying "With all due respect, we 
are less interested in complaints about process" 
and more interested in "doing real work and 
moving forward."

Now, as a VP of IBM, as the head of the Global
Internet Project, as a *major* contributor to 
ICANN, and as a *major* fund raiser for ICANN, 
I can understand why you might not be affected
by ICANN's misguided ways.  

In fact, I bet your ideas are considered brilliant,
and immediately accepted as the prevailing consensus.
Which, of course, highlights the problem.

Those who have no "bread" are called "arrogant
juveniles" by Captain Mike, and our ideas and our
comments are ignored.  

I'm sorry, but if this is your idea of Internet
Governance, I want no part of it.  Process *is*
important -- as it protects everyone equally!

If you want to make the world safe for ecommerce,
then please choose a vehicle that is fair, and is
based on sound principles and processes.  Until 
you do, I fear that the Domain Name Wars will
continue well into the next century.

Respectfully,


Jay Fenello
http://www.fenello.com  770-392-9480  
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I 
wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up 
because I wasn't a Jew.  Then they came for the trade unionists, and I 
didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.  Then they came for 
the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.  Then 
they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."
    --  Martin Niemoeller


At 06:52 AM 1/2/70 , David Farber wrote:

>>[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
>>patrick@us.ibm.com