Creating Tomorrow's Internet.
INTERNET MARK 2 NEWSLETTER - MAY 2005
A warm welcome to all our readers! In this issue:
=> ADDITIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS ANNOUNCED
=> WHAT WE HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT
=> BIG SELLOFF - ANALYSIS REPORT
=> WSIS
=> IETF PONDERS SLOW PACE
=> SHORT NEWS ITEMS
- Google owns the news by 2014
- W3C gets pro-active with Mobile Web Initiative
- BitTorrent goes trackerless - and gets into trouble
- Piggybank is cool bananas
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ABOUT THE INTERNET MARK 2 PROJECT
The Internet Mark 2 Project rose out of concerns that Internet protocols and
governance have not evolved sufficiently to deal with the range of problems
which have appeared as the Internet gets older and bigger. We welcome your
feedback and involvement in our work; some suggestions as to how you can get
involved appear at www.internetmark2.org.
The Internet Mark2 Newsletter is circulated free of charge, and will bring
regular updates on issues with Internet Governance and Protocols.
To subscribe is as simple as sending an email to mailto:subscribe@internetmark2.org
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INTERNET MARK 2 ADVISORY COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS ANNOUNCED
We are very pleased to announce two new appointments to our Advisory Council,
Esther Dyson and KC Claffy. They join Carlos Afonso, Izumi Aizu, Ben Laurie,
Adam Peake, James Seng, Yakov Shafranovich, Paul Vixie and Meng Weng Wong. We
are pleased to have them join the other members, who cover a wide range of
skills in policy, strategy, and technical development, and include some of the
world's foremost experts in areas such as internationalised domain names,
internet protocol development, anti-spam technologies, Internet security, open
source software, and Internet policy and strategy development.
K C Claffy is Principal Investigator for the Distributed Cooperative Association
for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), and Resident Research Scientist based at the
University of California's San Diego Supercomputer Center. KC's research
interests include Internet workload/performance data collection, analysis and
visualization, particularly with respect to commercial ISP
collaboration/cooperation and sharing of analysis resources. KC received her PhD
in Computer Science from UCSD in 1994.
Esther Dyson is editor at large at CNET Networks, where she is responsible for
its monthly newsletter, Release 1.0, and its PC Forum, the high-tech market's
leading annual executive conference. At Release 1.0 and in her private
investment activities, Dyson focuses on emerging technologies, emerging
companies and emerging markets. She is the author of "Release 2.0: A design for
living in the digital age", and also an active player in discussions and
policy-making concerning the Internet and society. From 1998 to 2000, she was
founding chairman of ICANN. A variety of government officials worldwide turn to
her for advice on Internet policy issues.
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WHAT WE HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT
Our initial discussions have been wide ranging. Among the matters covered have
been:
* Ethernet everywhere. Jose Morales Barroso's proposal (see
http://www.internetmark2.org/involved/nlet4.html) aroused a lot of interest and
preliminary support.
* Overlay networks in general. The overlay approach is essentially what started
the Internet, and appears to be one of the most sensible paths forward.
(Interestingly, we are suggesting applying the same approach to Internet
governance, see below)
* Root zone policy. The unilateral control of root zone policy by US government
is not even a contentious matter at WSIS any more - rather, there is a strong
consensus that this must change. But how would a transition occur?
* Next generation networks. How can we guide progression so that core Internet
values move to next generation networks?
* What Paul Vixie calls "the pesky problem of the installed base". (how easy
life would be if we didn't have to worry about bringing every Internet user
forward to next generation networks).
* Dedicated resources and volunteerism. One of the huge problems of current
internet governance structures is the reliance on volunteer effort, particularly
in IETF. See article below.
Happy to receive your feedback on any of these issues
(feedback@internetmark2.org).
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IETF PONDERS SLOW PACE
IETF's mailing list for the past month has been dominated by concerns about the
slow pace of approval of documents. Major concerns have been raised about the
nature of IETF structure and how difficult it is, with volunteer effort needed
before any proposed standard is adopted. This typically results in delays of
many months before standards are adopted.
Among the comments:
"Mechanisms that are designed to balance trade-offs between timeliness and
oversight have become skewed wholly towards the oversight, losing the
timeliness"
"We have a process that isn't working. We have at least 3 years in which the
community forcefully sounded the the alarm. Yet we have no changes that make our
output more timely, relevant and useful".
"The usual reference to fear of releasing bad specifications onto the net nicely
ignores the dangers of releasing no specifications, or of having the
specifications get developed elsewhere".
The feedback and discussion is not surprising. In the Internet Analysis Report
2004 we identified problems with the IETF structure, and particularly with the
lack of user input and with volunteer structures. It's nice to see these issues
being discussed openly; it would be nicer to see some appropriate structural
change take place.
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WSIS PROGRESS
The Working Group on Internet Governance meets again this month and, having
completed its analysis, is looking towards what recommendations it might make.
Internet Mark 2 has forwarded a submission to the Working Group covering a
number of matters, but particulary suggesting the need for more adequate
structures to deal with public policy issues and root zone policy. There seems
to be a lot of support at this stage for some change - and even ICANN is now
privately discussing its willingness to accept that change might be necessary.
We have suggested the changes as an overlay on existing structures. Critical as
we have been of ICANN and IETF, we believe that reform is possible from within,
providing appropriate stakeholder input structures are in place. For now, we
believe that a public policy governance layer is the most appropriate outcome
for the WSIS process. But that's hardly the end of governance debates - rather,
that's the beginning of a transition to more appropriate structures for the new
generation internet.
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INTERNET ANALYSIS REPORT 2004 - PROTOCOLS AND GOVERNANCE
YOU'VE READ THE SUMMARY REPORT - NOW GET THE FULL REPORT AT A GREATLY REDUCED
RATE!
As a special offer to newsletter subscribers and others who have been keen to
follow our progress, we are selling off the 2004 Report, as we commence the six
month process of preparing a new version.
So, for a limited time only, we are offering you a copy of the report (ebook
version only) for the special price of $US45.95.
So if you have only read the Executive Summary, and wondered what was behind it,
here is your opportunity to acquire the full report.
The 2004 report has been well received across the world, and by government and
industry figures alike. Among our feedback has been:
"excellent work"
"a good and informative paper"
"very clear"
"insightful"
"lays out its case in simple, understandable terms"
"what I found valuable about it was the breadth of the approach, introducing
readers to a wide range of barriers that the Internet faces in increasing the
breadth and depth of its current coverage"
=>=>=>You can only access this special offer via the email link below <=<=<=
=>=>=>=>=>=>This special offer won't appear on our website<=<=<=<=<=<=
To purchase your copy of the report at the special reduced price of $45.95,
visit http://www.internetmark2.org/reportoffer.html
and follow the secure payment link from there.
Oh - and like everyone who has purchased the 2004 report, you will then be
entitled to a substantial discount on the 2005-2006 report.
So, by buying now, you will also be securing a big discount on our next
offering.
Visit http://www.internetmark2.org/reportoffer.html now to secure your copy.
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SHORT ITEMS
GOOGLE OWNS THE NEWS BY 2014
Mockumentary site at: http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/
Well worth watching!
W3C GETS PROACTIVE WITH MOBILE WEB INITIATIVE
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) formally launched the Mobile Web Initiative
at its WWW2005 Conference in Chiba, Japan, on Wednesday, putting out a call for
participants to join two working groups focused on making Web access from mobile
devices as natural and easy as making a telephone call. http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=D6D5A4:2AEDE26
BITTORRENT GOES TRACKERLESS
BitTorrent Goes Trackerless: Publishing with BitTorrent gets easier!
http://www.bittorrent.com/trackerless.html
Also
US Government closes down BitTorrent site
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml? type=domesticNews&storyID=8606774&src=rss/domesticNews
The Elite Torrents network, found online at www.elitetorrents.org, has been shut
down by US law enforcement officers for distributing illegal copies of "Star
Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" before it appeared in movie theaters.
Meanwhile, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has managed to shut
down at least five BitTorrent networks through lawsuits and has also sued
individuals who use them.
Editors note: As if anyone really wants to watch Star Wars on a computer screen!
Leaving aside the legality for a second, if theft of copyright was going to
break large companies, Microsoft would have been out of business ages ago. Just
like the CD and the cassette were going to ruin the music industry, now
Hollywood is going to be ruined by BitTorrent... let's ban motor vehicles while
we are at it, they get used in bank robberies.
PIGGY BANK IS COOL BANANAS
http://simile.mit.edu/piggy-bank/
To quote Seth Johnson, " Now, manipulating published information becomes a mode
of speech for all who can cross the digital divide, a ubiquitous vernacular, not
solely something you use reified tools for. There are no "P2P applications."
"P2P" is the Internet. We can now begin expressing, employing and sharing
abstract protocols and algorithms, with a full mutual understanding that that is
what they are, and that that is the coin of the realm, not static applications
and ossified works -- and we now know intrinsically that this is the degree of
flexibility of syntax and paradigm that we require, to exercise our capacities
with the full freedom of language itself"
(and he doesn't even work for the company, as far as I can see..)
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TELL A FRIEND
We continue to seek further feedback and exposure to the issues we are raising.
If you are aware of someone who you think should be aware of these issues, we
suggest you send them this newsletter, and suggest they subscribe (it's as
simple as sending an email to mailto:subscribe@internetmark2.org).
Alternatively, direct them to www.internetmark2.org. We appreciate your
feedback!
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