Creating Tomorrow's Internet.
INTERNET MARK 2 NEWSLETTER - JULY 2005
A warm welcome to all our readers! In this issue:
=> YOUR INPUT WANTED - WGIG REPORT
=> ICANN NEEDS A GOOD ROOT
=> NSF GETS IT
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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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=> YOUR INPUT WANTED - WGIG REPORT
We are rushing this newsletter out because the UN's Working Group on Internet
Governance (WGIG) has now released its long awaited report; you can obtain a
copy from www.wgig.org. It
will be formally presented in Geneva on July 18,and therafter comment will be
sought from all stakeholders.
Internet Mark 2 will be responding in the near future. If you have concerns, and
you would like us to raise them, wewould be grateful for your input and
comments.
Send any comments to
ian.peter@internetmark2.org and we will take them on board as we prepare our
response.
The recommendations include a new forum body to address public policy issues,
and a series of options to address the root zone policy question. Discussion of
these options will doubtless take up most of the time of those following the
process.
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=> ICANN NEEDS A GOOD ROOT
It's not been the best of years for ICANN. Leaving aside for a few seconds the
controversy about xxx, and the allegations of improper behaviour about the .net
assignment, ICANN has had a lot to deal with.
The troubles began with the UN Working Group on Internet Governance - hell bent
on fixing ICANN, even though ICANN says nothing is broke. That trouble remains
and isn't likely to go away for some time.
And then, just when it seemed that the UN and ITU was the cause of all ICANN's
problems, the old ally, US Government's DOC, decided that it was going to be in
charge of ICANN. Not only was it not going to release ICANN from its leash in
2006, as had been previously anticipated, but it was going to continue
indefinitely its role as regards control of the root zone of the Internet - the
sacred zone where countries exist or do not exist, and .mobi gets to be or not
to be.
Well, you might say, better the devil you know than the devil you don't know!
But the only trouble about a continued relationship with 'the devil ICANN knows'
is that no-one else wants to play if that's the case. There is widespread
international opposition to continuance of this arrangement.
In a shock announcement that ups the ante considerably CENTR (as reported
here) has decided that it doesn't need the ICANN root anyway, and can just
as easily set up its own self-governing root structure.
Now this is not the first of the ICANN faithful to go looking for another root.
Alternative roots have been in the ICANN corridors for a long time, and doing
quite nicely out of it.
Some of the old pioneers, such as Louis Pouzin, say that having another root (or
as many roots as you like) is OK. But not so the likes of Vint Cerf, ICANN
Chairman, or Paul Vixie, rootop and ISC head. Definite monogamists this pair -
(although Paul, unlike Vint, seems to contemplate whether a different root is OK
under some circumstances: he just doesn't want two or more at the same time).
Meanwhile, a Turkish alternative root is purported to be on the cards to deal
more easily with multilingual domain names . Potential puns about cunning
linguists aside, we find the alternative root argument being advanced in several
quarters where easier ways to deal with multilingual domain names will occur if
different roots exist.
The trouble is, this could spread more quickly than peer to peer if the idea
catches on. In an article in
CircleID, Joi Ito warns of the dangers of 'the internets' if more than one
root exists.
This could be the beginnings of a distinct change where the centralized dns as
we know it gradually gives way to some next generation structure which is far
more decentralized. The coming 12 months may see some significant changes in
this area.
But one thing is certain - ICANN needs a good root that everyone is happy with
if it is to survive. Technical considerations aside, the financial model of
ICANN and the existing domain name system is entirely dependent on centralized
control.
If that goes, and anyone can buy and sell domain names in any unique identifier,
then the model collapses. ICANN's finances are gone, so are those of any
registry not nimble enough to create a business based on market opportunity
rather than franchised operation.
It's too early to say whether ICANN will survive or not. Interestingly, it's not
the UN which may bring about its downfall, but the actions of the US Government.
But a good root is essential to ICANN's survival in anything like its current
form.
And that pesky UN committee has now released its report. Unable to decide what
to do about ICANN and its root, it presented four options; not the best starting
situation for any attempt by the UN to rescue ICANN from its dilemma.
In the midst of all this, ICANN's leadership has been polite and silent, as if
nothing was happening. Images of the passengers on the Titanic come to mind as
the ICANN faithful retreat from the relative safety of their Luxembourg dance
floor to their respective quarters....
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=> NSF GETS IT
On a more positive note - The UN National Science Foundation has released a
report available here which outlines the
problem of ossification of Internet standards by incremental change, and calls
for research into overlay and virtual network approaches. If you are unsure what
that all means, read the document for a more detailed explanation. This is a
significant approach to deal with the problems we foresaw in the Internet
Analysis Report in 2004. Nice to know we are not alone in our observations!
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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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