 Dr.
Jonathan B. Postel
1943 - 1998
The Internet Policy Oversight Committee joins the
world in mourning the death of Dr. Jonathan Postel, a founding father of
the Internet and the director of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.
As a direct result of the initiative by Dr. Postel
and the Internet Society in 1996, our committee was formed originally as
the International Ad Hoc Committee to undertake a restructuring of the
generic top level domains of the Internet. Some of us were fortunate enough
to have known him for many years; others came to know him as an inspiring
and legendary figure who provided wise counsel, mixed with humor and friendship,
as we struggled to bring consensus to a subject that generated no small
amount of controversy. Dr. Postel not only led us through the engineering
thickets. He also quickly realized that the explosive growth of the Internet
had brought in legal and political concerns that would radically change
the way the Internet had operated in its first 25 years. In an astonishingly
short time, he absorbed a crash course in intellectual property law, and
was able to point the way to an entirely new foundation for the administration
of the net. We had no quarrel with the description, by the Economist Magazine,
of Jon's role in the Internet - god. Characteristically selfless, he never
took such statements seriously.
We
share the sorrow of all involved with the Internet, and we extend our deepest
sympathy to his family and colleagues.
The Policy Oversight Committtee
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