Re: Dispute resolution

[jp@PalmerOwns.The.Earth (John Palmer)]

> 
> I'm not so sure that it isn't. For rights, one generally takes on some
> responsibilities. The 'right' to drive a car means you must abide by the
> rules. The 'right' to fly on a plane entails other responsibilities
> (the 'right' to smoke comes to mind). Even just being in a public park
> entails responsibilities. You cannot (at least in most places I know of)
> just do as you please in a public park. Some things will *definitely*
> get you arrested (assuming the law is there at the time).

Yes, but the people who made the rules took  a simple mandate and 
wrote a document which would make the old Soviet bureaucracy jealous. 

You were supposed to do the following: write a procedure whereby anyone 
who wanted a top level domain could get one added to the root zone file.
The procedures were supposed to take into account ONLY those things 
neccessary for the integrity of the network - like does the company have
more than one name server, etc.  Also, there should be a way for the keeper
of the root zone file to be compensated and perhaps a way to more 
formally compensate root server operators. 

    you were NOT allowed to force this shared registry crap on us
    you were NOT allowed to limit who could have a top level domain
    (other than making sure that they have name servers).
    you were NOT allowed to limit the number of registries
    you WERE MORALLY obligated to respect the FCFS and prior use
    policies as well as the application file that Jon Postel sent.

Your document is an example of a bunch of people taking a simple mandate
and going power-mad with it, trying to control and constrain trade as much
as possible. There are people from outside of the US on the IAHC and it
shows - This document has a "french" flavour to it. 

In Europe, the people are "enslaved" by governments which have fostered
in their culture the notion that "we know best" and "the state over 
individual sovreignty", etc. In America, we have (in spite of Bill
Clinton's attempts) recognized that God meant PEOPLE, INDIVIDUALS to 
be the sovreigns and that the government was the slave to the people.

As a result, government should be crippled, tied up and held back, while
the people should be allowed to run their own affairs. Government should
be MISTRUSTED by default and only tolerated in areas where it is needed.
In this case, ONLY THE VERY NECCESSARY powers should be allowed to be
in the hands of governments. 

In the case of the gTLD issue: the ONLY ISSUES that needed to be dealt with
were:
      1> Make sure that the gTLD operator has at least two name servers
         and robust connectivity.
      2> Define the roles of the keeper of the root zone file and root
         name server operators and figure out how much $$$ they need
      3> Devise a scheme to collect fees to support management of 
         the "." zone and root name servers and a way to ensure accountability
         of these funds (annual public audit reports, etc). 

That was your mandate. You failed and instead turned out a document which 
restrains trade and imposes a HUGE set of rules, 99% of which are nonsense.

Let me remind you non-Americans that it was FREE UNRESTRAINED ENTERPRISE
which rebuilt your sorry little asses in Japan and Germany after we 
KICKED YOUR ASS in WW-2. We didn't have to do it, but we were being nice.
Without the US support, the Palestinian flag would have been flying over
Jerusalem (all of it) and Tel Aviv, etc and the notion of a Jewish Nation
would be a pipe dream even today. Instead, we in the "capitalist" USA
helped you with guns and butter so that you could fend off the forces
against you. 

Do not forget what forces allowed the world to prosper: Freedom, Democracy
Unrestrained Trade, Free Enterprise, etc. If we had a government which 
churned out documents like the "draft of Dec 19", the entire world would
be a nastier place.

My company will not support the IAHC's draft at all and will do everything 
possible to prevent its enactment. Failing that, we will protect our 
rights to exclusive use of our trademark (you cannot trademark "earth"
and "usa" as words, but you can trademark "the internet top level domain
EARTH" and the "internet top level domain USA", for instance, the word
"saturn" and the "automobile brand saturn"). 

We intend to continue to develope our registry and our intellectual 
properties ".USA" and ".EARTH". We will activly engage in a public 
relations campaing against the IAHC and its excesses and will encourage
people to IGNORE this committee.

We will support ROOT64 and Alternic, so long as these bodies oppose 
the IAHC socialism. 

We will offer FREE web space and development services to some groups who
will commit to utilising .USA and .EARTH. 

Beginning February 1st, we will be changing our domain name from 
AGN.NET, to AGN.EARTH and will de-list all DNS records from the AGN.NET
zone. (ie: we will practice what we preach).

I am angry and sad that it has come to this. I really held out hope that
the committee would do the right thing. 

Life goes on - we move on to what is next (as Art Bell would say - by
the way - his web page is http://ArtBell.Pahrump.Nevada.USA).

John Palmer

P.S - look for our full page ad in a coming issue of INFORMATION WEEK. 
This ad denounces the IAHC draft and offers alternatives. 

I am forwarding a copy of this message to ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, C-SPAN
and other news organizations.