Re: Privatization Works! -Reply & Flame

[Simon Higgs <simon@higgs.com>]

At 12:09 PM -0500 6/26/97, Kevin J. Connolly wrote:

> Among the many aphorisms I wish I had authored is the one that "it's
> better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to  open  one's  mouth
> and remove  all doubt."  Mr. Fenello has chosen to open his mouth and
> demonstrate either that he's a fool or that he thinks the readers of
>this list
> are fools . . . or perhaps both.

And you just loudly spoke up too... ;-)

> The initiative referred to in the article Mr. Fenello cites has nothing to do
> with reforming the domain name system.  It relates to the extension of the
> Internet Protocol and the new systems for allocating IP addresses.
>
> The IP Address Space and the DNS Name Space are, as my engineering
> colleagues put it, "orthogonal."  They are logically and mathematically
> distinct.  Remember that under DNS, a domain name "maps into" a unique
> IP number.  All that the article referred to talks about is an ISP-driven
> initiative for the next version of the IP number system.  This is
> highly-relevant to the technical side of the DNS, but it does not reflect an
> undermining of the gTLD initiative.

It kinda looks like you missed the point completely. .ARPA is yet
another TLD. It has identical administrative issues all the other TLDs.
It may specifically cover the IP address space, but it does have all
the same problems the rest of the TLD space has when it comes down to
delegating zones. The key question when issuing IP space is whether the
delegating body is a monopoly, or if this function is going to be
competitive and shared per the CORE model. Should IP space be free, or
should people be allowed to profiteer out of a finite public resource.

P.S. Remember the word "delegation". You might need it again.



Best Regards,

Simon

-- "We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters
will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare.  Now, thanks to
the Internet, we know this is not true." -- Robert Wilensky, ILP 1996