Re: Break in Hostilities

[Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>]

On Tue, Nov 11, 1997 at 07:34:18PM +0000, Bob Allisat wrote:
> Kent wrote:
> > You can argue all you like.  You don't have IANA's signature on any 
> > document, unlike the IAHC, nor were you appointed by the IANA to come
> > up  with a solution, like IAHC was.  If you want to get a policy 
> > defined you are going to have to get that policy recognized by IANA.
> 
>  IANA is Jon Postel. And I, as
>  a Canadian citizen, have in no
>  way shape or form sanctioned,
>  elected or had any say in this
>  fellow's appointment as Internet
>  Dictator for life.

Bob, I have never met Jon Postel, probably you haven't either.  It
really doesn't matter what you think, or what I think.  What matters
is that the people who run the root servers think. 

>  And even if
>  Postel "decides" to exile Internet
>  governance from his own nation,
>  for it's own good, I still had
>  absolutely *NO* say in this process.

That's simply not true.  You have had plenty of say, and you are
continuing to have your say -- your mail message is incontrovertible
proof of that.  You and everybody else who cares a fig about this
stuff have had enormous opportunity to have their say.  

>  Are you all forgetting about democracy
>  and the rule of law?  Or do you think
>  it only applies to your humble net_god
>  carcasses and not the rest of the
>  people who may not share your views? 

Just because you get your say doesn't mean that you get your way. 
That's something we try to teach our kids, isn't it?

>  I have been advocating rebellion as
>  the only sane alternative to being
>  railroaded into some new form of net
>  hegemony. As the only response reason-
>  able netizens have to domination and
>  oppression.

"Domination and oppression"? This is just flat-out crybaby nuts, Bob. 
The city doesn't let you name your own street.  You don't get to
assign your own street numbers.  Civilization has a myriad of things
you can't do.  Civilization depends on infrastructure, and the net
depends on infrastructure.  And it is clear that the net
infrastructure simply cannot cope with everybody getting their pet TLD.
I'm not just talking about DNS -- the human complexity of managing who
gets what is off the scale.  

>  In order to avoid this
>  insurection I have counselled peace
>  talks and conciliation among all of
>  the belligerants.

I don't think of myself as a belligerent, to tell you the truth.  I
find the low integrity debating tactics of Duane and some others very
distasteful, and sometimes I blow off frustration.  You, on the other 
hand, are straightforward and consistent, even if you are misguided :-)

>  Will you, Kent, be
>  the first to stop the headlong rush
>  to conflict and sit down at a table
>  of your collegues to compromise?

I don't see a headlong rush to conflict.  Instead, I see serious
momentum in the development of CORE.  I think at some date early next
year CORE will have a functioning registry, IANA will distribute a new
root zone file, and those names will start resolving.  I could be 
wrong, of course.  But there are close to 90 registrars, which means 
they have close to a million dollars seed money, and those registrars 
will work very hard to defend what they paid for.

While it is flattering that you might think otherwise, a compromise on
my part would be totally meaningless.  I don't represent POC/PAB/CORE,
and if I tried to stand in their way I would be swept aside.  For the
next few months I think the birth of CORE will be the focus of
attention, in any case.

>  In
>  Toronto. As soon as possible. In a
>  nuetral, public place. With everyone 
>  else welcome and open to change.
> 
>  This is a direct question asked with
>  respect and candor. I would appreciate
>  a direct and honest reply.

In light of my above comments, and also in light of the fact that I am
not made out of money and trips to Toronto aren't free [I live in
California], I must decline.  However, I will be at the Washington, DC
IETF in December, and if you happen to be in that area at that time, I
would be happy to buy you a beer. 

-- 
Kent Crispin				"No reason to get excited",
kent@songbird.com			the thief he kindly spoke...
PGP fingerprint:   B1 8B 72 ED 55 21 5E 44  61 F4 58 0F 72 10 65 55
http://songbird.com/kent/pgp_key.html