Re: ISPs as stakeholders

[Mark Goodge <mark.goodge@uk.psi.com>]

At 15:02 08/12/97 +0000, Bob wrote:
>
> In other words the members, all
> businesses have set up a front
> organization which is tax free
> and limits their liability. It
> alos places them out of practical
> reach of lawsuits since we would
> be forced into Swiss courts to
> contest anything.

So? That's no different to the current situation where we would be forced
into the US courts to contest anything. The jurisdiction has to be
somewhere - it doesn't really matter too much which country it is, so long
as it's one that has a good legal framework for regulating commerce.
Switzerland has an excellent legal framework for regulating commerce -
that's one of the reasons why many multinational organisations are based
there.

> Functionally
> this eliminates any recourse for
> 99% of people actually using the
> Namespace.

No it doesn't. Sueing a Swiss organisation is no different suing a US or UK
one. You just pay the lawyers, and they get on with the job.

> Another reason CORE
> needs to be sabotaged. And soon.
>
> These drunken back slappers like
> Schnieder and Abril i Abril make
> me sick to my stomach. They pretend
> everything is set when all is very
> much up in the air. Fortunately.
> When will the US government wake
> up and put an end to all this
> nonsense? Soon I hope...

Er... it may or may not have occurred to you, but the Internet isn't owned
by the US government. These are *global* top level domains we're talking
about here! If anyone seriously believes that any one country, be it the US
or anywhere else, has a right to dictate how this should proceed, then
they've completely failed to grasp one of the most important aspects of the
whole process.

> as for
> this being an unreasoned response
> sometimes "bugger off" is the only
> appropriate reply.

:-)

> Al? You awake?
> They're making off with the Internet
> and all you can do is snooze?

It's a bit difficult to stop someone making off with somthing they already
posess! If anyone can be said, in any meaningful sense, to "own" the
Internet, it's not governments, it's the providers of the service and the
infrastructure - ISPs, telcos, universities, etc. If they decide to grant
CORE a mandate to operate any gTLDs, then it's none of any government's
business.

Mark
(Personal view, not representing my employer)
--
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine". From RFC1925