List: U.S. Census data from Feb 19 stress the Internet time warp and hint at the risk of ignoring it. What is at stake when a RFC is faulty or not correctly implemented, for example hurting interoperation or security, grows exponentially in time, and fast.
The Internet broke the 60 percent penetration barrier in the U.S. faster than any other medium. For example, some 35 percent of the U.S. population had phone use in 1920, but penetration didn't reach 60 percent until 1950. With the Internet, a comparable increase in usage only took two years. Telephone - surpassed 60 percent in 30 years Cable TV - surpassed 60 percent in 27 years Computers - surpassed 60 percent in 15 years Radio - surpassed 60 percent in 10 years VCR's - surpassed 60 percent in 10 years Television - surpassed 60 percent in 5 years Internet - surpassed 60 percent in 2 years In this scenario, and with all due respect to everyone's opinions, policies that might have been justifiable some 10 or 15 years ago, such as laissez-faire interoperation, conformance verification and trust, cannot be justified by saying "the existing system is quite effective" or "in doing this for the last 10 years, i've yet to suffer a mishap because of this..." What was, aint' any more. In addition, within the last ten years the Internet has changed radically from a centrally controlled network to a network of networks -- with no control point whatsoever. There is, thus, further reason to doubt the assertion that what worked ten years ago will work today in the same way. Cheers, Ed Gerck
