Gordon and all, Nice post here Gordon. Intresting subjective. Lets see if I can help you out some on some of them from what I know at present... (See below for more comments) Gordon Cook wrote: > I have heard *a LOT* rumors which may or may not be credible. Perhaps some > of the parties involved would be willing to confirm or deny them> > > The general situation is that in addition to selling the internet out to > IBM and the GIP, Bill Clinton and al gore have sold it out to the European > commission. This might be stretching it a bit. It is clear that the DOC has leaned towards the IP and american as well as european TM community to a significant degree. > > > The ICANN policies that we have seen over the past 6 months, according to > knowledgable insiders, are a result of Clinton/Gore/Magaziner promises to > the Europeans that: > > 1. what happens to dot com will not be an American decision This looks likely to be the case. A recent article from New Zeland seems to point in that direction by in large. See: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nzherald99/story.cfm?theStoryID=9035 > > > 2. that dot com net and org would be opened to registrar "competition" ASAP This has already occurred in a somewhat "Kluge" fashion with Register.com. > > > 3. that for-profit, proprietary registries would not be allowed in order to > keep the europeans happy; This is not likely and is not within the current administrations ability to reasonably effect. It would also be anti-competitive. > > > 4. that new TLDs were also out of the question; Possibly true, unless they are CORE's 7. > > > 5. new TLDs could only be authorized as part of an international process > with the GAC in control This seems to be the direction that the ICANN and the GAC "Arm" is wanting to go, with some considerable support from the Clinton administration and in particular the NTIA and DOC. > > > 6.. that WIPO had to be enshrined as the sole means of dns trademark > dispute resolution, Not likely to fly. > > > 7. and that there could be no competition among domain name dispute > resolution policies as the Green Paper contemplated. Again not likely to fly as well, but is the short term direction that ICANN wishes to go it appears. > > > This sellout of american interests by clinton, gore, magaziner and beckwith > burr is very likely to be accompanied by an insistence by NTIA this week > that NSI sign the ICANN registrar requirements. unfortunately it doesn't > appear to have dawned on Beckwith that were NSI officers to sign such a > document, they would become subject to lawsuits by NSI share holders. Indeed NSI shareholders will be in a position to either sue or NSI itself will need to review it's direction significantly... > > > that faced with the hostility on the part of esther dyson and ICANNN, that > NSI's only reasonable response will be to withdraw from the cooperative > agreement. This is a exit strategy that NSI may be faced with. It would not bode well for ICANN mid to long term, however. > > > that the ICANN root server committee just happens to have a meeting > scheduled for san jose california at Vint Cerf's ISOC fest this coming > weekend. Hummmm, haden't heard this. Vinton, care to comment here? > > > that if NSI doesn't agree to be put out of business at the behest of the > clinton administration socialists, it will be put out of business at the > demand of the european socialists by an order from Beckwith to paul vixie > to make the f root server at the palo alto exchange the "a" server on an > interim basis This is a potential workable scenario. Paul, do you have any comments here? At any rate, should they do so, there would be an effectual split in the current root structure that would be bad for everybody if this method was employed. > > > while IBM and NTIA put the finishing touches on an replacement site for an > ICANN -run non profit dot com, org, and net registry with equipment > telephones and leased lines already installed and ready to start taking new > dot com registrations. (Last fall becky ordered NSI to provide her with a > manual on how to run the "a" server.) I doubt that they would be this stupid or foolish. It could be done however. > > > what is not clear is how the commerce department will close down NSI's > current operation (which they must do in order to satify the europeans). > Remember these people are not supposed to destabilize the Internet. But if > they don't close NSI down by the time Becky executes her saturday night > massacre, we may see $500 billion taken off the value of internet stocks. Yes it could be a bath from a market standpoint. That would not be a smart thing to do. I would hope that Becky and commerce is not this foolish. The aftermath would be pretty awful. > > > that NSI, under such circumstances, would find itself forced to operate its > A root as an alternative to the ICANN A root. Not a big problem for most ISP's they would likely not change which "A" root they pointed to, and could secondary ICANN's "A" at any rate as a workaround. > > > that NSI, under such circumstances, would invite .web .per and other new > tlds into its root COuld be, and a good idea it would be as well, amongst other tld's. > > > that NSI's alternative root might gain some very significant support by > other commercial internet service providers It would have some significant support from the start. > > > that we'd soon see the internmet could run just fine with multiple roots > and that hopefully the NSI root would quickly begin to garner support over > the ICANN/IBM?/NTIA/US gov't pirated root Yep. And this is what I have been advocating for several years. > > > that hopefully by this weekend bliley and mcCain will have realized the > gravity of the situation and sent out subpeonas for testimony by the people > involved. A wise thing to do to be sure. > > > **************************************************************** > The COOK Report on Internet Index to seven years of the COOK Report > 431 Greenway Ave, Ewing, NJ 08618 USA Exec summaries, glossary etc > (609) 882-2572 (phone & fax) http://cookreport.com > [EMAIL PROTECTED] What's Behind Ican and How it Will > Impact the Future of the Internet http://cookreport.com/icannregulate.shtml > **************************************************************** Regards, -- Jeffrey A. Williams CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng. Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC. E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact Number: 972-447-1894 Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208
