The Internet started in the military for decentralized communication, then expanded to universities with government research contracts, then expanded to state-sponsored universities, then private colleges & universities, then the general public. I stand by my first statement. The net always was public property until it was decided otherwise, as public as the street in front of your house, which no one has a right to declare private without your (our) consent. -- ken
>No they didn't, not mostly. No it doesn't even if they did if they didn't >retain title. ICANN comes fromthe government not the private sector. > > >On Fri, 1 Mar 2002, Ken Freed wrote: > >> Did not the funds originally come from the government >> Doesn't that make the Internet, defacto, public property? >> I have great respect for Tony, but construing the net as >> private has caused more harm than good, i.e., ICANN. >> -- ken >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >At 01:02 PM 3/1/02 -0700, you wrote: >> >>Note: There was never a public vote to privatise the Internet, >> >>which is (was) public property. >> > >> >No, it's not. It's a set of interconnected *private* networks. >> > >> >Tony Rutkowski went to a lot of effort to make sure the Internet >> >was, in a formal telecommunications legal sense a "private" network. >> > >> >If it's a "public" network" (as the MoU people kept asserting) then >> >the ITU has dominion over it. That's why Tony did what he did. >> > >> > >> >-- >> > Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't >> > change the world. It's the only thing that ever has. >> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> >> >> >> > >-- > Please visit http://www.icannwatch.org >A. Michael Froomkin | Professor of Law | [EMAIL PROTECTED] >U. Miami School of Law, P.O. Box 248087, Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA >+1 (305) 284-4285 | +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax) | http://www.law.tm > -->It's warm here.<--
