I note I really like the internet history mailing list.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Dave Täht <d...@taht.net>
Date: Tue, Mar 30, 2021 at 7:50 PM
Subject: geeks, internet
To: <dave.t...@gmail.com>
----- Forwarded message from the keyboard of geoff goodfellow via
Internet-history <internet-hist...@elists.isoc.org> -----
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2020 06:52:58 -1000
From: the keyboard of geoff goodfellow via Internet-history
<internet-hist...@elists.isoc.org>
To: Internet-history <internet-hist...@elists.isoc.org>
Subject: Re: [ih] Keep the geeks in charge of the internet
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Karl Auerbach <k...@cavebear.com>
Date: July 12, 2020 at 06:19:26 GMT+9
That piece demonstrates why "geeks" should *not* run the Internet.
Bodies such as ICANN have demonstrated time and time again that they are
incapable of resisting capture by organized business interests, such as the
trademark industry, and the domain name registry industry (which, though
ICANN's decades long self-blindness has created a multi $Billion per year
money pump of monopoly-rent profit.)
Over the years I've spent a fair amount of time among both "geeks" and
"policymakers".
There are definitely many very intelligent people in those camps. However
there are relative few "geeks" who understand economics, law, or social
forces. The same can be said of the policymakers - there are many who's
depth of understanding of the Internet is no deeper than having an AOL
email account.
The voice of experts who know how a thing works, from top to bottom, is
essential. But our world is like the fabled elephant in the tale of the
blind men who each perceive the creature as only the small piece that they
can touch and do not comprehend the total. Those who are experts in one
field are often somewhat blind in other fields.
This is why we need governance by entities that strive for a synoptic view,
that operate on the basis of respect for all concerns and listen (and
consider) all voices. The organs of decision of such entities ought to be
filled with intelligent, open-minded generalists. Those generalists may
not comprehend the entire elephant, but they will know that whatever it is,
it is more than merely a tail or trunk or tree-like legs.
(This is part of the foundation of my argument that STEM education needs to
be balanced by a strong dose of liberal arts - we need to tune our
educations machinery to create those smart generalists.)
For many decades the Internet had an air gap from society. That gap no
longer exists. The Internet is now a fundamental critical infrastructure.
It is also being comprehended as a marvelous tool for control, data
gathering, public-opinion shaping, profit making, and a force in national an
international politics.
Take the 5G push for example. At its edges it is starting to give off a
scent of attempting to be the new ISO/OSI. There's some good stuff in 5G,
as there was in ISO/OSI. But the decisions about deployment of 5G, it's
frequency bands, its use in vehicle-to-X communications, etc go well beyond
the merely technical.
If we let "the geeks" run the farm we can expect a lot of new Facebooks and
Zuckerbergs - lots of technology without comprehension of, nor care for,
the social impact.
Do we really want to resurrect a world run by trade guilds? Is one going
to be required to go through an new kind of apprenticeship in order to have
a say, a say that must be heard even if not accepted, in how we pull and
turn the levers and knobs of our networks, health systems, power grids,
food distribution systems, etc etc?
Democracy, whether direct or representative, is our imperfect answer. That
path is hard, slow, inefficient, and frustrating. But it is necessary.
We have to take care to learn from the past. We ought to take a lesson
from things like ICANN, where the voice of the public interest is muted
under thick layers of complicated procedures, costs of effective
participation, and competition from well-funded industrial interests.
--karl--
On Sun, Jul 12, 2020 at 1:09 AM *the keyboard of geoff goodfellow
<ge...@iconia.com <ge...@iconia.com>> wrote:*
*By enabling people and businesses to remain connected while under
lockdown, the Internet has helped to prevent the global economy from
collapsing entirely. And yet the engineer-led nonprofit organizations that
oversee the stable functioning of the global Internet are again under
attack.*
EXCERPT:
The coronavirus pandemic has rapidly transformed the internet into the
most critical infrastructure on Earth.
By enabling people and businesses to remain connected while under
lockdown, the internet has helped to prevent the global economy from
collapsing entirely. Indeed, with fear and social distancing continuing to
separate many of us, it has become the connective tissue for much human
interaction and economic activity around the world.
But few appreciate how this critical global resource has remained stable
and resilient since its inception, even as its scope and scale have
undergone uninterrupted explosive growth. In an age of widening political,
economic, and social divisions, how has the “one internet” connecting the
entire world been sustained? And how can we best continue to protect it?
The answers to both questions start with understanding what makes the
Internet — which consists of tens of thousands of disparate networks — look
like and function as one network for all. These components, or unique
internet identifiers, include Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, which are
associated with every device connected to the internet, and internet domain
names (like ft.com, harvard.edu or apple.news), which we use to search
for and connect to computers easily.
These unique identifiers ensure that, no matter where you are or which
network you are connected to, you will always get in touch with the right
computer with the desired domain name, or reach the right target device
with an embedded IP number (such as a smart thermostat, for example). This
simple, elegant architecture reflects the genius of a handful of brilliant
engineers who created the internet a half-century ago. Since then, it has
never failed to help us locate the billions of devices that have been added
to the thousands of networks that make up today’s cyber economy. Should the
identifiers fail, we would experience immediate digital chaos.
Given the identifiers’ critical role, it is imperative that they not be
compromised or controlled by any authority that is not committed to
maintaining the internet as an open, global, common good. In the wrong
hands, they could be used to fragment the Internet and enable top-down
control of usage and users by governments with malign intentions. And such
fears are real, given authoritarian governments’ online meddling in
elections, national security networks and digital commercial transactions
in the last few years.
So, the key question is who should be entrusted today to maintain the
security and reliability of internet identifiers. The answer is simple:
geeks, not governments...
[...]
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/geeks-not-governments-should-control-the-internet-by-fadi-chehade-2020-07
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2020/07/11/commentary/world-commentary/keep-geeks-charge-internet/
--
geoff.goodfel...@iconia.com
living as The Truth is True
--
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internet-hist...@elists.isoc.org
https://elists.isoc.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history
----- End forwarded message -----
--
My email server only sends and accepts starttls encrypted mail in transit.
One benefit - it stops all spams thus far, cold. If you are not encrypting
by default you are not going to get my mail or I, yours.
