As a representative of of one of the co-hosts for this meeting, I am
equally gratified and terrorized to have the distinction hosting the
largest IETF meeting to date (I fully expect this meeting to be
surpassed soon). Fred's summary of the diversity of the IETF was
truly impressive.
But in retrospect, one thing he said bothered me greatly. He
mentioned there were representatives of some five hundred different
organizations at this meeting. That too is impressive. But it's
that word "representative" I find disquieting.
We are here not as corporate representatives, but as individuals
committed to building the best Internet we can. Becoming part of a
working group means you leave your company badge at the door. As the
Internet has become more and more a commercial place, and the setting
for business and commerce, the pressure to bend the way the Internet
works to one's particular advantage at the expense of others
increases.
This is not part of our heritage. It is not part of our Tao. We
come together because the Internet belongs to no one country, or
organization. Rather it exists for all. We can look forward to a
Net which not only spans the Earth, but gives every person in every
country, the opportunity and the means to learn from any other
regardless of their home, their beliefs or their physical
capabilities.
It is a wonderful thing. And we must remember it is our
responsibility to preserve and enhance it for those who will come
after.
--
john noerenberg
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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If we admire the Net, should not a burden of proof fall on those
who would change the basic assumptions that brought it about in
the first place?
-- David Brin, "The Transparent Society", 1998
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