ISOC-England: ISOC-E Digest 19 June 2003 Volume 2: Issue 03
"The Internet is for Everyone"
The Internet Society of England freely distributable Newsletter
Editor: Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <http://www.england.isoc.org/newsletter/index.rhtm>
Contents:
Welcome to issue number 2.03
ISOC NEWS
- ISOC England Chairman update
- Full Vint Cerf Speech at the House of Lords, London, 21 March 2003
- The ISOC England IPv6 wake-up call @ Weber Shandwick, 21 May 2003
NEWS REVIEW
NEXT GENERATION IP - HELPING TO SMASH THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Houlin Zhao, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
ICANN REFORM AND ICANN's GOVERNMENTAL ADVISORY COUNCIL POSITION:
A VIEW FROM ITALY
Stefano Trumpy, ISOC.IT
MANAGEMENT AT THE ROOT OF THE INTERNET
IANA v 2 AND INTERNATIONALISING THE 'ROOT': FINAL PIECES OF A REFORMED ICANN ?
Richard Francis iGCL Oxford, and Tricia Drakes Chair ISOC England
EVENTS DIARY
ABRIDGED INFO ON ISOC ENGLAND
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 19 June 2003 00:00:00 -0000
From: Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl@gih.com>
Subject: Welcome to issue number 2.03
The past month has been one of many developments both for
the International Internet community and for ISOC England.
Recent ISOC England events included Vint Cerf's visit to
the UK as well as an ISOC England meeting on IPv6 conveniently
titled: "You're All Asleep: The ISOC England IPv6 Wake-Up Call".
Find more on both of these events in the ISOC News section.
Our feature articles this month are once again varied and should
be of interest to everybody who takes an interest in the Internet
and related subjects.
Our first feature article is penned by Houlin Zhao, Director
of the Telecommunications Standards Bureau at the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) based in Geneva. In his article,
Mr. Zhao provides ITU's insight about migration from IPv4 to
IPv6. As a reminder, the current Internet runs on IP Version 4.
The next generation Internet, will run on IP Version 6. The
migration from Version 4 to 6 is imminent and will provide
virtually unlimited addressing possibilities for all new
types of devices that will be connected to the Internet.
ISOC is committed to see IPv6 implemented worldwide, and
so is the ITU.
ICANN the Internet Center for Assigned Names and Numbers
is also a favourite topic of our newsletter, and that's
because it is so important that ICANN's development
process succeeds. After all, it is the only authority
in charge of the Internet. ICANN is a growing body.
ICANN is reforming. Stefano Trumpy, President of the ISOC
chapter in Italy and the and the representative accredited
by Italy to the Governmental Advisory Council (GAC) provides
his view on the GAC position and its possible role in ICANN's
reform after the meeting held last march in Rio de Janeiro,
Brasil.
To follow-up with Mr. Trumpy's article, Richard Francis
and Tricia Drakes have contributed an article detailing the
current reform process taking place in the relationship
between ICANN and IANA. Briefly, IANA (the Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority) is the authority originally responsible
for the oversight of IP address allocation, the coordination
of the assignment of protocol parameters provided for in
Internet technical standards, and the management of the DNS,
including the delegation of top-level domains and oversight
of the root name server system.
Under ICANN, the IANA continues to distribute addresses to
the Regional Internet Registries, coordinate with the IETF
and others to assign protocol parameters, and oversee the
operation of the DNS. The reform process is still far from
achieved so watch this space for further developments.
There will be a shortened issue of the ISOC England newsletter
in July, where we will continue to report on ICANN's
reform. Tricia Drakes, our Chairman, will provide us with
a full account of ISOC England's activities in the last
6 months, as well as our plans for the next 6 months.
On this topic, I would like to congratulate Tricia Drakes
on her new appointment to the ICANN Board. This new
appointment will no doubt provide the UK and Europe with
a significant voice in ICANN activities and reform.
September will see a full issue of our newsletter dealing
with the issue of SPAM. How to filter it out; how to
avoid it; what means does the Internet community have, to
make sure that our e-mail mailboxes are not flooded on
a daily basis with irrelevant information that we are not
interested in? Should Spam be made illegal? Should we
filter all e-mail and implement challenge-response systems
to make sure that what we receive is what we want? Is
the functionality of e-mail about to decrease because of
information overload? A lot of questions to be answered
by experts and users in the field. If you have any views
on Spam, any solution to solve this problem, and suggestion,
then please e-mail us on editor@england.isoc.org - we'd
love to hear from you. 80% of my incoming e-mails are
Spam messages - your e-mails in my mailbag will make that
percentage decrease. In the meantime, have a great summer!
We would really like to receive feedback from readers,
so if you have suggestions, comments, or would like to
contribute an article to the ISOC-E newsletter, then please
write to: editor@england.isoc.org
Happy Reading!
Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond, PhD
ISOC England Newsletter Editor and Membership Director
------------------------------
ISOC NEWS
ISOC ENGLAND CHAIRMAN UPDATE
Tricia Drakes, 17 June 2003
Welcome to the latest edition of the ISOC England Newsletter,
which I hope you will enjoy! Pride of place today is our
congratulations to Prof Peter Kirstein who was made a CBE
(Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for services
to Internetworking Research in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
Congratulations Peter!
As announced earlier in 2003, the "final item" on ISOC England's
"Action Plan" for the period to 25 July 2003 is "The UK and the
Internet". The Internet has been "international" from its very
early days, and the UK has played an important and active role
in every stage of the Internet's history, starting from the
"founding" and "pioneering" period of the sixties and early
seventies, and this continues right up to the present day
including what is happening now (a very critical time!) as we
move into "Next Generation Internet".
The first "international" connection of the Internet (then the
Arpanet) was between the United States and University College
London... and Peter Kirstein CBE was the person responsible for
this at UCL. Peter has continued to make a major contribution
to the development of the Internet right up to this present day...
and, as he approaches his 70th Birthday, we hope that his energy,
dedication and passion to strive for "Internet for Everyone" will
continue for many years to come!
The celebrations to mark the "30th Anniversary of the (International)
Internet" will start on 25 July 2003, and will continue until the
end of November 2003. We hope to encourage others to join in the
"30th Anniversary" celebrations... for example, to celebrate 30 years
since the "unveiling" and review of the first draft of the initial
design of the "Internet Protocols" by INWG at a meeting held at
University of Sussex in September 1973, and also the "first public
demonstration" of the "International connection" at the IEE on
1 November 1973. We hope that "everyone" (individuals and
organisations) will join us in these important 30th Anniversary
celebrations... We would love to hear your personal recollections
and stories of what happened during this period!
We are also looking to put down a "marker" in terms of: where we
(and the Internet) are today, to be "mindful of the past", and to
look to the future by "promoting" what needs to happen for
"Next Generation Internet" to deliver "Internet for Everyone".
We are delighted also to include in our Newsletter the very moving
and thought provoking speech given by Vint Cerf at a dinner
arranged by the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists'
in the House of Lords on Friday 21 March 2003. This was a very
special evening.
Vint's visit to London in March with his wife Sigrid also included
a lecture and dinner at the Royal Society for "The Content
Management Network", and an informal luncheon hosted by
Goldman Sachs attended by representatives from the investor
community, industry, DTI and the local Internet Community.
On a personal level, I am delighted and honoured to be joining
the ICANN Board. I am sure that my period in office will be one
of both challenge and opportunity. Having been selected by the
ICANN Nominating Committee (NomCom), I know that I have a special
charge and responsibility to place the public interest ahead of
any particular interests.
ICANN is one of the three main "areas of focus" for ISOC England.
We shall be reporting further on our progress on all three in a
special "30th Birthday Issue" ISOC England Newsletter planned for
later in the summer.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my ISOC England
Board colleagues and our friends for all their help and support
in my first six months in the Chair of ISOC England. This has
been a team effort, and we all care passionately about
"Internet for Everyone".
Tricia Drakes
Chair, ISOC England
Tricia.drakes@parvil.demon.co.uk
---
The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists
Speech by Vint Cerf, Dinner, the House of Lords, London
Friday 21 March 2003
Lord Watson of Richmond, Master, members of the Worshipful
Company of Information Technologists, distinguished guests,
ladies and gentlemen:
It is an extraordinary honor to be invited to address the
Worshipful Company and its guests in such auspicious,
historical and elegant surroundings. My wife, Sigrid, and
I count ourselves doubly blessed, not only by this invitation
but also by the friendship extended to us by Tricia Drakes,
past Master of the Company, through whom our participation in
this event was arranged.
We meet tonight in a common interest in the societal, ethical
and spiritual aspects of life. The silent elephant in the room,
that I will not ignore, is the ongoing war in Iraq. The young
men and women of our two countries are in combat against Iraqi
forces even as we speak here. And already, we know, there are
families in the UK and the US who grieve the deaths of a dozen
of these brave soldiers. We cannot pretend that modern warfare
will be or even can be free of loss of life and so we must anticipate
that such reports will continue though we pray otherwise.
I do not propose to use this opportunity to address you tonight
to debate the war question. Rather, my purpose is to explore the
remarkable potential inherent in human ingenuity and thirst for
knowledge.
Digital technology has given us a remarkable capability to
organize the knowledge of mankind, to distribute it, to analyze
it, and to harness it for beneficial purposes. The same technology
that gives us the pleasure of high quality video and audio on
inexpensive plastic diskettes has provided us with an unprecedented
ability to carry our own computing and communication capability,
to engage hundreds of millions of computers in a worldwide network
and to search hundreds of billions of pages of information on the
global Internet in fractions of a second.
Data and information and knowledge are not material objects nor
palpable to the touch. We cannot smell them or taste them nor really
see or hear them in their conceptual form. And yet, these are terms
for the most valuable of things we can possess. Even in ancient times
these things often represented the difference between death and
survival. Knowing where to find food and how to find or build shelter.
Knowing how and when to plant and harvest crops. Knowing how to
deal with injury and sickness. We did not learn these things solely
by discovering them on our own. We learned them from parents, village
elders, leaders of tribes, and persons with special experience. But
to learn we had to communicate. So we must add communication to our
list of vital if immaterial things without which survival could be
doubtful.
But life is not just a matter of survival. At least for the human
species, it is a never-ending quest to increase the store of data,
information and knowledge available to the entire population. There
can be little question that the long-lasting success of any particular
civilization is due in part to the effective accumulation and sharing
of knowledge and its propagation to future generations.
One can see the long-term effects of certain inventions on the
propagation of knowledge and its accumulation. Record keeping with
stones or notched sticks or knotted ropes are well-known examples of
important ways in which various cultures captured information for
future use. One can but marvel at the design and construction of
Stonehenge. How many years of patient observation and record keeping,
much of it likely through memorization and oral tradition, went into
the recognition of solar and lunar patterns leading to the structure
of this ancient observatory? The invention of writing represented
another leap forward. Whether by pictograms or by alphabet, writing
permitted the recording of information and its propagation into the
future. The movable type printing press created yet another dimension
of knowledge propagation - to a much broader population than could be
reached with manuscripts painstakingly copied by hand.
The recording and sharing of data and information and knowledge is a
key component of all human endeavor and in particular these are fuel
for the engine of science and engineering. The long-lived capture of
written material leads not only to near-term information sharing but
also to a kind of one-way communication between the past and the
future. Although we cannot speak today directly with Newton, Maxwell,
Copernicus or Galileo, they speak to us across the centuries.
If we take the term "writing" to mean more generally the capture of
information in accessible form, we can include today's digital
information archives and databases under this general rubric. With
our electronic ink and networked communication infrastructure, we
have a rich fabric of communication choices upon which to "write".
Moreover, the representation of data, information and knowledge in
digital form allows us to apply the power of computing and software
to the organization, analysis, and discovery of new information.
Talk to any practicing scientist or engineer today and in large
measure you will find that the conduct of research and engineering
design depends in diverse and deep ways on the sharing of information,
as it always has, but today what is added is a sense of urgency to
know the latest information. Collaboration has long been a common thread
in the conduct of scientific research and engineering work. In the
presence of globally accessible information, massive shared databases
and online communication tools, such collaboration is even easier than
in the past. The sharing of digitized work product, experimental data
and analytic software tools enables progress at rates that would once
have seemed mere fantasy in even the recent past.
No society can long endure without an official and critical commitment
to teaching its youth. The development of the intellectual resources
of the human mind simply must have a prominent place in the list of
any society's priorities.
I have found it instructive to contrast natural resources with
information resources to understand how these differ. In general,
natural consumable resources such as oil, land and water have limits.
Even if they have renewable aspects such as water supplies, the rate
of consumption may exceed the rate of renewal, threatening exhaustion
of the resource. Digital information resources, on the other hand,
have the peculiar characteristic that they can be infinitely replicated
without consuming them entirely. Often, concerns for natural resources
revolve around concerns for population growth and the potential for
exhaustion of natural resources caused by over-consumption.
Ironically, as the Earth's human population increases, each person on
the planet has the potential to contribute his or her intellectual
resources to the whole - each of us bringing an addition to this precious
pool. Population growth need not threaten the supply of intellectual
resources in the same way that natural resources can be threatened, but
population growth does challenge the development and utilization of
human intellectual capital.
In the absence of critical resources such as food, water, shelter, roads
and sanitation, the development of intellectual resources can be severely
impaired. Thus, the effective development of intellectual resources is
dependent on the development and availability of more fundamental natural
and man-made resources.
It is plainly apparent that poverty, conflict, violence and war raise
fundamental impediments to the peaceful development of vital intellectual
resources. Our aspirations for the development of an Information Society
for all is therefore inextricably coupled with the need to improve the
standard of living for everyone so that all can contribute to the unbounded
richness of globally shared Information.
I was once caught in a severe blizzard in the city of Boston in
February 1978. Within a few days, the thin veneer of ordered society
gave way to a more primitive chaos. Stores were closed because of the
storm and people were breaking into them, not because they were lawless
thieves but because they had simply run out of food or other supplies.
Some actually left money in the cash registers. I am sure many did not.
One observation I took away from this experience was an appreciation for
the effect of a sufficiency of resources on human behavior. We queue
voluntarily for taxis and restaurants and banking services on the
presumption that there will be enough for everyone, and our turn will
come.
Food production is as dependent on high quality information as it is
on mechanical tools and automation to multiply human muscle power.
Agriculture is as much about information as it is about irrigation.
Automation and mechanization of manufacturing, transportation and
commerce therefore contribute to society's ability to allocate significant
amounts of its time to the development and application of intellectual
resources.
The threat or fear of shortages induces increasingly less ordered behavior.
The long gas lines of the 1970s during the oil shortage led to abuses in
some cases. So did the rationing of resources during World War II in the
U.S., U.K. and elsewhere. These memories of the past lead me to conclude
that where it is feasible, technology must be put to work to improve
productivity across all economic sectors. In the presence of a sufficiency
of goods and services for everyone, the societal stresses that lead to
conflict and violence can be reduced if not eliminated. I have seen the
power of plenty. Enough for now is not enough. We must provide for the
generations to come through sustainable development of natural and
intellectual resources.
Education is a process that should enhance and further develop intellectual
resources but too often it stifles curiosity and innovation. Children are
born with a natural curiosity and ability to experiment that can be easily
dissipated, and often is, by poor quality education.
It is too easy to think of the Digital Divide as a gap in equipment and
communications infrastructure when it may be, in fact, a terrible gap in
ability to educate and to provide an environment in which learning and
exploration is encouraged and facilitated. Even where educational
resources are plentiful, how many nascent scientists and engineers have
been diverted from their natural interests by teaching methods that
overly emphasize the memorization of facts and under emphasize the value
of understanding?
Indeed, the successful development and sustained operation of an
Information Society is only possible when the complex systems and services
that comprise and support the underlying information services can be
supported effectively by the population that uses them. The assured
availability of electrical power, for example, is as important to
sustaining an information society as technical operational support is
to maintaining its digital tools and services.
In broad terms, therefore, we must keep in mind that an Information
Society can only emerge if its essential infrastructure can be supported
in each home, village, town, and city. We have learned from experience
that the implementation and operation of computer communication networks
is best achieved with local talent, suitably trained and motivated.
The Internet Society (ISOC) has worked with many partners to teach
thousands of engineers how to build and operate pieces of the Internet.
Like a piece of paper, Internet does not know what is written on it.
We are the writers on that blank paper. In truth, the Internet is now
a mirror of mankind. If we do not like what we see in the mirror, the
solution is not to re-touch the image in the mirror. Rather we must make
ourselves over if we want the image to change. In the meantime, the
Internet will continue to show us all aspects of our global society -
the good, the bad and the ugly. As I use the Internet, I find a great
deal of content to be admired, treasured and valued. I am persuaded that
there is a lot more good to be obtained from a free flow of information
than is to be gained by attempting to control Internet content ? something
that can easily stifle the very creativity that brought the Internet
into being and sustains its growth today.
The opportunity is given to few generations to have such a dramatic
potential impact on the generations to come. Digital Division must be
replaced by Digital Multiplication! Our task is to multiply access to
digital technology and resources. That there is ample and challenging
work ahead is not in doubt, but the outcome will depend on our
collective ability to see beyond our own near-term interests. We must
operate cooperatively and for the long-term so that the Information
Society will be openly and fully accessible to all who wish to partake
of it.
And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I ask you to rise in a toast:
The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, may it flourish,
root and branch.
---
YOU'RE ALL ASLEEP: THE ISOC ENGLAND IPv6 WAKE-UP CALL
Weber Shandwick / GJW Public Affairs, 21 May 2003
Three exceptionally experienced speakers came to speak at the latest
ISOC England Briefing, on IPv6: the Wake Up Call. Each represented
a slightly different constituency. Peter Kirstein, Professor of
Computing Systems at UCL and Chairman of the UK IPv6 Taskforce spoke
with the authority of technical experience that has made him our
'UK Father of the Internet'. Houlin Zhao, Director of the
Telecommunications Standardization Bureau at the ITU spoke on the
technical benefits of IPv6 compared with IPv4, and Uri Rahamim
spoke with the authority of his private sector experience about the
need to navigate a migration path from IPv4 to IPv6.
However, what was clear from all the discussions was that all three
speakers, and a large number of valuable contributions from the
floor, agreed that there was a desperate need for UK organisations
to wake up to the need to embrace IPv6. At certain times during
the evening, the frustration from delegates and speakers alike
was clearly evident: why were other countries so much further
advanced than the UK with their IPv6 migration plans and yet the
UK was not recognising the importance? The European Union's various
IPv6 research projects and test-beds at least demonstrate that the
EU institutions, often criticised for their slow adoption of new
ideas, were at least on the curve, if not ahead of it. The election
commitment that was made by Japan's Prime Minister in his inaugural
address last year was clear evidence that the Government had been
convinced of the necessity; it demonstrated either the success of
the IPv6 lobby in Japan or that business had acted and the Government
had responded.
It was disappointing that due to unavoidable circumstances, no
representative from Government was able to attend on the evening.
They would have been impressed by the level of understanding
demonstrated by those in the room, but would have been wary of
their deep-felt concerns.
But it should be remembered that the Government frequently sees its
role as stepping in only when there is a clearly demonstrated requirement.
In a case like this, it is likely that the Government will only consider
it important to step in if industry attempts to create change and
establish a business case for IPv6 adoption fails. The Government's
involvement in Y2K, frequently used as a comparable with IPv6, was in
part due to the perceived lack of industry awareness and campaigning
for compliance. This was coupled with a change of Government in the
lead up to Year 2000, creating a situation where the few Tory ex-Ministers
and interested MPs who had begun to discuss Y2K before the Election
were able to use inactivity as a stick with which to beat the Government.
The creation of a political imperative was the key to the Government's
involvement.
Much of the discussion over drinks and canapes after the ISOC England
IPv6 event focused on the need for Government to get involved. To
achieve this for IPv6, like Y2K a political imperative must be created,
ensuring that the Government is wedded to the concept of migration and
upgrade. In order for this to happen, a clear picture needs to be
painted, one that discusses IPv6 in non-technical terms, one that
demonstrates that the Government does actually have a role to play,
and one that indicates that business cannot guarantee full 'compliance'
by 2005 - the date by which the world is expected to suffer severe
shortages of addresses - without the Government's involvement.
But it is up to business and the IPv6 community to ensure that this
political imperative is created. ISOC England's wake-up call was
a major step in galvanising opinion on the subject. It was a
wake-up call to business and to the IPv6 community.
Copies of the presentations given at the event are available on the
ISOC England website. http://www.england.isoc.org
Hugh Milward, Associate Director
Weber Shandwick / GJW Public Affairs
Director - ISOC England
---
ISOC BOARD OF TRUSTEE ELECTIONS
ISOC Board of Trustee Elections were conducted from late January 2003
through 20 May 2003. At chapter level, ISOC England was allowed to
cast one vote from the four candidates on offer to represent chapters.
These were:
- Rosa Delgado, Peru/Switzerland
- Jonathan Robin, France
- Jean-Claude Gu�don, Canada
- Christian de Larrinaga, UK
Dominic Pinto, ISOC England member, very kindly ran the election in
England on behalf of ISOC-E and asked paid-up members in England to cast
their vote for our chapter's choice. Christian de Larrinaga, ISOC-E
Chairman Emeritus won the ISOC-E vote and this was transmitted to ISOC.
Our thanks go to Dominic for doing a great job of his task.
Globally, Rosa Delgado won the vote and will serve for a three-year
term ending in 2006. Congratulations on her new appointment.
Full details of the election results are found on:
http://www.isoc.org/members/vote/2003election/results.shtml
------------------------------
NEWS DIGEST
In the fast-changing world of Technology and the Internet, News are
a daily event. Here is a selection from the six past months of newsreel.
I welcome comments about the selection!
Please e-mail your feedback to editor@england.isoc.org
SECURITY
CYBERTERRORISM AND CeBIT TECHNOLOGY FAIR
(BBC, 16 March 2003)
The threat posed by cyber-terrorism has been overhyped and
the net is unlikely to become a launch pad for terror attacks.
That was the conclusion of a panel of security and technology
experts brought together at the CeBIT technology fair to consider
the threat posed by net attacks on businesses and consumers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2850541.stm
WHITE HOUSE SECURITY ADVISER RESIGNS
(SiliconValley.Com, 22 April 2003)
"While significant progress has been made, there still
is much to do."
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/5688550.htm
PIRACY IS NOT A VICTIMLESS CRIME
(IFPI Website, 2003)
Speech by Iain Grant, Director of Enforcement, European Parliament)
http://www.ifpi.org/site-content/press/inthemedia10.html
PRIVACY
PRIVACY INTERNATIONAL BIG BROTHER AWARDS
Privacy International has announced the results of the UK
and US Awards. The 5th UK Big Brother Awards winners are
Ken Livingstone, Capita, ACPO, and the PIU Data Sharing
Report. PM Tony Blair received the Lifetime Menace Award.
The 2003 US BBAs were held on 3 April 2003 at the Computers,
Freedom and Privacy Conference in New York City. The winners
are Total Information Awareness, Delta Airlines, and
Assistant AG Viet Dien.
http://www.privacyinternational.org/bigbrother/uk2003/
http://www.privacyinternational.org/bigbrother/us2003/
IRELAND FINALLY UPDATES DATA PROTECTION LAWS
(Out-Law.com Masons, 23 April 2003)
Ireland has finally implemented the 1995 Directive on Data
Protection, almost five years after the expiry of the EU's
deadline. Ireland becomes the 14th of the 15 Member States
to get its domestic privacy legislation in order.
Luxembourg has still to comply.
http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=irelandfinallyupda1051121136
LEGAL & REGULATORY
U.K. TO CRACK DOWN ON SPAM
(BBC News, 27 March 2003)
At the end of October 2003, spam will be illegal across member
states of the European Union. This is Britain's bit.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2891845.stm
NEW RULES ON UK DATA RETENTION
(Home Office, March 2003)
The Home Office has published a new document on a Code of
Practice for voluntary retention of Communication Data.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs/vol_retention.pdf
AOL GOES AFTER SPAMMERS
(IDG News Service, 15 April 2003)
AOL files lawsuits and supports federal anti-spam legislation,
including the recently introduced CAN-SPAM Act
http://www.idg.net/ic_1306559_9677_1-5041.html
SPAM WARS: THE BATTLE FOR AUSTRALIA
(The Age, 17 April 2003)
"Electronic junk mail (on the internet) is now completely
out of hand; no longer a nuisance but costly, disruptive
and a threat to IT systems"
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/16/1050172650296.html
UK LEGAL DEPOSIT LIBRARIES BILL
(The Register, 21 April 2003)
A piece of UK legislation, the Legal Deposit Libraries Bill,
has recently made its second step on the way to becoming law.
It will now go to the House of Lords and then back to the House
of Commons for third reading and enactment. This will ensure
that non-printed material is subject to legal deposit at one
of each of the UK's six legal deposit libraries.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30339.html
INTERNET GOVERNANCE & E-GOVERNMENT
NET NAMES' RALLY CRY
(Guardian Online, 10 February 2003)
Online luminaries Lawrence Lessig and Esther Dyson have
issued a call to arms at an Oxford conference debating
the net's future
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,892676,00.html
A PRICE TAG ON NEWZEALAND.COM
(The Register, 2 May 2003)
The New Zealand government has come under fire for spending
$1 million of tax-payers money on buying the domain NewZealand.com
from previous owners Virtual Countries. That's one million
New Zealand dollars, but it still equates to a healthy �350,000.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30518.html
ACCESSIBILITY
OLDER PEOPLE FAILING TO TAKE THE E-GOVERNMENT TABLET
(Silicon.com, 20 February 2003)
More needs to be done to encourage older people to
embrace e-government services, according to a recent
report from the National Audit Office (NAO).
http://www.silicon.com/news/500022/1/2949.html
ASK JEEVES GETS A MAKEOVER
(E-Commerce Times, 21 April 2003)
Finding the right information on the Internet is vital.
In a bid to stay in the game in the fiercely competitive
search engine market, Ask Jeeves has revamped its
consumer search engine tool, following the lead of Yahoo
and Google.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/21313.html
SOUTHERN AFRICAN INTERNET FORUM CALLS FOR
LIBERALISATION TO ENCOURAGE GROWTH
(Aitec and Balancing Act, 22 April 2003)
The Southern African Internet Forum participants called
for liberalisation of the current African regulatory
frameworks to encourage internet growth in the region.
They also highlighted the need for strong user groups
in the private sector and elsewhere to create an active
groundswell of opinion that will help transform the pace
of change for the sector. Russell Southwood reports on
what people were saying at the Forum.
http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act_153.html
AFRICAN CONNECTIVITY PROJECT LAUNCHED: GOVERNMENTS
SEEN AS OBSTACLE TO ROLLOUT
(MBendi Information for Africa, 25 April 2003)
If the African Century is to have meaning beyond political
rhetoric, many governments in Africa need to be pro-active
in removing barriers to the rapid socio-economic progress
that is possible through harnessing the power of ICTs.
http://www.mbendi.co.za/a_sndmsg/news_view.asp?PG=104&I=48049
EUROPEAN COMMISSION LAUNCHES WEBSITE ON E-LEARNING
(European Commission, April 2003)
This will provide not only on Community initiative in
this field, such as the eLearning programme (2004-2006),
but also links with national initiatives, both public and
private, and contributions from experts on subjects ranging
from "eLiteracy" to the situation in the candidate countries.
http://www.elearningeuropa.info/
TECHNICAL
INTERNET'S MAIN ROOT SERVER SATURATED BY 98%
(CircleID, 26 February 2003)
According to a recent study by researchers at the Cooperative
Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) at the
San Diego Super Computer Center (SDSC), a staggering 98% of
the global Internet queries to one of the main root servers,
at the heart of the Internet, were unnecessary.
http://www.circleid.com/articles/2570.asp
ROUTER HOLES 'THREATEN THE INTERNET'
(Silicon.com, 3 March 2003)
Incorrect BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) entries could
pull the whole network down. Seriously.
http://www.silicon.com/news/500013-500001/1/3106.html
INDUSTRY LEADERS FROM THE EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDER COALITION
TO ADDRESS SPAM CHALLENGES AT ISPCON AND FTC SPAM FORUM
(Internet Wire, 24 April 2003)
Spam is bad. Really.
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/iwprf?id=52995
IETF TACKLES SPAM
(CNet.Com, 6 March 2003)
A new anti-spam working has been formed within ISOC's
Internet Engineering Task Force.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032-991305.html?tag=fd_top
BY THEIR NUMBERS SHALL YE KNOW THEM - NOT
(The Inquirer, April 2003)
Interesting article about ENUM from our friends downunder
in New Zealand.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=8887
CISCO'S WIFI PHONE DUE OUT IN JUNE
(CNet News.com 18 Apr 2003)
Cisco plans a June rollout for its 7920 portable phone,
which will use a WiFi network to connect.
http://news.com.com/2102-1039-997495.html?tag=ni_print
BEYOND WIFI - THE FUTURE OF WIRELESS NETWORKS
(Silicon.com, 29 April 2003)
Click here for a complete guide on what Wi-fi is all
about.
http://www.silicon.com/analysis/148-500001/1/3929.html
ECONOMY
INTERNET BANNER AND POP UP ADVERTISEMENT COMPLIANCE
(Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), year 2002)
A report submitted by the UK's ASA provides an insight
on what kind of banner advertising is acceptable, and
what is questionable.
The survey highlights a very high standard of compliance
with the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotions
but warns against complacency.
http://www.asa.org.uk/research/documents/upl_15.pdf
NEW M-COMMERCE ASSOCIATION FORMED
(EuropeMedia.net, 26 February 2003)
Orange, Telefonica Moviles, T-Mobile and Vodafone have
announced that they have signed an agreement to form a
new Mobile Payment Services Association aimed at
delivering an open, commonly branded solution for
payments via mobile phones, designed to work across
all operator networks.
http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=15122
THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET IN KENYA
(East African Standard, 10 March 2003)
It is nearly eight years since the Internet was first introduced in
Kenya. Though the technology is changing the way consumers and
businesses communicate, the number of dial-up subscribers is yet to hit
50,000. So if the technology is that revolutionary, what has prevented
the Internet from getting a mass market acceptance?
http://www.eastandard.net/financialstandard/news/news04032003007.htm
OPEN SOURCE GAINS MOMENTUM
(TWeb, 31 March 2003)
The open source software (OSS) movement is undoubtedly
gaining momentum in South Africa with the local enterprise
market and government starting to gain a better understanding
of the value proposition behind the adoption of OSS. This is
according to Mark Rotter, senior analyst at African ICT
research house BMI-TechKnowledge.
http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/software/2003/0303310913.asp?
WARNING ON WEB TRAVEL DEALS
(BBC, 2 April 2003)
Many cheap travel deals advertised on the net are not
all they seem, according to trading standards authorities.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2909339.stm
WASHINGTON POST SPECIAL REPORT ON WiFi
A New Wave of Wireless -
(Washington Post, 18 April 2003)
From humble beginnings, wireless networking � or "WiFi" �
has grown into a tool to expand the boundaries of the
Internet.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54030-2003Apr18.html?referrer=e
mail
INCONVENIENCING MASS E-MAILERS- BLOCKING SPAM
(New York Times, 22 April 2003)
In the cat-and-mouse game of e-mail marketers and those trying
to stop them, the spammers are still winning.
So far, nothing that has been tried to block spam has done
much more than inconvenience mass e-mailers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/22/technology/22SPAM.html
AN UNENDING TORRENT OF SPAM
(International Herald Tribune, 23 April 2003)
Confronted by an increasing number of individuals,
businesses and Internet service providers using
software meant to identify and discard unwanted
junk e-mail -commonly know as spam.
http://www.iht.com/articles/94142.htm
3 E-MAIL PROVIDERS JOIN SPAM FIGHT
(BizReport, 28 April 2003)
AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo Seek Ways to Curtail Unwanted
Solicitations. Lawsuits, anyone?
http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=4338
ONLINE AD OUTLOOK BRIGHTENS
(CNET, 21 April 2003)
McDonalds, Coca-Cola, and American Airlines are all
planning or considering increases in their online
advertising.
http://news.com.com/2100-1024-997369.html
EU SPEECH on "PROGRESS TOWARDS ENSURING AN INFORMATION
SOCIETY FOR ALL"
(European Union Web site, 20 February 2003)
The European Vision of an "Information Society for All"
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=SPEECH
/03/91|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display
3G LAUNCHED IN THE UK
(Silicon.com, 3 March 2003)
It's here! Hutchison's UK network goes live.
http://www.silicon.com/leader/500018-500001/1/3122.html
IS WEB ACCESS LUFTHANSA'S HOT TICKET?
(News.com, 24 April 2003)
Lufthansa German Airlines sees "no reason whatsoever"
to ground its plans for high-speed Web access on planes.
Trial runs show the technology is taking off, sources say.
http://news.com.com/2100-1039-998282.html
APPLE UNVEILS ONLINE MUSIC STORE
(Silicon.com, 29 April 2003)
Apple Computer Corp. has embraced online music (only available
in the US for the time being) by unveiling a service where
users can pick and choose tracks from a variety of albums as
they please.
http://www.silicon.com/news/500019-500001/1/3934.html
TONGUE IN CHEEK
BT PLAYS LAST POST FOR THE PIPER
(Silicon.com, 7 April 2003)
After 12 years, BT plays bye bye Piper tune.
http://www.silicon.com/news/500015-500001/1/3644.html
419 SCAMS: THE IRAQI WAR ANGLE
(Silicon.com, 1 April 2003)
Nigeria was so 'last year'...
http://www.silicon.com/news/500022-500001/1/3551.html
------------------------------
NEXT GENERATION IP - HELPING TO SMASH THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
by Houlin Zhao
Director of Telecommunication Standardization Bureau,
International Telecommunication Union
It's part of ITU-T's remit - as decreed by ITU
Plenipotentiary 2002 - to help end the digital divide with
its work on standardization of ICT. And our work on IPv6 is an
important part of ending the disparity that exists between
the digital world's haves and have-nots.
IPv6 is widely seen as an answer to the unequal distribution
of IP addresses under the incumbent - IPv4 - system. To
illustrate the current disparity consider the following:
China's population is more than 1.3 billion, the US' 290 million.
Yet, the more populous of the two countries is allocated only
9 million IPv4 addresses. The US government alone has more than
15 times that many IP(v4) addresses. You'd be hard pushed to
find a better illustration of what has been dubbed the digital
divide - the gap between the digital haves and have-nots of the
world. These differences are of course largely due to historical
factors, but the disparity needs to be addressed given the rate
of uptake of Internet in the developing world.
IPv6 offers a significant increase in the number of addresses
available. So it should come as no surprise that the protocol
finds many of its chief protagonists in parts of the world that
had relatively few IPv4 addresses when the Internet was first
deployed. IPv4 was originally designed to link a small number
of research networks, and in its current form only caters for
some 4 billion unique addresses. Some believe that as more and
more devices become connected to the Net - handheld devices,
set-top boxes... refrigerators and microwaves - and more and
more people sign up to the information age, this number will
become insufficient. IPv6 will significantly increase the number
of addresses available, which most analysts believe will suffice
for many years to come.
ITU-T has established an IP project that aims to address the
provision of voice, video and data over IP while ensuring that
the transition from legacy networks to the new protocol is smooth.
To date, the IP project has established a general framework and
architecture for future IP standardization, and worked with the
Internet Engineering Taskforce (IETF), and the others, towards
common standards that will straddle the circuit switched and IP
worlds.
At last year's (2002) Plenipotentiary, ITU-T was mandated to
'continue to liaise and cooperate with appropriate entities on
relevant Internet domain name and address management issues, such
as IPv6, ENUM and internationalized domain names'. To this end we
have held a number of workshops on IP, which have attracted key
players in the development and implementation of IPv6 and where
many useful conclusions have been reached.
I believe that there is an agreement to ask for a greater formal
international coordination in IPv6 deployment issues. There is
significant government encouragement in some parts of the world
- notably Japan - but globally a higher-level involvement is
needed. Current levels of international cooperation are not
sufficient. The problems that we have seen with IPv4 were not
just technical, to avoid the same mistakes we need to encourage
greater dialogue between all of the relevant agencies and
governments. Specifically, there is a need for more awareness
programs, and an increased focus on global management aspects.
Although address allocation is not the only value-add of IPv6,
it is the need for extra addresses that is expected to drive
the rollout of the new standard. ITU-T backs this work and will
continue to be part of it. We believe IPv6 will not only create
a more equitable distribution of IP addresses, but will help drive
the next generation of Internet connected devices. However, it is
important to avoid the mistakes of the past and to ensure that
IPv6 does not suffer from the same allocation problems as IPv4.
The Regional Internet Registries appear to have devoted considerable
attention to this and have some very concrete and interesting
proposals that should be very helpful. There is an increasing
awareness in the IT world including industry and government of
IPv6. I am convinced that this work towards next generation
networks will help us all to achieve a better life.
Full biography of Mr. Zhao, on: http://www.itu.int/officials/Zhao.html
------------------------------
ICANN REFORM AND ICANN's GOVERNMENTAL ADVISORY COUNCIL POSITION:
A VIEW FROM ITALY
By Stefano Trumpy, ISOC.IT
In this article, I will put my view on the GAC position and
its possible role in ICANN's reform after Rio meeting held
the last March. I am following up on Richard Francis's article
(ISOC-E Newsletter Vol. 1.3 - http://www.england.isoc.org/newsletter/)
"Governance of the Internet at the Crossroad - ICANN 2 ?" and
I will not repeat the background information contained in it.
The opinions I express are personal opinions of a GAC member
having a technical background and a special interaction with
the Italian Internet Community, as President of isoc.it
I am referring to the GAC activity in general and on the last
communiqu� published in occasion of the public forum in Rio
discussing, among other arguments, ICANN's evolution and reform.
http://www.icann.org/committees/gac/communique-25mar03.htm
GAC continued to focus on the implementation of ICANN reform
and on it's contribution to the policy development process;
this implies that the GAC will have a major role in ICANN's
decision making mechanism. This is connected to the fact that
the governments believe that ICANN has to gain more legitimacy
through them, in order to fulfill it's tasks and that the GAC
is the appropriate body to accomplish it.
There are several aspects of GAC's role in the new ICANN structure,
including:
- the appointment of Liaisons between GAC and ICANN's constituent entities;
- the constitution of Working groups in several policy areas:
o generic TLDs
o Internationalized Domain Names
o Whois
o CcTLDs
o Root Server Operation and DNS Security
o Ipv6
- responding to requests from ICANN for Advice from the GAC.
Concerning the organization of the work of GAC has to be reported:
- the new chair is:
o Mr Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi (Malaysia);
- vice chair are:
o Ms Lena Carlsson (Sweden)
o Mr Michael Katundu (Kenya)
o Ms Vanda Scartezini (Brazil)
The historical chair Paul Twomey has become ICANN's President
and CEO; this move is a relevant one because Paul is the first
non US President and also because he comes from a long experience
as GAC chair. This last aspect says a lot about the evolution of
the public - private partnership in ICANN.
The setting of the secretariat function at the European Commission
is another new in the GAC. The secretariat is then no longer
connected to the chair and is handled by a team of people provided
by the EC; this will give the possibility of giving more continuity
and capacity to the GAC as a body able to produce analysis and
preparing proposals, draft papers, etc. The secretariat supports
the activity of the working groups and organizes the GAC meetings.
The secretariat is managed by Christopher Wilkinson, former
vice-chair of the GAC.
Arguments at stake:
The cooperation with the International Treaties Organizations,
in particular with WIPO and ITU. In their respective field of
competence, they might play in the future an increasing role in
the matters concerning intellectual property matters, DNS and
IP numbering, in collaboration with ICANN. ITU, in occasion of
a recent very successful workshop on ccTLDs, expressed official
positions aiming towards a major collaboration with ICANN.
WIPO has recently issued recommendations on names of countries
and Intergovernmental Organizations. These organizations, where
the governments are represented, tend not to interfere in the
internal reorganization of ICANN and will be ready to make concrete
proposals, when the reform process will be completed. GAC
representatives have the task to interact with the government
representatives in WIPO and ITU, in order to reach a coherent
view on ICANN's reform and it's relations with the international
treaties organizations.
ICANN mission statement, core values and policy implications.
The mission statement and core values document proposed by the
Evolution and Reform Committee has been reviewed and amendments
have been proposed. Basically GAC believes that ICANN space of
operation will depend on the funds made available by the
stakeholders, on the support of external organizations and on
the extent of policy implications. I would say that the tendency
is towards a rather light new ICANN compared with the initial
proposal of Stuart Lynn.
http://www.icann.org/general/lynn-reform-proposal-24feb02.htm
GAC's position on policy implications tends to limit the policy
aspects to those strictly tied to the core values of ICANN.
GAC proposal for private/public partnership
This is a key issue, not for a matter of principle that is clear
but for the way to realize this partnership within ICANN.
GAC opinion is that the GAC itself is the forum where to
realize that partnership; some GAC delegates asked to express
clearly that ICANN should not be seen alone but the international
treaties organizations should be involved in the picture.
The ICANN Country Code Supporting Organization (CCNSO) Proposal
The role of the governments in relation with their respective
ccTLDs has progressively increased in recent times. Concerning
the TLD registries, the tendency appears to be that ICANN should
remain the regulatory body for gTLDs (by introducing new gTLDs,
setting rules and common behaviour for those existing, like the
UDRP) while the authority on ccTLD registries should be lessened
compared with the situation in the past. In particular, ccTLDs
are more and more considered an affair for which the ultimate
authority is with the local governments rather than with ICANN
(that is still supervised by US government). This implies that
the delegations (easy in most cases) or the re-delegations
(almost always a contentious issue) of the local registry has
to be decided locally, following national law and regulations.
ICANN should save some overall coordination but this should be
limited to the strict necessary. The substance of the debate lies
on the fact that the legitimacy of the ccTLDs has to be assured
by the local governments. This trend is gaining force and, for
this reason, the GAC is considering with particular attention
the process of formation of the new Supporting Organization:
the CCNSO that should be completed by the ICANN meeting to be
held in the next June.
Stefano Trumpy
About the author:
Stefano Trumpy is President of the ISOC chapter in Italy and
the Italian delegate in ICANN's Governmental Advisory Council (GAC).
------------------------------
MANAGEMENT AT THE ROOT OF THE INTERNET
IANA v 2 AND INTERNATIONALISING THE 'ROOT':
FINAL PIECES OF A REFORMED ICANN ?
Richard Francis, Internet Governance Consultants
and Tricia Drakes, Chair ISOC England, nominated to the ICANN Board
The United States General Accounting Office gave testimony (1)
before a US Senate Sub Committee in June last year, expressing
the view that limited progress on the privatisation of the US
Government's management of the Internet domain name system made
the whole project undertaken by the Internet Corporation of
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) uncertain.
Speaking in New Zealand at the time of the < Knowledge Wave 2003>
Leadership Forum in February 2003, ICANN Board Chair Vint Cerf
said that the effort to come up with a structure for a private
sector body to oversee the administration of the Internet domain
name system was "in turmoil from day one" (2).
The ICANN Chair correctly noted a significant improvement in
relations between ICANN and the national Internet Top Level Domain
registries. This Feature will focus on two 'final pieces' in the
reform process; improved and audited quality of service to Top
Level Domain Registries from the IANA function, within ICANN's
California headquarters, and internationalizing the control of
the critical 'root server system'.
The appointment later this year of a General Manager IANA in
"recognition of the importance of IANA to the internet community",
is overdue (3). Published data are scarce on how the IANA have met
the service requirements of Top Level Domain registry stakeholders.
The GM IANA will 'manage the relationships and communication
between IANA and the relevant communities, as well as taking
accountability for the operational efficiency and effectiveness
of the IANA function'.
Published data may reveal that 'delays' in recording name server
changes in the Internet top level domain database are caused
either by the IANA's proper concern to authenticate change
requests or by the processes under which the US Government
oversees the root server system. The perception in the Internet
community that operational efficiency and effectiveness of the
IANA function is currently questionable, indicates that the
ICANN v2 reformers are correct to focus on these issues.
When this final piece is slotted into place this summer, key
international stakeholders from Top Level Domain registry
managers, the European Commission and the members of the ICANN
Governmental Advisory Committee will likely confirm their
support for a reformed ICANN, to the US Department of Commerce,
as it considers the extension of the September 2002 Agreement
between ICANN and Commerce (4).
The arrival at a steady state ICANN v2 should not be delayed
by the issues raised by the internationalization of the root
server system. Those issues are properly the province of
Governments. It is reasonably clear, before completion of the
reforms, that resolution of those issues will be an agenda item
for the reformed organization and the GAC from Q4 2003.
Developments listed below, and others, will mark the conclusion
of a reform process lasting almost eighteen months. Completion
of the intense reform effort, launched by ICANN President
Paul Twomey's predecessor, Dr Stuart Lynn in February 2002,
now moves the ICANN Board to the challenge of proof of the concept
of a stable ICANN v2. If the proof shows significant failure,
Congress may yet propose termination of the ICANN experiment in
Internet governance by the beginning of 2004.
The developments noted are:
1. At the end of the meeting in Montreal this month, the current
'Transition Board', established under ICANN's new Bylaws of last
December, will make way for a new Board (5).
2. The Transition Board can claim significant progress made in
reforming ICANN process, to permit more effective representation
of the national Internet top level domain registry managers in
domain name system policy making for the management of the root
of the Internet. A Country Code Names Support Organisation was
not featured in the design of ICANN 1.0
3. The Board's 25 April decision to implement recommendations of
the Generic Names Support Organisation (GNSO) relating to the
transfer of domain name registrations, approved by the gTLD
working group of the GAC, is an early example of bottom up policy
making, in the era of ICANN v2.
4. The US Department of Commerce and the global Internet community
can realistically look to Dr Twomey, the Board and staff, to
deliver a steady state ICANN by 30 September (6). Regime change at
ICANN's operations centre in California, is now work in progress (7).
The IANA Function
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is the authority
originally responsible for the oversight of IP address allocation,
the coordination of the assignment of protocol parameters provided
for in Internet technical standards, and the management of the DNS,
including the delegation of top-level domains and oversight of the
root name server system.
Under ICANN, the IANA continues to distribute addresses to the
Regional Internet Registries, coordinate with the IETF and others
to assign protocol parameters, and oversee the operation of the DNS.
ICANN's successful proposal to the US DoC, for the delivery of the
IANA function from 1 April, includes a detailed description of the
function of the IANA (8). The previous ICANN / US Government
agreement of 2001, expired at the end of March this year.
The strapline of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
'Dedicated to preserving the central coordinating functions of
the global Internet for the public good' is testimony to a public
service at the core of the management of Internet, dating from
well before the establishment of ICANN in 1998. Despite that public
service heritage, the perceived shortcomings in the management IANA
Function under ICANN have repeatedly been the source of friction
in the ICANN community.
The global Internet community, and specifically the operators of
some 250 Internet Top Level Domain registry managers, are clear
about what is required from IANA 2.0, in terms of IANA service
level (9).
The signs are hopeful that the new IANA regime will deliver an
improved service.
At his first meeting with members of the World Wide Alliance of
ccTLD Managers at the ICANN meeting in Rio de Janeiro in March 2003,
Dr Twomey committed ICANN to a sharper focus on issues concerning
the country code Top Level Domain managers. As part of this he
indicated new software investment delivering, improved transparency
and reporting (10).
The IANA are, by 1 August 2003, to draw up and file with the DoC,
'metrics' for the facilitation and coordination of the root zone
of the domain name system. The IANA staff are in dialogue with a
working group of the European Top Level Domain Managers and with
their colleagues beyond Europe (11). There is cautious optimism that
this dialogue is symbolic of a progressive regime change at the IANA.
Dr Twomey has undertaken to the members of the Council of European
national Top Level Domain Registries that the IANA staff will
investigate future state of the art web based interfaces, for use
by Top Level Domain Registries in transacting changes to the data
in the IANA Database, incorporating secure authentication.
He will also follow up with the ICANN Board this month, the Top
Level Domain Manager's longstanding request for separate management
and public accounting for the staff and establishment costs of the
IANA function.
Progress on modernising IANA services and documenting/ring fencing
the costs of delivering those services will consolidate the improving
relationships with the Top Level Domain Managers. He warned that the
issue does cause difficulties for a number of the other consituencies
in the ICANN community and would not be an easy sell. Progress on
modernising IANA services and documenting/ring fencing the costs of
delivering those services will consolidate the improving relationships
with the Top Level Domain Managers.
Dr Twomey said in Bucharest this month that, even within Europe the
history of quietly making significant contributions to ICANN's funding
by quite a number of the ccTLD's indicates they have been supportive
and that 'ring fencing' and 'cross subsidising' do not lie at the heart
of the issues they consider important for good ICANN/ccTLD relationships.
If progress on the ccTLD Managers' requests to Dr Twomey - particularly
the request for ring fenced accounting is slow, the spectre of 'cross
subsidising' the cost of making public policy in the Generic Names space
could yet choke off improved relations with ICANN. This issue is
important to a number of the European ccTLD managers who maintain the
largest ccTLD Register Databases and have historically contributed most
to ICANN's annual budget since 1998/1999.
ISOC E and IANA v 2
The 1 August deadline is fixed in a new IANA agreement between ICANN
and US DoC, announced in March (12). ISOC England had, with others made
submissions to the DoC, urging that DoC to grant a new IANA contract
to ICANN.
There are still contributors to the recent reform discussion who will
review the performance of the IANA function in the three months to
31 August, with the possibility in mind that an alternative organisation
could still take over the IANA function.
ISOC England's position in February was, and still remains as stated
in its DoC Submission:
"ISOC England encourages the Department of Commerce to conclude later
this month that ICANN can and should continue to:
- coordinate the assignment of technical protocol parameters;
- perform administrative functions associated with root management; and
- provide overall responsibility for the allocation of IPv4 and IPv6
delegations of IP address space.
The opportunity of the award of a new Purchase Order at the end of
March 2003 should nevertheless be taken by the Department of Commerce
to stipulate performance evaluation criteria and service level targets
for audit by the Department during the lifetime of the Purchase Order.
An assessment of ICANN's continuing management of the IANA function
and whether it meets the needs of the global Internet community,
should be made under an open and transparent renewal process, for the
extension of the award at the end of September 2003. The Department is
urged to establish formal consultation with users of the IANA services
and to take account of their views when considering a first one year
extension in September this year."
Internationalising the 'Root' Server System
In his feature article, 'ICANN Reform - The Position of ICANN's
Governmental Advisory Committee, a view from Italy, Stefano Trumpy
gives his view of ICANN reform as it affects the GAC (13).
At the Rio de Janeiro meeting the GAC announced the establishment
of six working groups, listed in the Feature from Italy (14). In our
joint view it cannot be long before the GAC discusses the participation
of a representative group of the 70 or so countries who have
accredited representatives to the GAC of working with the US Government,
in its historic oversight of the root zone of the domain name system (15).
The authorizing modifications, additions, or deletions to the root zone
file or associated information that constitute the critical changes to
the IANA TLD database which amount in the language of the IANA to
delegation or re-delegation of Top Level Domains, are covered by
Amendment 11 of the Cooperative Agreement NCR-9218742 between the DoC
and VeriSign, Inc. (16)
The Internet community can expect discussions (which may already have
started) amongst groups of GAC members, or in the physical meetings
coinciding with ICANN Board meetings, about the US Government's unique
role in supervising the updating of the data on which the root server
system relies.
The outcome of inter governmental discussions on this difficult issue
is unlikely to be played out in a bottom up consultation with the
global Internet community. In many ways the most critical public
international DNS governance debate has yet to surface.
The long term stability of ICANN has still to rely of consensus
between governments. Rough consensus will come under increased scrutiny.
The GAC may yet mutate into GAC v2 in 2003/2004
Richard Francis
Tricia Drakes
June 2003
References:
(1) http://www.england.isoc.org/public/usgaoguffjune2002.pdf
(2)
http://www.idg.co.nz/webhome.nsf/UNID/F6287310756F24F2CC256CD1000EE04A!opendoc
ument
(3) http://www.icann.org/general/staff-organization-plan-22may03.htm
(4) http://www.icann.org/general/amend5-jpamou-19sep02.htm
(5) http://www.icann.org/general/abouticann.htm
(6) http://www.icann.org/general/status-report-31mar03.htm
(7) Announcement of appointment of Dr Twomey, Argo P@cific
http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-19mar03.htm,
Argo P@cific Press:
http://www.argopacific.com/press.html
(8) ICANN Response to Request for Quotation No DG1335-03-RQ-0030
http://www.icann.org/general/iana-contract-17mar03.htm
(9) http://www.icann.org/tlds/
http://www.wwtld.org/communique/ccTLDBucharest_communique_26Jun2002.html
http://www.wwtld.org/meetings/shanghai/ccTLDShanghai_Communique_30Oct2002.html
http://www.centr.org/docs/statements/future-IANA.html,
http://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/workshop/cctld/028add1.html
(10) http://www.wwtld.org/meetings/Rio/bn_2session3.html
(11) http://www.centr.org/meetings/ga-18/IANA-Budapest-EP-03.pdf
http://www.centr.org/meetings/ga-18/IANA-Budapest-MC-03.pdf
(12) http://www.icann.org/general/iana-contract-17mar03.htm
(13) ISOC England Newsletter, Vol 2, issue # 3
http://www.england.isoc.org/newsletter/index.rhtm
(14) Also listed in the Rio GAC Communiqu�
http://www.gac.icann.org/meetings/mtg15/CommuniqueRioDeJaneiro.htm
(15) http://www.icann.org/general/crada-report-summary-14mar03.htm
(16) http://www.icann.org/general/iana-contract-17mar03.htm - section
C.2..1.1.2
Full Biographics of the authors are available in ISOC England
Newsletter V1.01, archived at:
http://www.england.isoc.org/newsletter/index.rhtm
------------------------------
EVENTS DIARY
- EU E-GOVERNMENT CONFERENCE
The upcoming Italian Presidency and the Commission are jointly
organising a high-level conference on eGovernment on 7-8 July 2003
in Villa Erba, Como (Italy). The event will also be the first major
event to launch the Italian Presidency.
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/egovconf/index_en.htm
- EU IST 2003 EVENT
2-4 October 2003, Milan, Italy.
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/istevent/2003/documents/IST2003_A4_fl
yer.pdf
- The Open Source Paradigm Shift: LAMP as the 'Intel inside' of the
next generation of computer applications.
On June 23rd 2003, at 7pm, the UK Unix Users' Group and O'Reilly UK
present Tim O'Reilly, speaking at City University in London.
Full details are available at http://www.ukuug.org/events/TimOReilly/
- OXFORD INTERNET INSTITUTE
Information, Communications, Society September 2003
Summer Doctoral Programme July - August 2003
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events.shtml
For a full schedule of future meetings and events, please consult:
http://www.england.isoc.org/event/index.rhtm
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jun 2003 (LAST-MODIFIED)
From: editor@england.isoc.org
Subject: Abridged info on ISOC England
ISOC England is a full chapter of the Internet Society in the UK.
ISOC England is a voice of the future, creates awareness and
promotes the Internet in the UK as a centre for business, government
and cultural activities by working in partnership with many of the
leading institutions, in government, academia, society and business.
Our mission statement is:
To promote the effective operation and development of the
Internet and its related technologies in the public interest through
leadership in standards, issues and education. Our primary
focus is to deliver this mission and, in so doing, to develop an
active and influential ISOC Chapter with a membership of
like minded individuals and organisations who share our vision,
and who want to support and/or participate in helping us to
deliver our mission.
For more information about ISOC England, turn to:
http://www.england.isoc.org/about.rhtm
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Copyright (C) 2002-2003 The Internet Society of England
The ISOC England Newsletter is a free newsletter distributed to members
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------------------------------
End of ISOC-E Digest 2.03
************************