Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2003 15:17:34 -0700
From: Dave Crocker <dcrocker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Today's WJS article on Versign
To: newseditors@xxxxxxx
Cc: Nick Wingfield <nick.wingfield@xxxxxxx>, Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Re: Nick Wingfield's article
<http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106519977252395300,00.html?mod=dartTechtoday>
Hello,
"VeriSign's critics, of course, see it differently, accusing VeriSign of
undermining the collectivist culture of the Internet, through which engineers
hash out key changes to the network through standards groups. Unlike the Web
and e-mail, which have become thoroughly commercialized through advertising,
the low-level Internet routing software that VeriSign altered with its new
service has remained relatively insulated from efforts to make a profit." ...
Although notably better than most of the articles on this topic, Mr. Wingfield
still managed to buy Verisign's spin, both its erroneous facts and its
erroneous perspective.
First of all, the service that Verisign runs has been for profit for as long
as it has run it. That's roughly ten years. In addition the problems caused by
Verisign were not just in the eyes of "technologists".
Second of all, consider the service they suddenly changed in terms of its
equivalent in the world of telephone. Imagine dialing a non-existent number or
asking 411 for the number of a non-existent entry, and not being told that
there is no listing. Instead you are giving a phone number that feeds you
advertising. Would you view this as "a valuable navigational aid for users who
might otherwise hit an online dead-end?" Probably not.
The problem, here, is not a culture-clash between commercial ventures and
naive technologists. Verisign contracted to provide a critical infrastructure
service that maps domain names to Internet addresses. The only "clash" is
between responsible and irresponsible approaches to providing that service. If
Verisign cannot operate it at a profit, without breaking it, there are others
quite willing and able to do the job.
d/
--
Dave Crocker <dcrocker-at-brandenburg-dot-com>
Brandenburg InternetWorking <www.brandenburg.com>
Sunnyvale, CA USA <tel:+1.408.246.8253>