[IP] more on Is Icann's importance overstated in the media?
Begin forwarded message:
From: Ole Jacobsen <ole@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: July 2, 2005 11:46:46 AM EDT
To: David Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: richard.wiggins@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] Is Icann's importance overstated in the media?
Reply-To: Ole Jacobsen <ole@xxxxxxxxx>
Dave,
This is simply silly. ICANN has never "managed the traffic on the
Internet" as Wiggins correctly points out, but then he goes on to make
the statement that ICANN "at times was happy to assume" [this role].
Where in the world does such a nonsensical notion come from?
We may agree that the ICANN has been the subject of some "mission creep"
(largely as a result of the many pressure groups who participate in its
processes), but let's dispose of the sillyness shall we? Does it really
help that Wiggins, in an effort to clarify what the press has reported,
then states nearly the same thing?
There are enough legitimate things to criticize ICANN for, we don't need
to invent new ones.
Ole
Ole J. Jacobsen
Editor and Publisher, The Internet Protocol Journal
Academic Research and Technology Initiatives, Cisco Systems
Tel: +1 408-527-8972 GSM: +1 415-370-4628
E-mail: ole@xxxxxxxxx URL: http://www.cisco.com/ipj
On Sat, 2 Jul 2005, David Farber wrote:
Rhe press has been sloppy on this one djf
Begin forwarded message:
From: Richard Wiggins <richard.wiggins@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: July 2, 2005 5:47:44 AM EDT
To: David Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Is Icann's importance overstated in the media?
Reply-To: Richard Wiggins <richard.wiggins@xxxxxxxxx>
Dave,
Over and over again, media reports say that Icann "manages the traffic
on the Internet." Icann does not do this, and never has done so.
Icann's name literally is "Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers." Icann took over the simple, but vital, function provided by
ISI at U Southern Cal: map domain names to IP addresses.
If Icann would have merely stuck to this purpose, the world would be a
better place. It is silly to claim that Icann manages the traffic of
the Internet, but that seems to be a mantle that Icann, at times, was
glad to assume.
If Icann simply managed the now ancient function of mapping names to
numbers, I doubt the ITU and Europe would have much of a problem with
it -- assuming that Icann did so efficiently and at a reasonable cost.
It has always seemed to me that Icann has a basic choice: do a simple,
but vital, function very well, in which case you can succeed in
performing an important role -- or aspire to rule the Internet, in
which case the world will take you down.
/rich
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