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 Will The Internet Melt?
posted by michael on Tuesday June 22 2004, @05:29PM
ICANNfocus.org writes "Is the internet on the verge of a meltdown? A non-profit organization, People For Internet Responsibility (PFIR), is concerned that there is the risk of "imminent disruption, degradation, unfair manipulation, and other negative impacts on critical Internet services..." PFIR believes that the "red flag" warning signs of a potential meltdown include "attempts to manipulate key network infrastructures such as the domain name system; lawsuits over Internet regulatory issues... ever-increasing spam, virus, and related problems..."
[Editor's note: I'm going to the PFIR Internet Meltdown conference. If you see me there, please say hello. -mf]
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According to PFIR, the threat to the internet results, directly or indirectly from a "lack of responsible and fair planning related to Internet operations and oversight." A general "hands off" attitude with respect to internet governance "has now resulted not only in commercial abuses, and the specter of lawsuits and courts dictating key technical issues relating to the Net, but has also invited unilateral actions by organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and International Telecommunications Union (ITU) that could profoundly affect the Internet and its users in unpredictable ways."
PFIR is holding a conference in Los Angeles in late July for the purpose of establishing "a set of specific actions and contingency plans for the Internet-related problems that could lead to the meltdown." Issues expected to be discussed at the conference include "technical, governance, regulatory, political, and legal actions and plans." Technical issues that the conference debates may include "approaches such as ‘alternate root' domain systems, technologies to bypass unreasonable ISP restrictions, and a wide range of other practical possibilities."
At this point in time, it is not clear whether PFIR's concerns are realistic or exaggerated. However, PFIR's leadership is composed of long-time internet stakeholders including the Chairman of the Association for Computing Machinery's Committee on Computers and Public Policy, the creator and moderator of the PRIVACY Forum, and a Distinguished Career Professor of Computer Science and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science.
What is clear at this time is that deep concerns with the current state and direction of internet governance and regulation go far beyond commercial and political interests. The PFIR conference will provide an important public forum for ventilating an array of issues of interest to all internet stakeholders.
For more information, please see www.ICANNfocus.org"
Editor's note: Here's the initial conference schedule:
PFIR Internet "Meltdown" Conference Schedule
(Subject to elaboration and other changes)
Monday, July 26 AM - Internet Governance, Control, and Coordination, I
Monday, July 26 PM - Technologies and Their Social Implications, I
Tuesday, July 27 AM - Internet Governance, Control, and Coordination, II
Tuesday, July 27 PM - Technologies and Their Social Implications, II
Wednesday, July 28 AM (half-day)
- Final Roundtable Session
- Revisit alternative scenarios, plans, strategies, etc.
for the future of the Internet
- Evaluate pros and cons of various approaches.
- Identify needs for policy initiatives and outreach,
research, development,
efforts
on the part of industry, advocacy groups, nonprofits, etc.
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Will The Internet Melt?
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The Fine Print:
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them.
We are not responsible for them in any way.
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...familiar to long-time followers of newsgroups and other online forums:
"Death of Internet predicted... film at 11."
(Sometimes "Usenet" is used instead of "Internet", for newsgroup discussions.)
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[ Reply to This | Parent
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ICABN thru IANA has responsibility for port numbers. Modern virii, trojans, worms, et al enter via open ports. Why can't Vinton deal with this problem by making most ports illegal? -g
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[ Reply to This | Parent
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Bill Gates had nothing to do with the invention of the Internet; it and its predecessor, the ARPAnet, had been around for over 25 years before Gates finally decided that the 'net was something big worthy of a major effort; even Windows 95 didn't come with a built-in browser.
COMMAND.COM uses the .COM extension, which in MS-DOS systems signified a form of executable command file smaller and simpler than the more common .EXE. This had nothing to do with the .COM TLD, which was introduced on the Internet in 1985 when MS-DOS-based PCs were rarely used for anything connected with the Internet (which was made up of mainframes and minis running OSs like Unix, VMS, and TOPS-20).
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[ Reply to This | Parent
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Is this a joke?
There are something like 15 kids.us websites total.
A half-day forum? You can look at them all in a couple of minutes.
This is one of those things that makes you feel sympathetically embarrassed for the people involved.
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[ Reply to This | Parent
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Well, I am from Los Angeles, and although I do spend a lot of time on stage doing backstage work for theatre groups, I am not much of an actor.
I will be at the meltdown conference; I believe that it is a serious matter and that the net is on the verge of fragmenting as people, companies, and countries react to the the abuse by spammers, trademark and copyright interests, and inept regulatory agencies and neo guilds (such as ICANN.)
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