Re: [ga] The Value of Trust in 2007

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael and all former DNSO GA members or other stakeholder/users,

  Your quote and reference of Esthers remarks/comments are in
not fully true as those of us participants at that time full well know
and have well documented and also is documented in comments sent
to DOC/NTIA still on file.  That inaccuracy is that Esther claims
that such was a "Consensus" decision.  This is completely untrue.
No measured consensus by any said decision is recorded nor was
ever reached, and still has not been reached.

Michael Wild wrote:

> Jeff mentions Esther Dyson. Her view of Verisign was pretty clear in a
> letter of 15 June 99 to Ralph Nader and James Love. It reads in part :
>
> "One important aspect of [ICANN's] mandate is the introduction of
> competition into the business of registering domain names, under an
> agreement with the US Government. In this particular task, naturally
> enough, it is meeting fierce resistance from the private government
> contractor that has been the monopoly provider of DNS services, Network
> Solutions -- a company that has transformed itself from an unknown
> start-up at the time (1992) when it first entered into a contract with
> the National Science Foundation, into a subsidiary of a large
> privately-owned government contractor today, with a market value of over
> $2 billion for its own publicly traded stock [NSOL]. Given this history,
> and the wealth that has been created through its administration of those
> government contracts, NSI is in no hurry to see that monopoly eroded.
> Since this very goal is a principal short-run objective of ICANN, NSI has
> apparently concluded that its interests are not consistent with ICANN's
> success. Thus it has been funding and otherwise encouraging a variety of
> individuals and entities to throw sand in the gears whenever possible,
> from as many directions as possible.
>
> Of course, "I want to protect my monopoly" is hardly an attractive
> slogan, and so NSI uses the language of democracy instead. In addition,
> it encourages and supports others who have a variety of reasons ?
> economic, philosophical or political ? to be unhappy with the way the
> community consensus has formed. Of course, many of these people are
> sincere in their concerns about the transparency of ICANN's operations
> and their interest in fostering public debate about its activities - as
> you are. But ICANN's goals and its actions are in fact the result of
> public debate and consensus - though not of unanimity.
>
> NSI's rhetoric is also quite inconsistent with its conduct. The company
> operates under the cloak of nondisclosure agreements covering not just
> technical and commercial information, but also the experiences of the
> ICANN-accredited registrars now attempting to open up the domain-name
> registration business to competition. Furthermore, Network Solutions
> claims "proprietary" rights in databases and techniques developed under
> government contract as a reason for refusing to release information and
> for expensive license fees. The nondisclosure agreements it imposes on
> competing registrars are so onerous that many who wish to participate in
> ICANN's competition initiative cannot do so without permanently
> restricting their ability to compete in this space in the future."
>
> It is clear that nothing has changed - edit this a bit and it describes
> Verisign's current activities, and the rationale behind them, very well.
> Even the "this is for the benefit of the users" nonsense is there. The
> full letter can be found at
> http://www.icann.org/correspondence/dyson-response-to-nader-15jun99.htm .

Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 131k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
    Pierre Abelard
===============================================================
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Contact Number: 214-244-4827 or 214-244-3801