North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical (FWD)US Federal gov't decides to solve DNS problem - rugpulled out from under NSF -
Hello All, Speaking of ARIN..... Anyone have more details about theses White House efforts? Barry [Orginal header attached to the bottom.] >Clinton Administration Embraces DNS Tar Baby, Magaziner & OMB Responsible > >Action Derails Agreement with Network Solutions & NSF to End >Co-operative Agreement on April 1 1997 > >Ill Considered Move Halts Formation of ARIN IP Registry > >Critics Say Action Deprives IANA of Opportunity for Legal Foundation of >Authority & Endangers Stability of the Internet by Putting IP Numbers at >Risk > >[NOTE: This is the public summary of the page one article for the MAY >1997 Cook Report on Internet. We are releasing it to the internet before >the weekend begins. We hope to publish the complete May issue before the >end of the weekend.] > >Thanks to the meddling of hopefully well meaning folk - Ira Magaziner's >Internet task force at the White House, and an inter agency task force >centered at OMB, we are faced with a potentially dangerous situation for >the Internet. It is no secret how badly the Domain Name System is about to >become fouled up after a year and a half of squabbling among competing >bodies. But what is not broadly understood is that NSI runs the IP >registry for the Western hemisphere and feeds content to the "." dot >servers for the world that are located at NSI but owned by IANA. These >are functions that there is no longer any legitimate reason for the US >government to be involved with. But they are also so critical to the >operation of the Internet that they must be moved very promptly to a >separate and neutral body independent of NSI and one unable to be dragged >"under" by the waves litigation now threatening everyone involved with >Domain Name System. > >After talking with numerous sources familiar with the events of the last >two months, we are convinced that policy coming from the White House has, >inadvertently, put a stop to plans that had moved far enough along so that >the above removal of ARIN's functions from NSI could have happened in a >way that would benefit the world wide Internet community. Fall out from >this action has meant a halt in plans under way that would have - very >shortly - resulted in the establishment of an independent American >Registry for Internet Numbers. The establishment of ARIN also means that >for the first time the operations of the IANA could become >institutionalized and gain a sounder international foundation > >Putting a hold on the establishment of ARIN renders the authority of IANA >more liable to court challenge and leaves the payroll, database, and >control of the IP number registry process in the hands of a commercial >company (NSI) that does the original .com and other global top level >domain name registry for the entire internet world wide. As someone >closely involved with ARIN told us: "The real danger is that numbers are >being subsidized by domain names, and domain names are about to become a >disaster." > >While NSI has shown no signs that it cannot or should not be trusted, it >is improbable that NSF oversight of NSI will extend beyond the current >agreement whereas the need for NSI as a stabilized registry operation in >an impending sea of change in the Domain Name arena will continue. > >Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that NSI will sooner or later be >granted full independence from NSF oversight . When this happens leaving >the power inherent in both the DNS and the ARIN functions in the hands of >a single corporation would be unwise. Also, while one hopes the chances >are small that anything serious will happen to the viability of Network >Solutions, it's DNS database performance during the last half of March has >been horrendous with major names that had already paid being removed from >the root servers for non payment - something that has led to disruption of >service for many entities involved. In the litigious atmosphere that >surrounds this whole environment, Network Solutions will surely be a >target. > >In an exclusive interview on March 27 with Don Telage, President of NSI we >were able to establish, with some degree of precision, that at the end of >February, the National Science Foundation and Network Solutions had >reached an agreement in principal to bring the NSF/NSI cooperative >agreement to a conclusion a year early on April 1, 1997 and to establish >and fund during a transition period the American Registry for Internet >Numbers (ARIN) which would have been freed from NSI control on April 1, >1997. Unfortunately, the administration move to find a fix for DNS >(discussed later in our full article) caused all forward movement between >NSI and NSF to cease on Monday March 3. Since then the situation has >become much more difficult and the freeing of ARIN as part of a package >deal that was acceptable to both sides at the beginning of March looks far >less acceptable to to NSI now as a stand alone option. [Editor's note: we >have here confirmation of the damage that the administration's ill advised >meddling has done. We and, we hope the entire internet, will be watching >closely to see what they do to fix the mess they have created.] > >ARIN will temporarily cover Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. The ARIN >organizers are working with both areas to help them set up their own >regional registries. Then, under the auspices of IANA would be five >registries, AfriNIC, ALyCNIC, APNIC, ARIN, and RIPE. Leaving IP >registration for the western hemisphere and sub-Saharan Africa >indefinitely under the aegis of NSI under the current stressful conditions >does not make sense. If anything disastrous happened to impact the >viability of NSI, IP registration and dot operation could be set up >elsewhere within 48 to 72 hours - if the people and hardware were >available. But during such a transition there would likely be substantial >disruption of Internet service worldwide. Also, during such a move, >assignment of new numbers would not take place and that process would take >longer to get back to normal. > >In a conversation with a White House source on March 25 we found out the >Administration has decided that the Federal government needs to study the >DNS and solve a problem for the Internet community that it has been >otherwise unable to solve for itself. Unfortunately it appears that >Magaziner's group has been listening to the positions that Tony Rutkowski >and the corporate lawyers of the Internet Law and Policy Forum have been >promoting both on the network and off line. The source maintains that the >inter-agency task force is unaware that in grabbing the DNS tar baby it >also has grabbed and derailed - for the time being - ARIN. > >In derailing ARIN the group is undertaking actions that pose some risk to >the stable operation of the internet world wide. That stability can be >ensured only by the resumption of swift action to resume the establishment >of ARIN and, in the face of a likely onslaught of DNS related lawsuits, >and to create a Global Council of IP Registries, to internationalize the >IANA, with members taken initially from the three regional registries; >European (Ripe), the American (ARIN) and the Asian (APNIC) IP registries; >and other regional registries added as they develop. > > >************************************************************************ >The COOK Report on Internet For subsc. pricing & more than >431 Greenway Ave, Ewing, NJ 08618 USA ten megabytes of free material >(609) 882-2572 (phone & fax) visit http://pobox.com/cook/ >Internet: [email protected] For NEW study: EVOLVING INTER- >NET INFRASTRUCTURE, 222 page Handbook http://pobox.com/cook/evolving.html >************************************************************************ > > > >============================== ISP Mailing List ============================== >Email ``unsubscribe'' to [email protected] to be removed. >PLEASE READ THE FAQ ON http://www.amazing.com/internet/ BEFORE POSTING. > >Return-Path: [email protected] >Resent-Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 13:23:50 -0700 (MST) >Resent-Message-Id: <[email protected]> >List-Admin: [email protected] (subscribe/unsubscribe requests) >Errors-To: [email protected] >Originator: [email protected] >Reply-To: [email protected] >Resent-From: [email protected] >Sender: [email protected] >Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 14:23:08 -0500 (EST) >From: Gordon Cook <[email protected]> >To: [email protected], [email protected] >cc: [email protected], [email protected], > [email protected] >Subject: US Federal gov't decides to solve DNS problem - rug pulled out from under NSF - > -- -- -- Barry Raveendran Greene | || || | Senior Consultant | || || | Consulting Engineering | |||| |||| | tel: +65 738-5535 ext 235 | ..:||||||:..:||||||:.. | e-mail: [email protected] | c i s c o S y s t e m s | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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