Re: [ALSC-Forum] Re: a proposed action statement

[Jeff Williams]

Mike and all stakeholders and interested parties,

  Nice piece of political wrangling in this "Speech" here Mike.
However it is terribly skewed and horribly misleading.  Appalling!

(See more of my comments below some of Mike here's FUD)

Mike Roberts wrote:

> With apologies to the non-US members of this list, I'd like to make
> some comments that are inevitably US-centric.
>
> Today marked a watershed day in the history of the Internet.  In some
> sense, the real date was September 11, when the leadership role of
> the United States in world peace, in economic development, and in
> technology innovation was challenged by a group of determined
> religious fanatics using our own technology on us to cause the death
> of thousands of innocent people.

  Indeed!  Where were you over a year ago when WE [INEGroup]
warned of this problem and lack of proper security on Root servers,
RRP database, SRS data, Whois data, ect, ect...  ?  Hummmmm?

>
>
> But the legal date between the "old" Internet and the "new Internet
> was today, October 26, 2001,when President George Bush signed the
> anti-terrorism bill that was passed by the upper house of Congress
> yesterday with one dissenting vote.

  Yes.  And way past due IOHO.  Terrorism has been a known problem
in the US and other places in the free world for over 20 years now.
It went relatively ignored as has the ICANN BOD and staff, especially
while YOU Mike Roberts was it's CEO!  Now we have to scramble
a bit to clean up after you!

>
>
> This legislation brings the Internet and its developers, providers
> and users directly into the new war on terrorism.  It extends
> extensive new power to law enforcement to find, capture, and punish
> those who use the network for terrorism or other criminal activity.
> It removes the previous barriers between foreign and domestic
> anti-terrorism investigations and establishes the principle that
> whoever you are, wherever you are, if you use the net for terrorism,
> you are in the sights of the FBI, the CIA, the NSA and their foreign
> counterparts.
>
> In the New York Times this morning, under the heading "We are All
> Alone," widely respected columnist Tom Friedman said,  "Focus instead
> on the firemen who rushed into the trade center towers without
> asking, 'How much?'  Focus on the thousands of U.S. reservists who
> have left their jobs and families to go fight in Afghanistan without
> asking, 'What's in it for me?'  Unlike the free-riders in our
> coalition, these young Americans know that September 11 is our holy
> day - the first day in a just war to preserve our free,
> multi-religious, democratic society.  And I don't really care if that
> war coincides with Ramadan, Christmas, Hanukkah, or the Buddha's
> birthday - the most respectful and spiritual thing we can do now is
> fight it until justice is done."

  And I agree with his words, always have.  But Mike, have you?  It would
seem that due to you lack of concern for internet and in particular DNS
security, you haven't!  Appalling!  AN now you seem to have the audacity
to use this mans words towards FUD of the stakeholders in the US.
Disgusting!

>
>
> After a week of tough fighting in Afghanistan where the battle is
> rapidly deteriorating to the same "take no prisoners" ethic that
> prevailed on September 11, the same week that professionally prepared
> anthrax kept showing up in new places everyday on the U.S. east coast
> and killed two postal workers, there is a  determined and deadly
> resolve to follow the Friedman advice.
>
> A resolve that will affect many if not most institutions, among them ICANN.
>
> It's different now for ICANN.  What started out as your typical
> ritual White House privatization effort; one that parroted the young
> Clintonites' "Agenda for Action" of 1993; the Al Gore "Information
> Superhighway" speech; that provided a last hurrah for Clinton advisor
> Magaziner at the end of the second term.  A sly political move that
> solved, or maybe solved, the National Science Foundation's honest
> mistake in giving Network Solutions and SAIC a billion dollar
> monopoly. That is not the ICANN of post-Sept 11.

  It shouldn't have been PRE-Sept 11, Mike!  Where have you been?!
We at INEGroup have been trying to get YOU in particular and the
ICANN BoD to recognize that for more than a year now!  That, is
a matter of record!

>
>
> It's different now.  It's not world government because national
> governments are evil; it's not Internet governance because national
> laws are unjust; it's not a response to some abstract imagining of
> the global popular will; it's not solving poverty, famine,
> infanticide, drug abuse and political oppression in the DNS.
>
> It's serious.  It's first things first.  It's about keeping people
> from being killed by terrorist plots hatched over the net.  All of a
> sudden it matters that you know what you are talking about.

  Do you know or have in the past you known what YOU are talking about
Mike Roberts!  I say, not usually!  Nor do you listen very well!  History
NOW shows that clearly!  You were repeatedly warned that the DNS
had and still has security problems.  Most of the Root servers have
security problems.  The IP addressing system is strewn with security
problems, and the registration database is wide open for terrorists
activities!  We [INEGroup] again warned you over a year ago
about most of these problems, and all of them long before Sept 11.
YOU MIKE, and the ICANN BoD basically ignored those warnings.
Many others also warned of these same problems.  YOU called them
"Kooks" in a wired article in July '99!  Remember that Mike!?

> If you
> are an Internet engineer, what about nailing down the RFC's needed
> for secure new functionality in the DNS?

  RFC's now take too long.  We need more immediate action now, unfortunately.

>  If you are a root server
> host organization CEO, all of a sudden being a volunteer in Jon
> Postel's army takes on new meaning.

  Jon Postel was rarely concerned about security, Mike.  Please!  :(

>  If you're the manager of a top
> level domain name registry, it's not a pc in a closet time anymore.
> Important people are watching, people who have the ability to
> nationalize you overnight if you're not carrying your weight in
> making the Internet more secure.

  Well you need to get busy on this Mike!  Your further behind than
many of us and the Alt roots for instance!  So is the ICANN BoD
and staff, so is the IEFT, and more importantly some are the new
TLD registries and IP registries!

> The Japanese government and the
> United States government are sending cabinet level officers to speak
> at the November ICANN meeting about how serious this really is.

  Good!  Long past due again!  But better late than never...

>
>
> So what does this have to do with At Large?  First, don't expect to
> get the attention of the study committee, your fellow stakeholders in
> ICANN,  the dedicated members of the Board, or the governments whose
> sanction makes this privatization effort possible, with a
> continuation of the shallow rhetoric that has characterized the
> postings on this list.

  And the Board needs to get off it's proverbial butt!  It has for over
a year now!  Many of us here have pleaded and complained for them
to do in relation to security issues Mike!  Again where were you?
Head in the sand perhaps?  Where was the board?  Same place?

> Second, think seriously about constructive
> improvements in the recommendations of the ALSC.

  Many have and have provided them here on this very forum.  Again
where have you been Mike?  The more stakeholders in the At-Large
membership the better vigilance can be mustered and the more belonging
and working together attitude can be mustered.

>  Nobody cares that
> you don't like a particular recommendation, they want to know whether
> you have a better idea, an idea that is good enough to gather the
> support of a lot of other interested parties that may not share your
> individual political or social or economic background but are
> nevertheless interested in the future welfare of ICANN.

  We do have a better idea(s) and we have presented them, put out
a poll one of them, and have provided very reasonable and helpful
suggestions. Again Mike, where have you been?  Have you been
listening?  Has the ALSC been listening?  Doesn't seem so.

>  Third, be
> prepared to compromise your goals in the interests of forging an At
> Large organization that contributes to an ICANN that is going to
> operate in a far different environment than its founders envisaged.

  I hope it is somewhat different than the ICANN BoD and staff have
behaved thus far and given the comments it seems that it may be
if the ALSC is listening as well as the Board.

>
>
> The study committee has worked hard. It doesn't deserve the abuse it
> has received on this list.

  What abuse?  Rather I believe that the ALSC ha been the abuser
more than receiving abuse!  Not listening is a form of abuse Mike!

> The several points of the action plan are
> reasonable, centrist, and provide a basis for moving forward. They
> deserve your support.

  No they don't deserve any reasonable person/stakeholders support.
They are for the most part foolish, dangerous, and hinder input
from a smaller number of stakeholders.  And THAT is really foolish!

>
>
> - Mike Roberts
>
> --

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup - (Over 118k members strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number:  972-447-1800 x1894 or 214-244-4827
Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208