don't fall victim to FUD

Fri Feb 27 21:20:13 UTC 1998

Gordon, I thought that you claimed to be a reporter?

Why are you posting to the North American Network Operators Group?

Why are you cross-posting our discussions to congressmembers?

And why did you seize upon wording that was not mentioned in the message?

I was talking about the privacy and security of our root servers, and
the domain zones they point to, not the IETF standards process (although
there are also interference problems there).  Most root servers are
_NOT_ owned or run by the US government, and having the US government
try to move ownership of them all to a new corporation is repugnant to
many of us.  We are doing just fine, thank you very much.

Are we supposed to be impressed that you are now having direct talks
with Ira Magaziner, when one of our own capable members has been unable
to get an appointment for a month?

Normally, of course, on this list we talk about actions that we need to
take on our own behalf, usually dealing with operations, as opposed to
detailed legal analysis.

To your message of FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt):

> From: Gordon Cook <cook at cookreport.com>
> Note also that I have just pulled down both the jan 30th text and the
> federal register texts of the green paper.  I searched both texts for the
> string
>
> policies and standards for those activities
>
> and found nothing in either one.
>
Perhaps when you are reporting on legal issues, you might learn to read
legal documents.  A US Rule implements US statutory authority.

In this case, the proposed rule published in the Federal Register cites
as authority: 47 U.S.C. 902(b)(2)(H).  Try searching there.

Now, some of the legal analysts say that the proposed rule abuses the
power of that section, that the section only applies to the executive
branch, and that there is no legal authority to set up a corporation
for international commerce.

But that's what the proposed rule says, and until the proposed rule is
withdrawn and re-published, that is the wording we have to comment upon.

> In his Feb 23rd interview with me Ira said:
>
> Magaziner:  Let me make clear then what is going on.  I think that the word
> "development" was not a correct word to represent the function we were
> trying to indicate and that has been pointed out to us by a number of
> people.  So that is a good criticism.  There are mistakes in this report as
> there would be in any report and when they are pointed out, we acknowledge
> them and say we will fix them.  Whether the word assignment or not is the
> right one I don't know, but development is clearly the wrong word.  I think
> the process of assigning port numbers is what we are trying to convey.

But do we even want the US government involved in "assignment"?

I am glad that he admits "there are mistakes".  The proper action by him
is to withdraw the proposed rule.  But again, until the proposed rule is
withdrawn and re-published, that is the wording we have to comment upon.

WSimpson at UMich.edu
    Key fingerprint =  17 40 5E 67 15 6F 31 26  DD 0D B9 9B 6A 15 2C 32