IP: Report From the Cato Institute

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

I CANNOT vouch for the accuracy of this but... djf


>X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.03 [fr] (Win95; I)
>Date:         Fri, 7 May 1999 22:57:53 -0400
>From: Michael Sondow <msondow@ICIIU.ORG>
>Subject:      Report From the Cato Institute
>X-To:         Esther Dyson <edyson@edventure.com>,
>               Mike Roberts <roberts@icann.org>,
>               George Conrades <gconrades@icann.org>,
>               George Conrades <gconrades@polarisventures.com>,
>               Greg Crew <gregcrew@iaccess.com.au>,
>               Frank Fitzsimmons <fitzsimmon@dnb.com>,
>               Hans Kraaijenbrink <H.Kraaijenbrink@kpn-telecom.nl>,
>               Professor Jun Marai <junsec@wide.ad.jp>,
>               Geraldine Capdeboscq <geraldine.capdeboscq@bull.fr>,
>               Eugenio Triana <etrigar@teleline.es>,
>               "Linda S. Wilson" <linda_wilson@radcliffe.edu>,
>               Joe Sims <Joe_Sims@jonesday.com>,
>               Al Gore <vice.president@whitehouse.gov>,
>               Chip Pickering <Charles.Pickering@mail.house.gov>,
>               Connie Morella <Rep.Morella@mail.house.gov>,
>               Thomas Davis <tom.davis@mail.house.gov>,
>               Gil Gutknecht <gil.gutknecht@mail.house.gov>,
>               Eddie Bernice Johnson <rep.e.b.johnson@mail.house.gov>,
>               Jim Barcia <jim.barcia-pub@mail.house.gov>,
>               Mark Harrington <Mark.Harrington@mail.house.gov>,
>               Richard Russell <Richard.Russell@mail.house.gov>,
>               Paul Scolese <paul.scolese@mail.house.gov>,
>               James Tierney <james.tierney@usdoj.gov>,
>               William Daley <wdaley@doc.gov>,
>               Madeleine Albright <malbright@state.gov>,
>               Theresa Amato <amato@Essential.ORG>,
>               Domain Policy <domain-policy@internic.net>,
>               Paris draft list <dnso.discuss@lists.association.org>,
>               James Love <love@cptech.org>, Jay Fenello <Jay@pdnha.org>,
>               Ronda Hauben <ronda@panix.com>,
>               Karl Auerbach <karl@cavebear.com>,
>               Becky Burr <bburr@ntia.doc.gov>,
>               Larry Irving <lirving@ntia.doc.gov>,
>               Gordon Cook <cook@cookreport.com>,
>               Tony Rutkowski <amr@netmagic.com>,
>               Tom Lowenhaupt <toml@communisphere.com>, IFWP <list@ifwp.org>,
>               Nick Patience <nick@computerwire.com>,
>               Jeri Clausing <jeri@nytimes.com>,
>               "U.S. Ho. of Reps. Commerce Committee" <commerce@mail.house.gov>,
>               "U.S. Secretary of State" <secretary@state.gov>,
>               Milton Mueller <mueller@syr.edu>,
>               Ellen Rony <erony@marin.k12.ca.us>,
>               Ronald Wyden <senator@wyden.senate.gov>,
>               Jonathan Zittrain <zittrain@cyber.law.harvard.edu>,
>               Larry Lessig <lessig@POBOX.COM>,
>               Courtney Macavinta <courtm@cnet.com>,
>               Howard Sartori <howard@sartori.com>
>To: DOMAIN-POLICY@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET
>
>Thursday, May 6, 1999
>
>Cato Institute, Washington D.C.
>
>
>         Milton Mueller, David Post, and Beckwith Burr were the panelists at
>a well-attended forum on Internet governance today at the Cato
>Institute in Washington D.C.
>         Milton Mueller and David Post began the proceedings with
>well-formulated arguments that what was occurring was indeed the
>creation of an Internet government, and that attempts to ignore or
>hide the fact were impeding a serious approach to it. Beckwith Burr
>added her usual time-worn clichés about the process being on
>schedule, et cetera, et cetera, and added that "the Internet should
>be run by the people who use the Internet". Strangely, this remark
>was not met by laughter, although it was followed by a prolonged and
>pregnant silence. The man sitting next to the author of these lines
>seemed to be bursting with the compulsion to inquire if Ms. Burr had
>meant to say "by the people who use the Internet and have over
>$100,000 for lawsuits", or "the people who use the Internet and are
>members of ISOC", or "the people who use the Internet and have
>connections in Washington", but the fellow restrained himself,
>albeit with difficulty, and spent the rest of the conference biting
>his lip and staring at his shoe.
>         Interventions from the audience in the Q&A period included an apt
>reminder by Don Tellage of Network Solutions, Inc., that the people
>presently conducting the ICANN process had not been elected to do so
>and were chosen by a yet-unknown and dubious process. Michael
>Sondow, of the ICIIU, confronted Becky Burr in his usual ungracious
>way with the contradictoriness of her testimony at the House of
>Representatives hearing on DNS in October, when Ms. Burr had said
>both that "We are not creating a United States Government chartered
>corporation or anything of the sort" and that "We will be entering
>into a contract...fully authorized by the powers of the Secretary of
>Commerce..." Mr. Sondow asked Ms. Burr to clarify, in the light of
>such disingenuous testimony, whether or not, in the event that ICANN
>is sued, the U.S.G. will grant it immunity. She answered in the
>inimitable Burr style that maybe yes, maybe no, only time will tell,
>tra-la-la.
>         Interestingly, the conference was attended by some persons not
>habitually seen at these sorts of gatherings. There were present,
>for example, three gentlemen in suits who are identified in the
>roster of attendees only as being from "Washington, D.C.", who never
>spoke, and who had the air of being anxious to leave as soon as
>possible and report back to their superiors, awaiting no doubt in
>some basement office of the CIA. John Hall from the Embassy of
>Australia was there, overseeing his government's hegemony in ICANN's
>Governmental Advisory Committee. Jim Harper from the House Committee
>on the Judiciary was there, possibly to see if these Internet sorts
>were as evil as Mr. Sondow says they are in the posts he incessantly
>copies to the House. Notably present also was C. Lincoln Hoewing (we
>won't hazard a guess as to what the "C" might stand for), identified
>in the roster as pertaining to "Bell Atlantic Government Affairs",
>which we take to mean the telco lobby; Mr. Hoewing, perhaps not
>unexpectedly, did not appear overly in need of liquid refreshment
>when the gathering left the auditorium at 2:00 P.M. to reconvene in
>the foyer, where the Cato had prepared lunch.
>         The pastrami sandwiches were excellent.