IP: The ITU Camel

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

>
>Date: Sun, 05 Dec 1999 10:17:18 -0500
>To: <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
>From: "A.M. Rutkowski" <amr@chaos.com>
>Subject: The ITU Camel
>
>Hi Dave,
>
>Thought that you and your readers might
>be interested in the following column
>that appeared last week in Com Week
>International - which isn't generally
>seen in the US.
>
>The comments filed by NGI Associates to
>the Dept of State at last last Friday's
>deadline in the proceeding involving
>the ITU Internet role can be found at:
>http://www.wia.org/ITU/NGI_comments.HTM
>The filing also contains some useful
>reference information on the INT domain.
>
>best regards,
>tony
>
>========================================
>Bottom Line Column
>Communications Week International
>29 Nov 1999
>Page 10
>http://www.totalteli.com/cwi
>
>Keep that ITU camel out of our tent
>by Tony Rutkowski
>
>The ITU is asking for help.  A few weeks
>ago one of the General Secretariat staff
>sent out a formal circular letter to all
>the ITU's member states and the
>private-sector telecoms players who play
>in its standards groups.  The letter,
>which describes questionable Internet
>dabbling over the past four years, asks
>what more the ITU can do to help the Net
>it has been trying to kill in the past
>20 years.
>
>The letter and its attached report are
>themselves studies in cluelessness.  The
>ITU's turf is radio spectrum management
>plus legacy PUBLIC telecoms networks and
>services traditionally provided by
>government monopolies, and it moves at a
>glacial pace under the careful scrutiny
>of the world's governments. The Internet
>consists of global PRIVATE shared user
>networks and computer resources
>completely outside ITU's purview and
>harnesses the autonomous activities and
>innovations of millions of
>entrepreneur-users to move at
>hyperspeed.
>
>Some ITU staff have been trying the past
>few years to get the ITU camel's nose
>under the Internet tent.  Indeed, the
>latest circular letter is directed at
>nudging the nose a little further.  The
>amusing thing is that the nudging is
>justified on assertions that the ITU's
>members "provide most of the
>infrastructure of the Internet," and
>that the PSTN is "providing most of the
>physical pipes over which the Internet
>Protocol and related application
>services.
>
>Well, guess again.  While this may have
>been true some years ago, it certainly
>is not today for the preponderance of
>Internet infrastructure.  However it is
>an indication of just how remote these
>folks are from the real world; or maybe
>it's just delusional.
>
>So, one of the first things I did was to
>call my old friend Bill Schrader.  Bill
>is chief executive of PSI -- the first
>private ISP and the only remaining large
>independent one.  He describes himself
>as aggressively focussed on being the
>world's best large-scale ISP.
>
>Bill also doesn't mince words.  His
>recent keynote speech to the
>libertarian-oriented CATO Institute
>annual meeting in Silicon Valley had
>people cheering in the isles.  He
>regards traditional telecoms
>institutions as dead; and had the
>chutzpah to boycott the ITU's Telecom'99
>tradeshow, while creating a media event
>by floating a huge lighted PSI balloon
>over the Palexpo and holding press
>conferences to celebrate the dying days
>of the ITU.
>
>Bill's response to my query came
>swiftly.  He said "even working against
>them seems like a waste.  Its like
>observing a dying dinosaur convention.
>Since they are almost too dead to hurt
>us any more, why go there only to listen
>to them explain why they are dying and
>wishing to harness all the wild young
>turks to extend their doomed existence
>for even another few months.  Nope, I am
>a busy guy."  He suggested however that
>others "might wish to assist their
>funeral or something."
>
>So is it time to call the death doctor
>Jack Kevorkian over to Geneva?  Well,
>considering two-thirds of the ITU
>provides useful services to spectrum
>managers and assisting developing
>countries to transition to competitive
>environments, the ITU's demise is not
>going to happen.
>
>In the Internet arena, however, the best
>thing it could do is realize finally
>that this is outside its jurisdiction
>and competence, and become a good user.
>In other words, realize that Bill
>Schrader really knows what he is talking
>about, and focus on other things that
>need reforming within the ITU's existing
>purview, such as removing the controls
>on spectrum and creating a global
>Internet-like revolution for wireless
>connectivity.
>
>--
>Tony Rutkowski (amr@ngi.org) is
>principal of NGI Associates in Herndon,
>Virginia, and executive director of the
>Center for Next Generation Internet.
>
>Copyright Communications Week International
>1999
>========================================
>