Kent Crispin's Forward of "News from the ORSC"

Einar Stefferud (stef@nma.com)
Wed, 23 Dec 1998 15:44:06 -0800


Hello All --

Some people have had comments on the message that Roeland sent on his
own initiative on 18 Dec 1998 to our <domain-policy@open-rsc.org>
which is included below as Kent Crispin sent it to <discuss@dnso.org>.

It is important to note that any message sent to our ORSC mailing list
is considered to be openly published and subject to further public
distribution, so what Kent did with it was entirely reasonable within
the "openness" rules of ORSC and in his being a subscriber and
participant in our ORSC discussions.

As Chairman of the Board of ORSC, I have no concern whatever in this
regard, and our ORSC participants also have no concern, since we are
in fact dedicated to being open in our dealings with others and with
ourselves.

But, I do want to explain some things about ORSC to provide more
context to help readers better understand this one message.
In isolation it is very easy to misread.

1. ORSC includes a diverse group of participating members who share
some common beliefs, and seriously agree on some common principles
of Fair Dealing and Open Processes. These things have been
thoroughly discussed on our mailing list over the last year or so.

2. Neither the members nor the leadership of ORSC know how to address
the current shortcomings of ICANN, nor has ORSC decided on a
game plan. We do however agree that there are many shortcomings
in the areas of ICANN open decision processes, accountability, and
fair dealing. So, ORSC has endorsed the NTIA decision to withhold
full approval of ICANN in favor of continued supervision and
oversight, pending ICANN finding its own solutions to its own
shortcommings.

3. Each ORSC member may at times take independent actions, and make
statements on our ORSC mailing list which might look and sound
like they represent ORSC decisions or group actions, without
making it clear that what is being discussed is only a private
initiative.

4. While Roland's efforts with DNSO.net are not an "ORSC" effort, we
in general support creative efforts that will further a reasonable
solution to the current ICANN and DNS messes.

5. It is true, on the other hand, that ORSC participants are
seriously considering incorporation of some alternative DNSO in
connection with the ICANN request for DNSO applications (note the
plural), as we have discovered that DNSO.ORG clearly responds to
such actions (e.g., INTA), while not responding to other kinds of
critical communications.

If ORSC does take such action, it will follow our past practice of
melding together the concepts and issues of all other initiatives
in order to expand the consensus base to the maximum. And ORSC
will set up a new open mailing list with civil discourse rules to
support fully open discussion and decision processes.

6. I want to also note that I and others deplore the use of tasteless
inappropriate subject lines, especially when such things are
subject to broad public distribution with attribution to ORSC.
This issue is an internal group problem which is being addressed
on the ORSC list.

I will apologize here on behalf of ORSC for this lapse of
etiquette, and for Kent's further distribution without cleaning
it up.

My Very Best Regards;-)...\Stef
(Speaking as ORSC Board Chair)

>Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 20:27:23 -0800
>From: Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>
>To: discuss@dnso.org
>Subject: News from the ORSC
>
>Thought you all might find this message from the ORSC list somewhat
>interesting...
>
>----- Forwarded message from "Roeland M.J. Meyer" <rmeyer@mhsc.com> -----
>
>Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 11:33:49 -0800
>To: domain-policy@open-rsc.org
>From: "Roeland M.J. Meyer" <rmeyer@mhsc.com>
>Subject: !Oh <expletive deleted>, it just got serious!
>Reply-To: domain-policy@open-rsc.org
>
>As of this morning DNSO.NET is in the roots. Since Richard has DNSO.COM
>this leaves the DNSO folk with only DNSO.ORG. Note that DNSO.COM is on HOLD
>status, while DNSO.NET is not only active, but has a web-server attached at
><http://www.dnso.net>. There is also a <http://download.dnso.net>, both are
>being run out of www.svcs.mhsc.net, and MHSC production host. This host is
>running Apache with SSL and mod_perl extensions and I am adding server-side
>java capability now, so we can do some really cool stuff with it,
>web-server-wise.
>
>I did this primarily as a stress-reliever, I needed to do something funny
>and light-hearted. For that purpose, personally, it worked. I had a good
>time with it. However, there is a serious side to it as well. Those who
>know me well, know that I *never* do something with *only* a single
>purpose, or even just two purposes. It appears that Stef just instantiated
>the serious side of all this.
>
>I had envisioned that DNSO.NET could be an operational arm of a DNSO, where
>root.zone data is managed and distributed as well as, other network
>operations of a DNSO. This is very much the way MHSC is organized, in that,
>MHSC.COM is the business end and MHSC.NET is the operations end of the same
>organization. The location of DNSO.NET can be changed with a simple DNS
>entry so I can re-assign it anywhere I want to, if that is requested of me.
>
>Vaguely, what I had in mind, was distribution of basic root.zone, as
>discussed on the IFWP list. This has value-add to the current ISP
>community. I am RTFMing the ListServ docs now (if anyone has a better
>suggestion for mailer-list software, I am all ears). In addition, the ORSC
>root.zone can be distributed via a similar mechanism, rather a different
>list. The ISP can then choose which list to join.
>
>Realize this also, DNSO.NET is running on a system which is using the ORSC
>root.zone for BIND resolution. This means that ALL ORSC TLDs have access to
>this server. In other words, DNSO.NET is INCLUSIVE by default.

>
>Operationally, we still have much to discuss.
>1) We need to define operationally, what a DNSO would do.
>2) MHSC.NET does not have the bandwidth that VRX.NET has, is this an issue?
>3) We need to get DNSO.COM out of HOLD status now and instantiate it properly.
>4) For the present, MHSC.NET will absorb the cost of operating DNSO.NET.
>5) Other issues need to be presented.
>
>At 12:18 AM 12/18/98 , Einar Stefferud wrote:
>>On the subject of forming a more open DNSO, I suggest that ORSC is
>>perhaps well positioned to do so, and I strongly suggest that the ORSC
>>version should promptly incorporate in Deleware, as that is where we
>>know how to do it quickly and efficiently, and where we can obtain the
>>right kind of non-profit trade association with proper accountability
>>to its membership. I suggest the name be "DNSO.COM, Inc."
>
>DNSO.NET is instantiated as "Domain Name Services Organization".
>
>Thank you.
>
>>ORSC should now lead an effort to create a set of bylaws that
>>incorporate as much as possible from the current ORSC bylaws submitted
>>to to NTIA as a counter to ICANN, and also meld in as much as possible
>>from the latest DSNO.ORG draft, and also obtain recommendations from
>>iaTLD, and other DNS/TLD groups and organizations.
>>
>>ORSC has experience in running open mailing lists with civil discourse
>>rules, and we will be pleased to apply that experience here.
>>
>>Our objective will be to draw into this new effort all possible DNS
>>stakeholders.
>>
>>Do we have any takers? Who wants to go for it with a real outreach
>>and effort to really pull everyone into it.
>
>___________________________________________________
>Roeland M.J. Meyer -
>e-mail: mailto:rmeyer@mhsc.com
>Internet phone: hawk.lvrmr.mhsc.com
>Personal web pages: http://staff.mhsc.com/~rmeyer
>Company web-site: http://www.mhsc.com
>___________________________________________________
>Who is John Galt?
> - "Atlas Shrugged" - Ayn Rand
>
>----- End forwarded message -----
>
>--
>Kent Crispin, PAB Chair "Do good, and you'll be
>kent@songbird.com lonesome." -- Mark Twain
>
------- End of Forwarded Message