pab hier i forward a mail i got on the ietf list after requesting one
person for advice on matter of the usg dns internet -becouse he is at
executive office of the president next generation internet man
i have got a reply on it from some other person and i resend it tou you
becouse it was a paublic replay and in some points they may interest you
thanks
sascha
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 18:34:02 -0800 (PST)
From: Karl Auerbach <karl@cavebear.com>
To: Sascha Ignjatovic <signato@email.archlab.tuwien.ac.at>
Cc: Thomas_A._Kalil@oa.eop.gov, ietf@ns.ietf.org
Subject: Re: USG commerce dept vs. internet
> (hope this mail is not complitely out of topic as it adress some of the
> basic infrastructure questions of the internet where ietf is one of it)
You are asking an important question, although this may not be the best
forum for the discussion.
> what is going on within the commerce departement
> why they are in process to "rule" the internet
I suspect you are asking about the recent proposals for reconstitution of
the Domain Name System which were issued by the Dept. of Commerce.
Be aware, that despite considerable evidence to the contrary, the United
States is usually a government of laws. And as such, agencies, such as
the Department of Commerce must be able to articulate, with specificity,
the foundation of their powers to act in a particular situation.
And, unlike the Congress of the United States or the President, agencies,
such as the Department of Commerce, do not have any implied powers --
their sole source of authority is explicit delegation by either
Congressional Statute or Executive Order.
The recent proposals from the Department of Commerce contain no statements
which identify that legal basis upon which the Department of Commerce is
purporting to act.
Furthermore, the US Constitution does impose limits on governmental power
to interfere with contracts and private property.
Since, NSF has recently declared, in writing and in a legally binding
context, that the contact records (those records supporting the "Whois"
database and the billing system for domain names) are effectively the
private property of Network Solutions, Incorporated, a private company,
and beyond the control of the United States Government, the plan put forth
by the Department of Commerce faces some severe obstacles before it can be
implemented.
[The above mentioned declaration of the NSF is, indeed, a surprising event
with significant ramifications. Unfortunately, it is not a well known
declaration. A copy of NSF's statement can be found deep inside a set of
web pages under http://www.cavebear.com/nsf-dns/ ]
> who give them autority ?
> the president ?
> (i dont think so)
Very good questions.
Of course, within the United States, being a sovereign nation, there
exists the power somewhere. It is my interpretation that it is a latent
power in Congress and that it can only become real should Congress enact
legislation enabling the Department of Commerce to follow through on its
plan. Congress, to my knowledge, has not passed such legislation.
It is not unlikely that the Department of Commerce is acting ultra vires
(or, in other words, beyond its legal powers.)
> do you have any advice for me and some of us who may feel like that ?
As we well know, the Internet is, in actually, a supra-national system.
We are going to see a period in which individual nations thrash about
trying to treat the network like they have treated internal matters in the
past. This will, of course, cause friction and discomfort for us, the
users of the network.
Much of this trashing is based on incomplete knowledge of how the network
works. We all might be best served by focusing some of our efforts on
educating our respective governmental officials.
--karl--
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