FC: Larry Irving on domain names, censorship, regulation (fwd)
Dr W Black W.Black at nominet.org.uk
Wed Jan 14 09:40:47 CET 1998
I don't usually forward POC mailings, since I'm never sure of their confidentiality status, but I think this makes quite interesting reading and looks like it's fairly public. W.B. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 11:43:39 -0500 From: Don Heath <heath at isoc.org> To: poc at gtld-mou.org Subject: FC: Larry Irving on domain names, censorship, regulation >>Received: from info.isoc.org (info [192.168.1.1]) by linus.isoc.org (8.8.6/8.8.6) with ESMTP id UAA04398 for <heath at mailhub.isoc.org>; Fri, 9 Jan 1998 20:41:19 -0500 (EST) >X-Authentication-Warning: relay.pathfinder.com: Host [206.245.67.33] claimed to be pathfinderfw.twi.com >X-Sender: declan at mail.pathfinder.com >Date: Fri, 9 Jan 1998 20:43:53 -0500 >To: politech at vorlon.mit.edu >From: Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com> >Subject: FC: Larry Irving on domain names, censorship, regulation >Sender: owner-politech at vorlon.mit.edu >Reply-To: declan at well.com >X-Loop: politech at vorlon.mit.edu >X-URL: Politech is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ > >============================================ >Excerpts from transcript of press conference >============================================ > >Larry Irving, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, NTIA >January 8, 1998 >Washington, DC > >[...] > >Q Larry, you mentioned electronic commerce, but can you >tell us your progress on the green paper to privatize the >domain name registration? > >MR. IRVING: As many of you know, to my great chagrin and >disappointment November 1st came and went without us >releasing our green paper. I generally don't give dates >that we are going to release something, unless I am >absolutely certain that we can release it. In this case we >failed, and I apologize to those folks who were expecting >it, and I particularly apologize to Congress, and want to >thank those members of Congress who have ben forbearing, >and to those members of Congress who have gone home, and >because they are home haven't bothered to call me to >castigate me for not getting my paper in on time. > >We are working very diligently, and to be honest we thought >it was more important to get it right than to get it in on >time. There have been a lot of people across industry who >have a lot of issues. And what we began to discover was >looking just at the issue of domain name wasn't sufficient; >you have to look at the entire - there's a - (inaudible) - >affecting Internet governance, and there are a lot of >issues involved here. And we are trying hard to come up >with a comprehensive consensus document that we can deliver >to Congress. I can't give you another date, but it will be >soon. And one of the reasons it will be soon, because I >promised it two months ago and have not delivered it. >Another reason it will be soon is Congress is coming back, >and I think some of those people who requested it will want >it on their desk at or about the time they come back and >Congress reconvenes. But we will have a comprehensive >approach. Ira Magaziner and members of my staff, Becky >Bird (sp) and others, have done yeo person's work, or >yeoman's work - I'm not sure which is the non-sexist term - >but have worked diligently to come up with a product. >They've met with literally hundreds of people and/or read >thousands of pages of documents to get this right. And we >are committed to getting to the public and to the Congress >as good a report as we can. Anything we get is going to >have some critics, but we do think we can get a better >report by taking a little more time, being a little more >careful and talking to a few more people. > > >[...] > >Q If you abandon control of the Internet, or try to >minimize government regulations on the Internet, what >happens when you discover down the road perhaps - and let's >say perhaps dominating of the Internet by a few contract >providers - perhaps - (off mike) - how do you recover - >(off mike)? > >MR. IRVING: I think it is better to monitor and see if a >mistake is made then to start to regulate and assuredly >make some mistakes. > >Q Fair enough. What do you do once a mistake is made? > >MR. IRVING: You try to correct them. > >Q To minimize government regulation? > >MR. IRVING: We would - even if there are mistakes made, we >will try to correct those mistakes with minimal government >involvement. > >Q What tools do you have? > >MR. IRVING: You have all the tools you already have. You >have regulatory authority, you have litigation, you have >legislation. There is nothing - there is nothing that I >can't do prophylactically upfront that we couldn't do as a >government after the fact; but at least we'd know what the >issue is. Right now we'd be trying to - you know, it's >like trying to find a needle in the dark, in a 10,000 >square foot room. What problem am I trying to solve? And >right now we don't know. > >You know, nobody knew - none of us in this room would have >said in 1993 that in 1998 one trillion e-mails would be >transmitted around the globe. That's what happened last >year: one trillion - one trillion e-mails, according to >Financial Times, were transmitted around the globe. What >if I tried to do something to regulate e-mail based on what >I knew e-mail was going to be in 1993? I would have been >completely wrong, because I had no clue that there would be >one trillion e-mails in 1993. Did any of us know in 1996 >that real video would be a tool that people would be using >around the country, that you could watch the Rolling Stones >concert or pull up video - watch Savion Glover do a tap >dance recital on the Internet. Did any of us know that? >I didn't know in 1996 that in 1997 I could do that. I'd be >trying to regulate something I had no clue as to how it is >going to progress, and I might be stifling the progress. I >don't think that's good policy; more importantly, the >president and vice president don't think that's good >policy; Secretary Daley doesn't think that's good policy. >Let this thing grow at the rate it should grow as opposed >to. > >Internet telephony - 1995, 1994, who of you writing about >Internet telephony and talking about it as a real central >competitor, reducing prices and increasing opportunity for >entrepreneurs and for consumers? Have you thought - and >there were those calling to regulate Internet telephony. >The investments made would not have been made had we >started doing something when we were requested to with >regard to Internet telephony. We come down - I feel >strongly we have come down on the right side of this >debate. And I think that the people who are making >investments and who are building this industry, building >this economy, building this technology, feel strongly that >we should keep a relatively hands-off approach. That >doesn't mean we don't have guiding precepts. That doesn't >mean we are ignoring what's happening. It does mean we are >trying not to get in the way of a great success story >globally. > >[...] > >Q Larry, do you think that the present deregulatory >policy carved out for the Internet will hold insofar as >Internet service providers can withdraw from the universal >service - (off mike)? And then there's a growing debate >between federal policymakers and mayor and governors, both >that you met with and talked with, about taxation. That >issue won't go away, and it all gets to, you know, if and >how the Internet gets regulated. Is it always going to be a >hand-off approach, or will that just not hold and - (off >mike)? > >MR. IRVING: We're going to try to be as hands-off as >possible. The Internet, again, we have said this, and we >are going to continue to, the Internet has grown - has >rapidly grown precisely because of a lack of government >involvement in its regulation, in its structure, in its >future. And we are going to continue to try to make sure >that this is private sector-led. As frightening as some >people - as frightened as some people are of state and >local involvement - and the tax issue is an issue that I >think is resolvable. I mean, there is a way to resolve >that. And when you talk to people it's at the margins, but >there are ways to resolve that. > >I'm more concerned about the international implications for >regulation. I am very concerned that there are people >around the world - you know, in the United States and >Washington we are not scared of the Internet - we think >it's a good thing. We want the entrepreneurs to go out >there, we want them to build it. As you go around the >country there are people who are scared about the Internet, >and there are people who say that there should be >international governing bodies of the Internet. We don't >want that, and we are going to have to - you know, we are >going to have to make sure that people in Brussels, and >people in Geneva, and people in Paris, and people in >various capitals of the world don't get involved in >governing the Internet. There is, however, in industry and >among most of the nations that use the Internet, a >consensus that the Internet should be private sector-led, >developed, and industry should have development. There are >issues such as indecency, where there has to be some >government involvement to make sure things like parents >know where the good stuff on the Internet is - parents are >given the tools to protect their children from bad things >on the Internet. > >They agree within the Department of Justice and (IFPS ?) is >one instance where working with the government we can try >to find ways that children don't have access to things that >are inappropriate in it. Those are positive things that >have to happen. > >With regards to censorship or developing guidelines to how >the Internet - (inaudible) - to go - we don't want that. >With regard to domain name system, we don't want that. >With regard to privacy, we have said repeatedly, >consistently, we need the private sector to step up to the >plate and come up with comprehensive plans to ensure >protection of privacy of users of the Internet. Those >things I think are consistent and we can continue. > >With regard to access charge and other fees charged by >Internet service providers, we have been very careful to >say that as this industry is a nascent industry they should >not at this time be charged those kinds of fees. We've >also said we should continue to monitor and look at the >debate. There is a difference between whether or not an >economic entity should be treated the same as other >economic entities in terms of some kind of a fee structure, >and saying that we want to govern that entity. We do not >want to govern the Internet. We in Washington - and we are >going to work diligently - we are going to fight any effort >by others around the globe to start regulating the >Internet. > >[...] > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- >POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology >To subscribe: send a message to majordomo at vorlon.mit.edu with this text: >subscribe politech >More information is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > See you at INET'98, Geneva 21-24, July 98 <http://www.isoc.org/inet98/> -------- Logged at Wed Jan 14 13:42:13 MET 1998 ---------
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