Preventing the internet meltdown
I'm here, having finally (with Froomkin's help) found a way to get online. In exchange, I gave Froomkin a route map for the No.3 busline.
What's this conference about? It may be about network security — holding people liable for using legacy hardware and software that can be used to attack others. It may be about spam and whether or not anonymity continues to make sense. It may be about the glory of self-organizing systems and netizenship (it was for about 10 minutes, when I was talking.) It may be about ICANN (although several people have professed to not be interested in bashing ICANN). It may be about WSIS.
I can't tell what it's about. I've taken the mike a few times to ask the group to focus on a problem and build something. I said at one point that being here was like watching a big football team sort of wander aimlessly around the field. Someone responded — maybe it was Brad Templeton — that these guys are here because they sucked at football. (It's mostly guys here.) It's so hard to harness this energy and get it working on something concrete.
Karl Auerbach is here, and he's suggesting that some regulations are good — governments have legitimacy that others don't. He's focusing on the “dangerous software/hardware” problem, and also providing some ICANN criticism. He's concerned that users are being forced to pay at least $6 a domain name. Others pointed out that there are some registrars who charge less than $6, and make up the difference on services.
Wendy Selzer is here, and I wish I could stay to hear whatever remarks she's going to make. Ed Felten is wise in the hallways. I've been privileged to mutter with David Isenberg in the back of the room.
I'm noting that none of us bloggers have managed to encapsulate this conference yet. We're all just announcing that “we're here.” I think that's indicative: it's 4:15 and we're not quite sure where in topic-space “here” is.
I'm going to assert that this conference is about the rise of netizenship and the need for a lobby for netizens. Just as Larry L. has found a way to represent the public domain, we need to find a way to represent the end-user, and the power of that user to shape his/her own environment — given adequate tools.
PS: In case you were wondering, the internet hasn't melted down and isn't in danger of doing so.