WSIS, ICANN, and Howard Hughes

Vint Cerf just said we won't get to WSIS today.  Had we opened the mike on this subject, this is what I planned to say:

I wonder if you remember the Spruce Goose.  Howard Hughes created the largest aircraft ever built — capable of carrying 750 fully-equipped troops or two Sherman tanks.

 

It took a long time.  And a lot of money.  And it wasn't finished until well after the war was over.

 

Finally, in 1947, with Howard Hughes flying the thing, the Spruce Goose took off.  For a mile, about 70 feet off the surface of the water.

 

That plane had a task — to fly — a core issue it was supposed to deal with.  At enormous expense, it finally dealt with that task, AFTER the war was over.

 

Here, the UN is styling ICANN as “the present arrangement” — new blood to come later, when governments are in charge.

 

The thing is, many governments have an advantage over ICANN when it comes to regulating the net.  They only prohibit things by passing laws, not by failing to act.  ICANN was supposed to get this same advantage through the consensus policy regime – adopting very few consensus policies, and leaving the rest to local control.  Plus, ICANN was supposed to have flexibility that governments don't have.

 

ICANN has a great opportunity now.  It needs to operate with self restraint.  The default setting has to be “everything not prohibited is permitted.”  Otherwise, it will look WORSE than governments.  That would be an enormous shame.

 

Back to the Goose.  It's job was to fly, but that core mission got a little lost — it tried to fly BIG. 

 

Two suggestions for you:  Stick to your job and have your finances tie to that job.

 

ICANN's job is to create a good, objective, yearly process for new TLDs.  That's not easy, as we've discussed.  And to run IANA well.

 

The financial goals of ICANN should be tied much more towards looking inward (less arbitrary processes, good at new TLDs) than going outward to fight with ITU (the enormous funds you're raising look like you're building another Spruce Goose).

 

Many people who consider themselves friends of the internet will align with you, but only if you act right.

 

What will the netizens think about you – A failed experiment?  Or a timeless embodiment of net values?  This is the moment — between now and 2006.

 

Will they thank you for carefully preserving the TLD string space?

 

Will they support you for regulating business models?

 

BUT:  Will they applaud you for keeping at bay all the forces that seek to control the net — in the name of intellectual property, or sovereignty, or straight-out greed and control?  Yes, they will.

 

Congress killed the Spruce Goose project, and the aircraft never flew again.  The project was a failure. 

 

December 3, 2004 | Filed Under main page 

Comments

One Response to “WSIS, ICANN, and Howard Hughes”

  1. Anonymous on December 4th, 2004 2:37 am

    Good job at the mike just now!

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