Re[3]: [ga-roots] How the sky might fall

[Patrick Greenwell <patrick@stealthgeeks.net>]

On Tue, 5 Jun 2001, William X. Walsh wrote:

> >> But a minimum set of both business, financial, and technical standards
> >> must exist, and before granting the application, those issues must be
> >> reviewed, investigated, followed up on, etc.
>
> > I have to disagree with this. ICANN was set up to be a *technical
> > coordination* body, not the decider of business models and financial
> > capabilities.
>
> But, both of those things have a direct and potentially major effect
> on the technical issues.

I think perhaps we have differing views of what consitutes a technical
issue then, which might appropriately be explained as "thick" vs. "thin".

In the thick view, I would argue that ISPs are the key component of
what constitutes stability with respect to the Internet, since after all
the Internet is nothing more than the sum total of these providers
networks. If one of them goes offline for whatever reason, one could
credibly argue that the stability of the Internet is affected. Their customers
cannot get their email, people outside the network cannot reach whatever
services that were offered on that ISP(web sites,etc.), and in the case of a
transit provider, packets aren't being passed from within the ISP network
towards their eventual destination.

To date(and with respects to the US at least), I have not seen any efforts
by any centralized authority or body obstensibly operating in the public
interest to determine which ISPs have sound business plans and the
financial capabilities to execute on those plans before allowing them to
go into business. And indeed, over the years many ISPs have gone out of
business, filed for bankruptcy protection, etc. as industry consolidation
continues. Yet, suprisingly the Internet has not come crashing down upon
our heads.

It is true that a handful of customers(relative to the total number of
Internet users) have been left without Internet access(most specifically
high-speed DSL) for some period of time. However, given the still-vibrant
ISP market, in almost all cases consumers can find alternate providers
rapidly, so they can get on with their Internet-enabled lives.

It is important to note that the above is only necessary in the extreme
cases. In the majority of cases, ISPs find buyers for their assets, they
continue to operate under court-approved bankruptcy/reorg plans, etc. In
short, they are motivated to figure out how to run a business and how to
continue to serve their customer base in whatever capacity they are able to.

That system, like the Internet while always a little broken, works.

> That alone is not sufficient.
>
> I'd add another requirement.  A mandatory $100,000 bond that could be
> used to contract with a third party for the operation of the TLD
> Registry should the registry operator be unwilling or unable (for
> whatever reason) to continue operating the registry.
>
> A mandatory clause that will assign all rights to ICANN for
> reassignment to the data and all other "intellectual and other
> property" which may be required to continue the stable continued
> operation of the registry.

Sounds completely reasonable to me. It provides the level of assurance
necessary while staying out of the VC business-arbiter role.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
                               Patrick Greenwell
                       Earth is a single point of failure.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/


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