[ga] Fwd: ICANN prepares a Congressional fix with Rick White's GIPinspired candidacy

[Mikki Barry <ooblick@netpolicy.com>]

>X-Sender: cook@pop3.netaxs.com
>Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 12:40:22 -0400
>To: Mikki Barry <ooblick@netpolicy.com>
>From: Gordon Cook <cook@cookreport.com>
>Subject: ICANN prepares a Congressional fix with Rick White's GIP inspired
> candidacy
>
>
>Miikki would you be kind enough to post this to the GA list on my 
>behalf?  Note that I fixed the at the very end what Bret had 
>complained about.  Of course please remove this sentence from post.
>
>>
>>
>>As ICANN moves to break its by laws one more time by nominating and 
>>then placing ex congressman Rick White on its  board lets look one 
>>more time at its origins.
>>
>>They begin with Larry Landweber's October 1, 1995 memo to the ISOC 
>>board detailing an ISOC master plan successfully carried out over 
>>the past 4 years to place ISOC at the center and control of DNS and 
>>the IANA functions.  I published this memo in my report 
>>http://cookreport.com/isoccontrol.shtml
>>
>>Who was at the table?  Nick Trio of IBM and ISOC.  Mike Nelson, 
>>long time aide to Al Gore and about to be moved to the FCC for 
>>"safekeeping" until the beginning of a Gore Administration.  I can 
>>pesonnally attest to Nelson's loyalty to IBM from my 1990-1992 
>>experience with him at OTA.  And how shocking when he finally went 
>>to work for Cochetti and Patrick as part of the Global Internet 
>>project earlier this year.  Among his early duties fund raising for 
>>ICANN.
>>
>>Who else?  Ira Magaziner who, in early 1995, was assigned by 
>>future ICANN fund raiser Tom Kalil to study the impact technology 
>>developments on economic issues that could be leveraged by American 
>>business and help ensure Clinton's re-election.  What did Magaziner 
>>focus on almost at the very beginning?  The Internet.  On a 15 city 
>>tour of private meetings in late 95 early 96 he went in front of 
>>businessmen to hear their concerns and get some sense of the policy 
>>issues that would make electronic commerce take off.  One key was 
>>rejigering the telecom laws in a way that could be sold as allowing 
>>more competition but would, in essence, allow unprecedented 
>>concentration of the nation's telecommunications into a handful of 
>>oligopolies that could use entities like the Global Internet 
>>project as means for coordination of a world wide strategy.  Al 
>>Gore and Rick White gave us the 1996 telecom reform act and told us 
>>how proud of themselves they were.
>>
>>With Clinton elected again in November of 1996, Magaziner told me 
>>in September of 1998, that representatives of two large American 
>>companies (IBM and ATT I'll bet) came to him in in November or 
>>December of 1996 and warned him that  internet commerce would never 
>>get of the ground if the problem of misuse of corporate trademarks 
>>in the DNS was not settled.  This led to Lynn Beresford at PTO 
>>getting ready to bring PTO and WIPO into the fray  in  january 
>>1997. Magaziner would give the large corporations whatever they 
>>needed to get the job done.
>>
>>One of these was an attorney from Wilmer Cutler - DC's consumate 
>>political law firm.  These folk get their  credentials as corporate 
>>lobbyists on the conveyor belt that moves back and forth between 
>>firms like Wilmer Cutler and federal agencies.  Becky Burr,a 
>>Wilmer Cutler lawyer, who was at the FTC, was choosen and was moved 
>>in January 97 into OMB under Sally Katzen where she was groomed to 
>>head the nascent federal working group on DNS.
>>
>>Later in the Spring Burr was quietly moved to NTIA in the Commerce 
>>Department where she would use agency cover to carry out the 
>>Clinton administration's part of the bargain of extra legally 
>>asserting her right to hand over control of internet names, numbers 
>>and protocols to an industry group that would take on Jon Postel's 
>>functions and provide him legal protection that he had long sought 
>>and never received from ISOC.  (At some point - a year later? David 
>>Johnson, another Wilmer Cutler attorney would move to the growing 
>>legal staff at NSI and, having established independent  credentials 
>>via his attack by George Conrades in Berlin, would become 
>>responsible during the summer of 99  for bringing NSI into the 
>>ICANN fold - a mission acheived only a week ago.)
>>
>>The brilliance of the Gore, Nelson, IBM strategy has been to 
>>create, by stealth, an industry led group that could step in and 
>>exert control over the net while keeping dissent bottled up and 
>>Congress under control.  One of the issues that had to have 
>>occupied a percentage of the time of the IANA transition advisory 
>>group put together in a private mail list by Jon Postel in February 
>>98 was the selection of an attorney to, as Dave Farber has told me, 
>>give Postel legal protection and plan for the creation of what 
>>became ICANN.
>>
>>The makeup of ITAG was interesting.  Not surprising -- all were 
>>close friends Jon Postel.  Jon Klensin was a member.  Jon's other 
>>tie was to Vint Cerf who had hired him as a consultant shortly 
>>after movng to MCI from CNRI  in 1994.  And Vint's loyalties were 
>>to ISOC and the IBM - MCI  joint effort known as the GIP.  Vint was 
>>also a firm advocate of an early failed ISOC effort known as the 
>>gTLD-MOU to declare Domain Name space a public resource that need 
>>to be managed by a  group like ISOC (see landweber's master plan) 
>>or by ICANN.
>>
>>Geoff Huston of Telstra (the Australian PTT) was another ITAG 
>>member. I suspect that he was the link to giving one of the  two 
>>"Asian" board seats to an Australian.
>>
>>Brian Carpenter was a key ITAG member.  Brian worked at CERN 
>>before, in 1995 or 96, he joined IBM and became chair o the 
>>Internet architecture board.  Brian moved to IBM's research center 
>>in England and now has been brought to a  new IBM  funded internet 
>>technology center in Chicago where he reports to the GIP's John 
>>Patrick.
>>
>>R andy Bush one of Postel's closest followers and key technology 
>>person at Verio was a member.  Randy has now turned up as the key 
>>member of the Non commercial domain name constituency within the 
>>domain names supporting organization of ICANN.
>>
>>Steve Wolf  ex  director of DNCRI at NSF and now employee of Cisco 
>>was a member.  On December 10 1997, at the last minute I invited 
>>Steve to join me in a meeting with Magaziner at the white house. 
>>Steve accepted.
>>
>>Dave Farber  Jon Postel's dissertation supervisor was also a 
>>member. Farber a UPENN professor occupies a position in the 
>>telecommunications world similar to that of Esther  Dyson.  He runs 
>>a private one way mail list called "Interesting people" which by 
>>his own admission goes to 25,000 subscribers globally.  You can not 
>>auto join this list but have to apply to him personally. One or 2 
>>years ago Farber was named by Network World as one of the 25 most 
>>influential people in the world in networking.  The only academic 
>>to make the list.  Farber has been critical of ICANN, but his 
>>critcism has strict limits.
>>
>>One of those directly involved told me last year that a "group of 
>>Jon's friends got together and found him an attorney."  As everyone 
>>knows by now the attorney was Joe Sims formerly of the US justice 
>>department and for the last 18 years with Jones, Day another power 
>>house corporate law firm.  Sims started off pro bono but has now 
>>played the key role in creating ICANN as a legally protected entity 
>>that can operate largely outside of civil law.  Try finding someone 
>>with standing to sue ICANN.   You won't be able to.
>>
>>So where are we?
>>
>>One of the most perplexing things about the ICANN coup d'etat 
>>against the Internet is the veiled warnings that ICANN  has a  task 
>>and it must be allowed to finish it or  the internet and electronic 
>>commerce will fail.  Patrick  and Cerf have said it privately in 
>>the strongest terms in their fund raising  correspondence in June 
>>but they have steadfastly refused to stand up in public and say 
>>what they meant. This despite Patick Townson's tongue lashing of 
>>them in front of 65,000 subscribers to telecom digest.
>>
>>In early November of last year I was told:
>>the DNS problem is a predictor of future public sector not for 
>>profit organizations
>>	it raises the issue of the existence of a community and it's stability
>>	it will decide whether "adult" supervision is needed
>>
>>On August 22, 1999  Dave Farber sent the following to his IP list:
>>
>>Farber: After I sent out the two notes re the extension of the 
>>Board, I am moved to explain my position on this extension. .
>>
>>I wish the Board had moved more rapidly to do the job they assumed 
>>when they agreed to take office. What ever the reasons for the 
>>delay, it would be unconscionable for the Board to stop doing its 
>>task. Therefore I personally support the extension with two 
>>provisoes. They are:
>>
>>1. Effective immediately all Board meetings be open . The only 
>>closed meetings should be those dealing with personnel issues.
>>
>>2. The Board agrees to step down as soon as the properly 
>>appointed/elcted board can take its seats. I would also personally 
>>feel that all current Board members should terminate (with great 
>>thanks from the community (I mean that) ) at that time.
>>
>>Dave [end of Farber quote.]
>>
>>When I asked on a private list (BWG)  what Dave considered to be 
>>the board's task that it would be unconsionable for them to stop 
>>doing and what was the job they assumed when they agreed to take 
>>office, I got no direct answer.  When a couple of weeks later, I 
>>asked for a specific scenario that cold be examined and tested as 
>>to what might happen should ICANN fail, I receive a response that 
>>ave was busy with classes and when he had his scenario ready he'd 
>>publish it but not before.
>>
>>I responded that you would think that he and Vint and john Patrick 
>>would have their arguments done by now.  I suggest that in view of 
>>the inability of these men to defend their assertions one may look 
>>for the real reason as being too dangerous to discuss in public.
>>
>>I wrote the following in my december newsletter:
>>
>>The Answer to Why ICANN Must not Fail
>>
>>But now the other part of this picture also begins to come into 
>>focus. This is the curious insistence of folk like Vint Cerf, John 
>>Patrick and Dave Farber to say that if ICANN does not succeed, the 
>>Internet and electronic commerce will fail.  When asked for a 
>>thorough and reasoned explanation of why, none of these men have an 
>>answer.  I suspect that I know why.  The answer is that the 
>>authority for DNS, IP number allocation and port assignment rested 
>>not in law but in the consensual agreement of the Internet 
>>community with Jon Postel.  Now Postel is gone. The Department of 
>>Commerce, without a shred of legal authority to do so, has stepped 
>>up to and asserted, like General Haig, that it is in control now. 
>>It will hold the reigns of power until it can turn them over to 
>>ICANN.  This is why ICANN must not fail because it would then be 
>>revealed to the world and especially to investors in the high 
>>flying Internet stocks that no single legal authority existed over 
>>the operation of the Internet's address system.
>>
>>Network Solutions had the financial and legal muscle to bring a 
>>court case challenging DoC's authority. Therefore, ICANN and DoC 
>>had no choice but to give in and guarantee Network Solution's 
>>future. Behind the scenes in Washington a frenzied search for 
>>anything that could be used to grant DoC authority over the DNS and 
>>the other IANA functions has been carried out duing the months o 
>>July and August. It has been a failure. There is no authority to be 
>>found. Consequently, Cerf, Farber, and Patrick plead that ICANN 
>>must finish the task, but are silent when asked why.  They simply 
>>cannot afford to call attention to the fact that the king at 
>>Commerce has no clothes.  With a naked king, they are desperate to 
>>clothe the ICANN crown prince until it can transfer power.
>>
>>(I have recently  published to several lists Glenn Manishen's 
>>draft of a brief on why commerce has no legal authority to do what 
>>it is doing.  I won't repeat that here.)
>>
>>The Geatest Danger Facing ICANN
>>
>>At this point only a serious  examination by the United States 
>>Congress could derail ICANN. In June NSI used its influence on the 
>>Hill and got the commerce committee to issue  a series of nasty 
>>requests to ICANN.  On July 22 NSI's new CEO Jim Rutt got his head 
>>handed to him by behaving in front of the committee as he had been 
>>coached to behave.  I have primary evidence that the attorney's who 
>>prepared past NSI CEO's for their congressional appearances did not 
>>prep Rutt.  Rutt had handlers and the handlers betrayed him.  I 
>>suspect but cannot prove at this point that Wilmer Cutler's David 
>>Johnson was the chief handler. From two separate sources I know 
>>that he was critical (once Rutt blew his congressional opportunity) 
>>in crafting the agreement with Commerce that put NSI and ICANN in 
>>bed with each other  on October 1.
>>
>>I also have known and complained about since September of 1997 of 
>>the extraordinary access to Becky Burr that Marilyn Cade on behalf 
>>of ATT and Roger Cochetti on behalf of IBM  (both of the GIP) 
>>enjoyed. People in both companies told folk outside their 
>>corporations about the inside track their  firms had gained in 
>>access to ms. Burr. Those folk confided in me two years ago and 
>>their stories now check out totally.
>>
>>If the republicans had the basic  intelligence to add two and two 
>>and get four, they could issue a raft of subpoenas for future 
>>hearings that would bear eloquent testimony to the clinton 
>>administrations use of Burr in an alliance with ISOC to give away 
>>control of internet to an extralegal inter-governmental entity 
>>whose masters are more comfortable with OSI and the ITU than with 
>>the technology responsible for  the success of the Stupid Network.
>>
>>Cade came out of  Woody Kerkeslager's office at ATT.  Kerkeslager 
>>(since retired) was ATT Vice president of governmental affairs and 
>>as such was responsible for seeing that things went the regulatory 
>>way that benefitted AT&T.. He also was well known in 1990-1992 for 
>>deriding this rediculous Interrnet as a technology that was dead 
>>end, would never go anywhere and should be put out of its misery.
>>
>>But CADE and Cochetti on the outside, with Burr as their mole at 
>>NTIA, have now found through Rick White's cultivation of the GIP in 
>>97 and 98 their perfect shill to silence republican members of 
>>commerce.  You will remember that Jon Cohen touted White's Icann 
>>board candidacy ten days ago as Marilyn Cades "secret candidate." 
>>Cade meanwhile pulled out all the stops to propel White into office 
>>despite the fact that White has no legal standing for the position 
>>for which he is being promoted.
>>
>>In the Friday teleconference where candidates presented their views 
>>White in the opinion of observers was coached.  White, it is said, 
>>asserted that ICANN  should try to succeed in the long term by 
>>recognizing that there were  boundaries it its mandate. It must not 
>>fail because, if successful,  the ICANN model could  be used**** 
>>for "another" private body *****that might do more and address 
>>other issues. White allegedly was adament that ICANN has and should 
>>respect a limited focus. Where he believed the bodes of ICANN's 
>>authority to lie was unclear.  White, as a grade-a shill whom his 
>>critics believe says what ever keeps his constituents happy,  will 
>>be put on the ICANN board to shut congress up.  (IN my opinion this 
>>will happen dispite a well aimed requestion from Ellen R ony on 
>>Monday october 11 that elizabeth  portneuve certify whether White's 
>>candidacy was legal.)
>>
>>ICANN will spawn successor groups  as White predicted.  Content 
>>control of the  internet will be next on the ICANNite agenda.  Web 
>>site licensing anyone?
>
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