[ NNSquad ] Re: David P. Reed, nnsquad member, kicks ass at the FCC hearing!!

["Jeffrey S. Young" <young@jsyoung.net>]

I'm just starting to listen to proceedings from yesterday, if I'm
stating the obvious I apologize.

WRT standards, I come at this from a provider's point of view:

IMHO, the standards making process in the Internet is a bit different
than that of other technology standards bodies (perhaps compare
the IETF and IEEE).  The IEEE publishes real standards and if your
equipment doesn't abide them, it doesn't work with similar equipment.
Internet 'standards' are more or less recommendations that are either
deployed or are ignored.   The two communities that influence what
becomes a true IETF standard and what is relegated to "informational"
status are the ISP's and the user community.

In the ISP community, if the standards solve a problem, give an
ISP a competitive advantage, they are deployed, if not they are ignored
 (i.e. BGP4 vs. sBGP or soBGP, DNS and DNSsec,  IPv6 and so on).

Deployment wins!

Same goes for the user community, standards and apps that solve a
problem, save money, enable a business proposition, get around an
arcane distribution mechanism are deployed... others are ignored.

ISP's play a huge role in what is the Internet, especially in the  
deployment of
network standards and services "between" the hosts.  What seems to be at
stake here:

- do ISP's have a role to play in the network standards (and  
applications)
  that are deployed "by" the hosts and servers that rely on ISP  
infrastructure?

- should ISP's dictate what the user community is allowed to adopt?

- can an ISP favor one mechanism over another, especially if they gain
  financially?

Fortunately, for the time being, the answer seems to be:  "not unless  
the host's
IP standard or application adversely affects the ISP infrastructure"

Of course, this answer doesn't solve the problem.  The word  
"adversely" leaves
way too much wiggle room but that's what makes this topic so much fun.

jy

On Feb 25, 2008, at 3:40 PM, Robb Topolski wrote:

> Oh well, on to more positive things --
>
>
>
> It takes the meeting 4 hours and 22 minutes before David P. Reed  
> kicks some
> real ass.
>
> - The Internet has standards.
>
> - The standards-making process is alive and healthy.
>
> - It's not the Internet Access Provider's job to create the  
> internet.  If
> they change how the Internet works, then they're no longer offering  
> the
> Internet.
>
> He had much more to say, but I was already fired up by what he had  
> said
> already -- so watch the video when it gets posted!
>
> Robb Topolski
>
>    [ David is in fact not only a member of NNSquad, but also
>      a founding signatory of the project.
>
>                          -- Lauren Weinstein
>                             NNSquad Moderator ]