To: CEO, auDA
G'day Chris
I'm one of the many people who watch Internet policy in Australia. I
stress that I am *not* well-informed or up-to-date on this matter,
and that I'm making no judgements about the rights and wrongs.
A lot of us have been concerned about how long it's taken to nail
down a revised set of institutional arrangements and procedures that
balance the various interests; but we've understood that real
progress was being made.
I was very concerned when I saw the Kirsty Needham report in the SMH
last Friday 3 August, especially the implied threat that "unless Mr
Elz relinquished his control, it would be taken from him". My RFI to
the link list from last Friday is reproduced below.
Naturally I presume that a few things have been lost in the
translation (even a quality broadsheet's reporters are mostly
inadequately trained, and often don't get complicated Internet
matters quite right).
I'm also well aware that getting Robert Elz to participate in public
processes has never been easy. It also appears that there may be
some personal conflicts; but these are of far less importance than
the orderly management of the name-space, and need to be stripped
away to enable the problems to be solved.
On the other hand, I gather from:
http://www.auda.org.au/panel/name/submissions/elz.html (March 2001)
that Robert submitted that:
"As best I can tell the panel has made no attempt to determine what
the current goals for the AU domain name system are or were, nor what
policy was put in place to meet those goals".
That's a matter of serious concern. If it were a reasonable
statement, then it would clearly be sufficient cause for delay in
transfer of the delegation - the last thing that the community needs
is to embed adhoccery in what is meant to be a rational management
structure and process.
Ian Johnston provided some valuable background to the problem in his
posting to the link list late this morning (which he cc'd to you).
But the material he mustered doesn't go as far as to identify the
sticking-points.
I believe it would be extremely beneficial to all concerned if you
would state publicly:
- what you understand to be the specific issues that cause Robert Elz to
be obstructing the transfer. I appreciate that you may not be in a
position to speak on his behalf; but you can still state what you
understand his concerns to be; and
- what responses auDA has provided to address those concerns.
Of course, if you've already done what I'm asking, but in a venue
that I (and many other linkers) are not tapped into (e.g.
names@auda.org.au or dns@auda.org.au), then a URL or an electronic
copy of your previous communications would be much appreciated.
Thanks for your assistance in this vital matter!
I've taken the liberty of cc'ing the link list of Internet
policy-watchers, Tony Hill as CEO of ISOC-au, and Robert Elz.
Regards ... Roger Clarke
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-link@www.anu.edu.au [mailto:owner-link@www.anu.edu.au]On
Behalf Of Roger Clarke
Sent: 03 August, 2001 7:47 AM
To: link@www.anu.edu.au
Subject: [LINK] Link Institute: auDA v. Elz ?!
Importance: High
If ever there was an issue that the Link Institute should weigh in on, it's
this one. After reading the article, note the last para.
Can anyone provide briefings on this one, from *both* auDA's and Elz's
perspective, and maybe from a few other angles as well?
Name controller doubts auDA's ability
The Sydney Morning Herald
Date: 03/08/2001
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0108/03/text/biztech21.html
Kirsty Needham
The reclusive Internet pioneer Mr Robert Elz has finally broken his silence.
After a stand-off with the Federal Government and Australia's new domain
name body lasting several months, Mr Elz has outlined the reasons why he
does not want to hand over his control of Australia's Internet addressing
system to auDomain Australia.
After ignoring repeated communications from the Government and auDA, which
plan to open up the domain name system to commercial competition, and the
American based, Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, it has been revealed
that Mr Elz this week replied to an email from IANA.
IANA is the international body set up by the late Mr Jon Postel, who
co-developed the technical protocol that enabled computers to talk to one
another to form the Internet.
It is believed Mr Elz said he did not have confidence in auDA's ability to
run the domain name system or determine policy.
AuDA chief executive Mr Chris Disspain would not comment on the matter,
other than to say auDA had been asked by IANA to respond to several points
that had been raised by Mr Elz.
Industry sources suggest the stoush may draw to an end within weeks but
tipped that unless Mr Elz relinquished his control, it would be taken from
him. Once again, Mr Elz could not be reached for comment.
--
Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/
Visiting Fellow Department of Computer Science
The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA
Information Sciences Building Room 211 Tel: +61 2 6125 3666
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