interenet-history@postel.org would be a fine place to discuss this further, as it is (by definition) about (albeit recent) Internet history ;-) Joe Craig Simon wrote: > I've got a lot of information on this which I'd be happy to share and > exchange, but I still need and want more details. I'm not sure the IETF > list is the best place to discuss this matter, however, and if anyone > can suggest an alternative site, I'd gladly participate there. > > Please be aware that I got it partly wrong in my 1998 paper that Michael > Froomkin cited regarding that incident. I apologize for a misstatement > which may have been widely propagated. To clarify, the server operators > who complied with the redirection request were pulling the root zone > from a separate machine at ISI -- DNSROOT.IANA.ORG -- not B. > > The research I've done on this is a central part of my Ph.D. > dissertation. Anyone who has been holding their breath waiting to read > it is long dead by now, but I am advancing. It's interesting stuff. > > I don't have any after-the-fact explanation from Jon Postel himself > regarding his motivation, but I disagree with the statement that his > goal was to "embarrass" the USG. > > Though it's fair to say that he was acting partly in reaction to > pressures from members of CORE, I think his primary rationale was a > deeply held conception of loyalty to the Internet community and its > processes. I argue that he put that sense of loyalty ahead of loyalty > to the officers of the US Government and their clearly stated wishes, as > expressed by Ira Magaziner. It took a plain threat of coercion from the > USG to make him bow and reverse the move. > > The problem of divided loyalty and authority in the Internet community > stretches back to RFC 1174, and was tested in the redirection incident. > > Also, while John Gilmore was evidently an important agent leading the > call for the redirection -- at that particular time -- Paul Vixie > evidently was not -- at that particular time. Vixie had urged such a > move in the past, when the atmosphere was not so charged, but his role > in the Jan 1998 episode seems to have been similar to that of the other > operators who complied with the request. They went along, even with > raised eyebrows, but they trusted Postel's judgment and acted with > loyalty to him and the processes he represented. > > Again, I'd be willing to engage this further, and I'd be thrilled to be > set straight if I've got any other flat facts wrong. Right now I'm most > interested in getting nitty gritty details about the negotiations > between CORE and Ira Magaziner in late 97 early 98, if anyone here can > help me with that. I'm even more interested in the September 1995 > discussion that ultimately allowed NSI to begin charging for names, but > Don Mitchell hasn't answered my emails. > > Craig Simon > > Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law wrote: > >> http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/articles/icann-body.htm#B170 >> >> tells the story as best I could reconstruct it. There are footnotes to >> the documents I could find. >> >> On Thu, 31 Oct 2002 lordb@nomad.tallship.net wrote: >> >> >>> I'm looking for sources of information on the hi-jacking of the usg root >>> servers by Postel, Gilmore and Vixie. >>> >>> Anyone remember this? It was on Jan 27 1998 when postel convenced a >>> number of the root operators to switch the primary from a root to f root >>> (paul vixie). This seems to have been done to embarrase the federal >>> government - Ira magaziner the presidential science advisor took a birdy >>> and treatened postel with a visit from the men in black. >>> >>> I can understand magaziners disposition at the time. The postel "test" >>> was a day prior to the Jan 28 release of the presidential green paper >>> and >>> left magaziner holding the eggs so to speak. >>> >>> thanks in advance for any links you may have in your archives. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> > > > - > This message was passed through ietf_censored@carmen.ipv6.cselt.it, which > is a sublist of ietf@ietf.org. Not all messages are passed. > Decisions on what to pass are made solely by Raffaele D'Albenzio.