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Helping the internet save the internet from Verisign

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The 2004 US Presidential election will probably go down in history as "the internet election". Each of the candidates is using the internet in some way. Through the use of this technology in their campaigns, each of these candidates is likely to understand that the internet is important. Some of them will understand why it is important. Even if they don't, they each already know that the internet means a lot of campaign contributions and a lot of votes. Its no secret to these hopefuls that the internet has the power to make or break these candidates.
And while this is the first time that I've seriously brought up politics on this blog, none of this is news to anyone. What is important about this dynamic is what it means for the DNS.
Verisign is the George Bush of the internet. Unelected, unaccountable and endangering everything that we've done over the last twenty years to make the world a smaller, friendlier place.
Getting rid of Bush is straightforward - simply put a Democrat in the Whitehouse. But what people don't realize is that voting out Bush could have the effect of getting rid of Verisign.
New faces in the White House means new faces in the Department of Commerce. A new government, a new cabinet, means a different way of doing things. A President elected by the internet might figure out that what's good for the internet is good for his administration. A President that gets the internet might figure out that the economic compulsion of a state sanctioned monopoly may not have the best interests of the internet at heart.
This President might save us from Verisign.
I urge each of you that has a vote in this election to make this an issue with your candidate. It is clear to the internet community that Verisign is not an appropriate caretaker of the resource that we have entrusted them with. The time has come for a new custodian to be brought forward and operate our namespace in a manner that serves our interest, not solely theirs.

"The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty"
- John Adams

See this post as it first appeared on Blogware.

2 comments

Comments are closed - these are kept exactly as they were left.

  1. (name not saved), October 11, 2003

    Here's the first salvo: look at Howard Dean's Internet policy (he also has a whole bunch of smart people helping him).

  2. (name not saved), October 11, 2003

    This is an interesting point Dean makes but its very vague with no substance.
    "6. The Internet is not perfectible
    The Internet is not perfect and it never will be. It is a global network providing possibility of connecting to geniuses and pickpockets and worse. We need to work to root out illegal and malicious uses of the Internet and the exploitation of children and other vulnerable members of our society. "