[ga] Ester Dyson - the great fall from heaven

[Joe Baptista <baptista@dot-god.com>]

There's one thing about Ester Dyson I've always admired - her tits.  But
she's also a mystery.  How people ever took her seriously - I have no
idea.  Her understanding of the net is at best juvenile.  Which leads me
to believe that those who ever took her seriously must also be juvenile.

Ester played a key role in ICANN and ICANN played a key role in destroying
the U.S. root system.  Of course I predicted this some 5 years ago (?) or
so.  And now I predict Ester's eclipse.  But shes always welcomed in my
home - provided shes topless.

Bye bye Ester - you can press the delete button now .....

   Dyson cleans out her closet
   By Bill Thompson
   Posted: 06/02/2003 at 21:24 GMT

   Esther Dyson, one of the key figures in the development of the
   commercial Internet, advisor to Al Gore, promoter of the Net in
   Eastern Europe and poster woman for the dotcom millionaires, went to
   massive lengths today to distance herself from the failures of ICANN,
   the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Despite
   having been a Founding Director, Dyson now says that her involvement
   in ICANN's development was actually very limited.

   "I was peripherally involved", she claimed. "I went to a few meetings
   and we discussed a bunch of topics. but for my sins of negligence I
   ended up being invited to join the board of ICANN when it was
   created."

   Dyson also attempted to downplay the importance of the first board of
   directors, of which she was a key member, saying "we were not supposed
   to be the final board. we were supposed to figure out the transition
   to the final board". She also acknowledged that many of the criticisms
   made were justified: ICANN was unaccountable, secretive and
   inefficient in its early days.

   "ICANN is not perfect", she admitted, "and I'm not really here to
   defend it." However she did attempt to justify its continued
   existence, saying: "I'm a critic who thinks these things are hard to
   do and I can't see any other way."

   The unexpected confessional may have been prompted by her current need
   to re-establish credibility with the net community as she works to
   develop proposals for getting ordinary users involved in the
   formulation of ICANN policy through the At Large advisory committee
   which she chairs.

   "We want public input into ICANN", she said. "We've got a mechanism
   where it can have a seat on the task forces, liaisons to working
   groups, be part of the policy making process - I see that in many ways
   as more important than having a seat on the board." Others, of course,
   may disagree.

   Dyson was speaking in the Oxford Union at a conference called 'The
   Politics of Code', jointly organised by the Oxford Internet Institute
   and the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Politics at Oxford
   University.

   The one day conference brought together many net luminaries, including
   Professor Lawrence Lessig from Stanford University, Alan Davidson of
   the Center for Democracy and Technology and Harvard Alvestrand, chair
   of the IETF.

   The goal was to debate two complementary issues: how program code
   controls our online behaviour, and how the net can be regulated by
   governments rather than companies.

   Lessig, jet-lagged and miserable after losing Eldred vs Ashcroft, was
   entertaining but didn't say anything new. Fortunately the last session
   was enlivened by a witty contribution from CDT's Alan Davidson, who
   gave a talk which poked fun at the different cultures of the standards
   bodies ("In the Web Consortium you pay to play, everybody votes, then
   Tim decides. At the IETF you hum") while giving several good reasons
   why you should believe it when a lawyer turns up at a technical
   meeting saying 'I'm here to help.'

   Then it was off to drinks in Oxford's delightful Ashmolean Museum,
   where the real work of the day got done as contacts were established,
   names put to email addresses and new alliances forged. Let's just hope
   the policy makers and lawyers get their act together before the
   pigopolist revolution is complete. ®

Joe Baptista - only at www.baptista.god

  .ufo domain registration http://www.register.ufo

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