[registrars] Another perspective Re: The Net's First Civil War

["Ken Stubbs" <kstubbs@dninet.net>]

i recently received this reaction to Mr. Fenello's descriptive.........


    "Hmm.  I*m not sure I agree.........."

  *Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.*  George
Santayana

 I take you back to the year 1602 at the King*s Bench in *The Case of
Monopolies* wherein Mr.   Edward Darcy, Esq. sued Mr. Ralph Bowes, Esq.
because of the monopoly Queen Elizabeth had granted Bowes.

By order of the Queen, Bowes had the exclusive right *to provide and buy in
any parts beyond the sea all such playing cards as he thought good and to
import them into this realm.*

The Queen, you see, preferred her male subjects to apply themselves to the
exercise of husbandry rather than in the making and selling of playing
cards.

Chief Justice Popham had the unenviable position of declaring the Queen*s
monopoly unlawful finding that *the grant of any monopoly is not only a
damage and prejudice to those who exercise the same trade, but also to all
other subjects, for the end of all these monopolies is for the private gain
of the patentees.*

And he concluded by listing the three well known evils that attend all
monopolies: (1) the price of the product goes up; (2) quality goes down; and
(3) idleness and beggary become rampant.

Okay, I*m not sure about the third evil, but monopolies * even government
mandated monopolies, as is the case with NSI * are just plain bad.
Monopolies are especially bad in the Internet context.

This debate is about breaking up the NSI monopoly, which, while once
necessary, is no longer.

*Socialism vs. Capitalism?*
The fight is not so lofty, but if it were, I think the correct answer would
be Socialism.

The essence of the Internet is the interconnectedness of networks upon
networks upon networks . . . .  The Internet is an inherently open and
unconcentrated system (like Socialism).

Centralizing the domain name registration system into one company seems to
run contrary to the spirit of the Internet.

If its Capitalism the author wants, then let NSI drop its monopolist gloves
and compete like a true Capitalist!

HK

Harvey Kellman
Rini, Coran & Lancellotta, P.C.
1350 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Suite 900
Washington, D.C. 20037
202.296.2007
hkellman@rclpc.com



----- Original Message -----
From: Jay Fenello <Jay@IPERDOME.COM>
To: <DOMAIN-POLICY@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET>
Sent: Monday, August 09, 1999 5:04 PM
Subject: The Net's First Civil War