Internet: Information Revolution in the
Third Millennium
Executive Director Internet SocietyLynn St.Amour
<st.amour@isoc.org>
<http://www.isoc.org> Port Harcourt, Nigeria January 20 -22, 1999 Presentation Outline
| Internet Society - background and genesis |
| Internet Society - what have we learned and how does it apply to the future |
| Current Initiatives and Issues |
| The Internet and Nigeria |
| How can ISOC help? |
| Who are we? |
| Where did we come from? |
| Mission, Principles, Goals & Objectives |
| Standards - IETF, IAB, IESG, IRTF, IANA |
| Education - Conferences, Network Training Workshops, Chapters |
| Initiatives - Governance, Cryptography, Privacy, Commerce, Legal….. |
| Non-governmental international organization for global co-operation and co-ordination of the Internet |
| 7000+ Individual members from 150 + countries, 150+ Organizational members |
| Chapters - 37 Official, ~ 15 Forming |
| Strong, active educational role (NTW, INET, NDSS, etc) |
| Governed by a Board of Trustees elected by its membership |
ISOC OFFICERSScott Bradner USA-Americas 1996-99 Vinton Cerf USA-Americas 1998-01 Susan Estrada USA-Americas 1996-99 David Farber USA-Americas 1996-99 John Gage USA-Americas 1998-99 John Gilmore USA-Americas 1997-00 Donald Heath USA-Americas 1996- (ex-officio) Geoff Huston ASIA PACIFIC -Australia 1998-01 Christian Huitema EUROPE - France 1998-01 Kees Neggers EUROPE - Netherlands 1998-01 Christine Maxwell EUROPE - France 1997-00 Jun Murai ASIA PACIFIC - Japan 1997-00 Tim O'Reilly USA-Americas 1998-01 Jose Luis Pardos EUROPE - Spain 1997-00 George Sadowsky USA-Americas 1996-99 Ben Segal EUROPE - Switzerland 1997-00 There is a need for a Board member(s) from Developing Countries.
It’s probably too late for this year’s election but we must be ready for next year.
ISOC ADVISORY COUNCILPosition Name Chair Vint Cerf President/CEO Donald Heath Secretary Geoff Huston Treasurer Christian Huitema VP - Chapters Ole J. Jacobsen VP - Conferences Javier Sola VP - Education George Sadowsky VP - Membership Christine Maxwell VP - Publications Nicholas Trio VP - Standards Scott Bradner
| The voice of the organizational members |
| Each organization can appoint one representative and one alternate |
| Advises ISOC on policy issues |
| Important resource for understanding national concerns or positions |
| Should be as active as possible |
| Chapters are the ‘front-line’ to local communities, authorities and members |
| They are key to wide acceptance and socialization of the Internet |
| They are ultimately the guardians ensuring the beneficial open evolution of the Internet …..for everyone |
WHO’S WHO AT ISOC Secretariat
Membership Administrator-Organizations: Ms. Michele LecomtePresident & CEO: Mr. Donald M. Heath
Executive Director: Mr. Martin Burack
heath@isoc.org
burack@isoc.orgExecutive Director (EMEA) Ms. Lynn St.Amour
- st.amour@isoc.org Director of Conferences: Ms. Torryn Brazell
brazell@isoc.org Office Manager: Ms. Mary Burger
mburger@isoc.org Membership Administrator-Individuals: Ms. Beth Strait
members@isoc.org
Chapter Liaison: Mr. Gordon Howell
gordon@ibs.co.uk
Chapter Support: Ms. Terri Weigler
tweigler@MCI.NET
Systems: Mr. Frank Brunotts
brunotts@isoc.org
Webmaster: Ms. Jane Benson
webmaster@isoc.org
Finance: Mr. Mike Sadowski
sadowski@isoc.org
OTI, ISOC Forum, ISOC Inside: Ms. Wendy Rickard
The History Behind ISOC
| The ARPA project and the need to effect connectivity between disparate institutions |
| Co-operation was necessary and was the seed for an open forum for standardization |
| Ultimately, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) resulted |
| Standards development can lead to charges of anti-trust; legal coverage is important |
| An organizational home for the IETF |
Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
Internet Research Task Force (IRTF)
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
| Financial, insurance, and legal umbrella for standards activities |
| Technology giving way to political, social, legal, ethical, and commercial |
| Reasons for Success |
* Robust protocol - TCP/IP*
* It has allowed world-wide scaling
| Reasons for Success |
* * Robust protocol - TCP/IP
* * Founding period where participants were virtually unnoticed* X.25, ISDN, Frame Relay, SMDS, ATM, BISDN
* Mistakes could be made
* Learning could occurr
| Reasons for Success |
Robust protocol - TCP/IP Founding period where participants were virtually unnoticed Environment conducive to co-operation
They worked together toward a common goalParticipants wanted it to work
Reasons for Success
Robust protocol - TCP/IP
Founding period where participants were virtually unnoticed
Environment conducive to cooperation
Freedom to experiment in uncontrolled environment
Open forum, bottom-up standards development
The IETF - from the need to "make it work"
Internet Society MissionThe emergence of the concept of "Rough Consensus"
Rigorous process - weeds out weak solutions and encourages the best
It does not mean "unanimity."
It does mean broad-based participation and acceptance
Internet Society Purpose"To assure the beneficial, open evolution of the global Internet and its related internetworking
technologies through leadership in standards, issues, and education."
ISOC Principles"To take the Internet to where no net has ever been before"Vint Cerf.
From established Principles, we define: * *Goals and Objectives * *Programs and Initiatives * *Position on issues confronting the Internet * *Our reason for being
ISOC Goals and Objectives1. On-line free expression is not restricted by indirect means such as excessively restrictive governmental or private controls over computer hardware or software, telecommunications infrastructure, or other essential components of the Internet.
2. Internet users may encrypt their communication and information without restriction
3. No discrimination in use of the Internet on the basis of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status.
4. Personal information generated on the Internet is neither misused nor used by another without informed consent of the principal.
5. Encouragement of co-operation among networks: Connectivity is its own reward, therefore network providers are rewarded by cooperation with each other.
Standards DevelopmentDevelopment, maintenance, evolution, and dissemination of standards**
** Growth and evolution of the Internet Architecture
** Maintenance and evolution of administrative processes for operation of the Internet
** Education and research
** Harmonization and consolidation of positions on issues at international level
** Collection and dissemination of information related to the Internet
** Assisting technologically developing countries in implementing Internets
** Liaison with other organizations and governments in effecting the above
Standards Development
1. Applications 2. Internet 3. Routing IETF - <http://www.ietf.org/>
4.Operations and Management 5. Security 6. Transport
7. User Services 8. General - Director is also Chair of IETF
Standards Development - Internet Corp. for Assigned
IANA http://www.iana.org/iana/overview.html
http://www.iana.org/domain-names.html#Country Code Domains
http://www.iana.org/iana/ip-addresses.html
http://www.isi.edu/div7/iana/descript.html
General Assignment of Various Protocols
RFC Editor
ICANN - Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers
** was IANA <http://www.iana.org/ ICANN <http://www.icann.org/
* IP Addresses
* Protocol Numbers and Assignment
* RFC Editor (for ISOC)
* Country Code Domains
| IANA to be transitioned from US Gov’t. to a private, international non-profit corp. |
| ICANN will be membership based |
| Four (4) Membership groups |
| Critical issues - to be addressed |
Acceptance of the SO Applications
Addition of top level domains
Intellectual Property Issues
Membership Organization make-up…and more
| These must be addressed while ensuring the continued stability of the Internet |
| Can the culture of today apply tomorrow? |
| Can principles of rough consensus be used in other areas such as legal, political, social, ethical, economic and electronic commerce? |
| Are the Internet users and builders of today different from those of the past? |
Governance"Take cooperation out of the Internet, and the Internet will simply cease to be."
ISOC InitiativesIf the Internet is ever going to achieve it’s fullest.
| Education: ** Annual INET conference & pre-conference events: |
ISOC Initiatives* Annual conference with focus on education, commerce, policy, internetworking, security, etc.
* Emphasis on diverse international participation
* Rotates to different global regions each year
* Published proceedings of valuable diverse research papers - papers are peer reviewed
| Legal Defense of "Internet": ISOC is working to protect and free the term "Internet" from commercial ownership. |
| Electronic Commerce: ISOC submitted comments on and influenced the U.S. White House strategy paper on Global Electronic Commerce. |
| Protection Against Excessive Regulation: ISOC fights against constraints of access, content, etc. [e.g, U.S., Thailand, Germany] |
| Self Regulation: ISOC is a leader in the development of the strategy to transition control of the Internet from the U.S. Government to industry self-governance. |
> 100 mio users
> 40 mio hosts
> 13 mio Domains
Present in virtually every country (incl. all but a handful of African countries)
Key Driverstential, it will require
Massive increases in bandwidth through new technologies and ultimately lower costs Convergence of Telecomms, IT, Media, Consumer Electronics, Publishing, Information and Distribution Significant progress made in security
What's Coming?///////tal, it will require
Increased connectivity and Increased convergence
Placeholder for history of convergence slides as not yet in powerpoint format
Factors putting pressure on Governancental
** Rapid technological change
** Pervasive social change
** Internet becoming critical/synonymous with commercial success
** Egalitarian medium
** Dispersion of control(s)
Governance - What ISOC is Doing_-ntal
** Development of appropriate, secure, and stable standards through the IETF
** Coordination with global organizations - to assure an unfragmented Internet
** Internet Domain Name System (DNS)
** Intellectual Property Task Force member
** ‘consulting’ with various governments
** …and many other activities
Governance
If the Internet is ever going to achieve it’s fullest potential, it will require self-governance.
Why The Internet Is Important To Nigeria
The Internet and Nigeria
The Internet will be the "universal communication medium" for data, voice and multimedia
It will be key to advances in virtually all commercial sectors and will in the long-term be a critical factor in determining your standard of living
"The third millenium marks the age for Africans to emerge dramatically into the Information Age, and the Internet can provide the means.The world recognizes the potential of Africa and needs only the incentive you can provide, for it to invest the necessary money and resources to provision the required infrastructure."
Don Heath
Constraints on Internet growth in Nigeria"There is little doubt that the Internet is destined to play a key role as a major communications infrastructure. Its origins in computer-mediated communication and its current visibility in commerce, personal discourse, education and research suggest that Internet skills are becoming a global necessity.
Nigerians can and should take rapid, purposeful and determined steps to enhance access to and use of the Internet in Nigeria and in Africa."Vint Cerf
Inadequate telecoms infrastructure Competition for limited funds: telecoms, IT infrastructure, education, healthcare Low foreign investment Pace and breadth of change is staggering and the implications can be difficult to understand, never mind lead Lack of training
What can Nigeria do?
Continue AGGRESSIVELY with NII plans Educate...educate...educate Learn what’s happening, get involved Ensure responsible growth of the Net Work with infrastructure providers - all of them Work with key adopters - schools, medical... Increase awareness of Internet Culture and way of working Educate…educate…educate
What can Nigeria do NOW?
Life Lesson # 126
While ‘waiting’ for adequate Infrastructure to come - prepare the political, social, educational and legal ground These areas are just as important as good telecoms infrastructure
Leadership:
"Finding out where everyone is going and then running like hell to get out in front."
Vint Cerf
What can ISOC do to help?
‘Local’ training courses
Help drive ‘Sister’ programs between universities, cities, etc. for:used equipmenttraining
Keep fighting the ‘good fight’ but….Open Discussion I’d like to hear your ideas!
