<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"><base href="x-msg://377/"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>On Mar 12, 2013, at 8:42 PM, michael gurstein <<a href="mailto:gurstein@gmail.com">gurstein@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; "><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; ">You are saying that you would prefer to have a bilateral agreement negotiated behind closed doors between the plutocrats err… the responsible senior officials in the US and the high level bureaucrats in China determining who knows what aspects of the operation of the Internet ...</span></div></div></div></blockquote><br></div><div>Michael - </div><div><br></div><div>Setting aside the who (US, China, Other Governments) and the how</div><div>(i.e. bilateral, multilateral, ...), may I ask a question about "what" you</div><div>say would be negotiated, specifically where you suggest that it would </div><div>be "aspects of operation of the Internet"...</div><div><br></div><div>Why would governments ever have a role in setting Internet operational </div><div>matters?</div><div><br></div><div>I believe that it is generally recognized that governments have a very</div><div>significant role in setting public policy, and this often takes the form</div><div>of specific principles or recommendations (established singly or via</div><div>bi/multilateral work with other governments.) Such recommendations</div><div>have to be considered in the work done by various coordinating bodies</div><div>for the Internet (e.g. ICANN, RIRs, IETF), but they are not themselves</div><div>specific processes for technical or operational aspects. For example, </div><div>the EC Article 29 Data Privacy work is not Internet-specific, but it is </div><div>clear that it is applicable to numerous registrars and hence there must</div><div>be a way to accommodate the principles expressed there when setting</div><div>critical Internet resource coordination processes (reference the recent </div><div>exchanges on this topic during the ICANN RAA changes and ICANN</div><div>"Procedure for Handling WHOIS Conflicts with Privacy Law"...)</div><div><br></div><div>If we're to have one Internet, then we need Internet-wide standards and</div><div>Internet-wide processes for coordination of key aspects (such as critical</div><div>resources), and while consideration must be given to the public policy</div><div>principles and recommendations set by governments, that does not </div><div>mean governments directly determining aspects of the standards or </div><div>processes used in global operation.</div><div><br></div><div>/John</div><div><br></div><div>Disclaimers: My views alone. May cause headaches or dizziness. </div><div><br></div></body></html>