Combined response

[Bob Morris]

On 1/30/06, Richard Pyle <deepreef at bishopmuseum.org> wrote:
>
> Rod Page wrote:
>
> > The issue of centralisation and "taxonomic freedom" is a red herring
> > (due to Rich and I talking past each other -- my fault).
>
> I share the blame.
>
> > My concern
> > (and I know I'm doing a very poor job of explaining this) is that
> > administrative layers and attempting to harmonise things centrally may
> > ultimately prove to get in the way of getting things done.
>
> I agree that it might, but I don't think it necessarily has to.  Again, I
> point to IP addresses and DNS.  They are obviously harmonized, but aren't
> locked up in administrative layers (or are they???)


Yes, they are, big time. Both have a hierarchy of organizational
administrative control ending at IANA, the Internet Assigned Numbers
Authority, http://www.iana.org/. If an individual proposes to put a machine
onto the internet, they receive permission, an IP address, and a dns name
from the appropriate local authority managing the network to which they will
physically connect. Often that permission and issuance is done by software
on a network host on that network (usually a DHCP, dynamic host control
protocol, server. In turn, the network administrators will have received
permissions from the next administration up the chain to issue a specific
block of IP addresses, or specific form of names.

IANA is under attack right now by a movement of governments led by the
International Telecommunications Union which wants to centralize, by
country, control of the mechanisms that are sketched above.

There is a lesson here though. It is that most end-user beneficiaries of
this complex arrangement find it needs nothing whatsoever on their part to
get those benefits. That is probably a requirement of any good GUID issuance
and resolution services also. (But it is not about GUID capabilities, rather
about their support).


>

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<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 1/30/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Richard Pyle</b> &lt;<a href="mailto:deepreef at bishopmuseum.org">deepreef at bishopmuseum.org</a>&gt; wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Rod Page wrote:<br><br>&gt; The issue of centralisation and &quot;taxonomic freedom&quot; is a red herring<br>&gt; (due to Rich and I talking past each other -- my fault).<br><br>I share the blame.<br><br>&gt; My concern<br>
&gt; (and I know I'm doing a very poor job of explaining this) is that<br>&gt; administrative layers and attempting to harmonise things centrally may<br>&gt; ultimately prove to get in the way of getting things done.<br><br>
I agree that it might, but I don't think it necessarily has to.&nbsp;&nbsp;Again, I<br>point to IP addresses and DNS.&nbsp;&nbsp;They are obviously harmonized, but aren't<br>locked up in administrative layers (or are they???)</blockquote><div>
<br>Yes, they are, big time. Both have a hierarchy of organizational administrative control ending at IANA, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, <a href="http://www.iana.org/">http://www.iana.org/</a>. If an individual proposes to put a machine onto the internet, they receive permission, an IP address, and a dns name from the appropriate local authority managing the network to which they will physically connect. Often that permission and issuance is done by software on a network host on that network (usually a DHCP, dynamic host control protocol, server. In turn, the network administrators will have received permissions from the next administration up the chain to issue a specific block of IP addresses, or specific form of names.
<br><br>IANA is under attack right now by a movement of governments led by the International Telecommunications Union which wants to centralize, by country, control of the mechanisms that are sketched above.<br><br>There is a lesson here though. It is that most end-user beneficiaries of this complex arrangement find it needs nothing whatsoever on their part to get those benefits. That is probably a requirement of any good GUID issuance and resolution services also. (But it is not about GUID capabilities, rather about their support).
<br></div><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br></blockquote></div><br>