RE: Who owns the Root Name Servers

[Jim Fleming <JimFleming at doorstep.unety.net>]

On Saturday, March 21, 1998 5:04 AM, Carl Malamud [IMS][SMTP:carl at also.media.org] wrote:
@According to Jim Fleming:
@
@> At one point I believe that Paul Vixie (of ISC) described how Network Solutions, Inc.
@> (a U.S. Government contractor on the InterNIC) pays for his F Root Server
@> hardware. In my opinion, being a subcontractor of NSI is the same as being
@> a subcontractor of the U.S. Government and I believe most federal contracts
@> read that way.
@
@Give it a rest.  I agree that several root servers are under U.S.
@Government influence and financing, but I think at ISC we're about
@as far from the black helicopter theories as you can get.  Ask
@around and you'll find that Paul has made an incredible personal
@donation of time and money to provide a volunteer community
@service.  And, if you ask around I think you'll find that neither
@Paul nor I are very responsive to influence by the feds.  We're
@not a federal subcontractor on paper or in any other way.
@

"donation of time" ????

I thought that last time we went through this Paul admitted
that he is paid well and also has his for-profit company that
operates in parallel to handle certain transactions.

Also, correct me if I am wrong, but Paul is paid well by APNIC
to fly to Asia each year to appear at the APRICOT conference.

This seems to be a common problem. People "think" that
non-profit means low-cost or volunteer or "donation of time".
Also, people seem to miss the fact that in the past few years
of the domain "debates" people like Jon Postel, Don Heath,
Robert Shaw, David Maher and most of the other IAHC supporters
are all paid quite well to spend their time promoting their cause.

For some reason, people conclude that the IAHC/CORE
approach is some group of altruistic people that do not have
money as their prime motivator. These people fly first-class
around the world, they wine and dine at only the finest hotels
and restaurants. They operate just like U.S. Government
officials and the financing comes courtesy of the tax concessions
provided by the IRS and the other U.S. taxpayers.

It would be interesting for the IAHC/CORE supporters to all provide
a full accounting of their finances related to DNS work for the
past couple of years. I think that you would find that few, if any,
"donated" their time. I suggest that people give this "non-profit"
thing a rest. Everyone knows that it is a common way to package
an activity that collects huge sums of money that gets paid to
selected benefactors, all in the name of science or the public good.


-
Jim Fleming
Unir Corporation
IBC, Tortola, BVI