US Study on Internet Structure

cheesethegreat writes: "CNN has an article on a study by the US government is setting up to examine the structure of the internet. The study is set up by the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB), and will look at issues like infrastructure, how easy to navigate it is, and top-level domain name issues. Interesting article, it says this is partially in reaction to people speaking out against ICANN. But what does the US government plan to do about it?"

yo

[milgram]

US study. Great.

Who cares?

[autocracy]

Interesting development, but ICANN will pay everyone off to keep Congress from voting anything. And then there is the issue of a government run system... No good developments expected here.

REAL /.ers only have a karma of 49...

US Government?

[Vuarnet]

But what does the US government plan to do about it?
Oh, sure. We're losing our sleep all over the world, wondering what the US government plans to do to the (as far as I can recall) world-wide-used Internet.

Actually, I think it's a good idea for the US Government to do such studies, and pass the results along to the rest of the Internet community. But there's a big difference between making studies and having ideas and requests, and actually forcing ICANN (or whomever) to do something the US Gov. wants.

I know the article doesn't mention anything like that happening, but I'm feeling a bit paranoid.
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I

No map, No point!

[arttworks]

All this talk about the "domain name system" is a pointless distraction. The information superhighway does not need more abuseable DOT-Stupid site names-- what it needs is at least ONE good road map. What CSTB does, speaks loader than what it says. As their own domain name demonstrates "http://www4.nationalacademies.org" having a stylish site address is in the big internet picture a big non-issue. No significant population of the using public navigates the internet based on domain names. Most users depend on site to site links or on indexes (search engines and directories) to help them find the content they seek. If government, or a group of "information technology experts" sincerely wants to enhance internet value and functionality, the first and only place they need look for correctable broken-ness is at the search industry.

The "Indexing Rackets" have marganalized the internet and stolen from it much of it potential. Hysterical fear of over-regulation and corruption at all levels by undisciplined self-interest, has left the internet with no logical rules regarding internet mapping, indexing, or navigation. The marketing trash of "Website Promotion" and "Search Engine Optimization" have been allowed to replace the ideal of fast, fair, and free access to the world of human creativity. The internet promised more direct, more complete, and more open access, but that promise was broken when rudimentary indexing, or mapping, was allowed to become a competitive business "game" to be played on an uneven field, with no ground rules.

This design flaw is obvious, you need no degree in "information technology" to realize that extortion, blackmail, and bribery are not going to create a credible or better, web index. If I suggested 10 years ago, that we design the web indexing structure so there will be hundreds of indistinguishable indexes, each charging hundreds of dollars to list a site, or more bazaarly we allow keywords to be put up for sale, I would have been rightly despised by the purest internet culture of that time. Now suggesting that we undue this mess with the simple, yet powerfull, reform of universalizing the site submission process, gets me no better a reaction. To the internets inevitable great harm, the dominate internet culture is now made up of unpure, marketing "cause pimps" who see the opportunity to profit in an atmosphere of confusion and standardless uncertainty. For more see donotgo.com [donotgo.com]