Coordinating the Internet

For years, the world saw the Internet as a creature of theU.S. Department of Defense. Now some claim that the Internet is aself-governing organism controlled by no one and needing nooversight. Although the National Science Foundation and othergovernment agencies continue to support and oversee criticaladministrative and coordinating functions, the Internet is remarkablydecentralized and uninstitutionalized. As it grows in scope,bandwidth, and functionality, the Internet will require greatercoordination, but it is not yet clear what kind of coordinatingmechanisms will evolve. The essays in this volume clarify these issues and suggest possiblemodels for governing the Internet. The topics addressed range fromsettlements and statistics collection to the sprawling problem ofdomain names, which affects the commercial interests of millions ofcompanies around the world. One recurrent theme is the inseparabilityof technical and policy issues in any discussion involving theInternet.ContributorsGuy Almes, Ashley Andeen, Joseph P. Bailey, Steven M. Bellovin, ScottBradner, Richard Cawley, Che-Hoo Cheng, Bilal Chinoy, K Claffy, MariaFarnon, William Foster, Alexander Gigante, Sharon Eisner Gillett, MarkGould, Eric Hoffman, Scott Huddle, Joseph Y. Hui, David R. Johnson, Mitchell Kapor, John Lesley King, Lee W. McKnight, Don Mitchell, Tracie Monk, Milton Mueller, Carl Oppedahl, David G.Post, YakovRekhter, Paul Resnick, A. M. Rutkowski, Timothy J. Salo, PhilipL. Sbarbaro, Robert Shaw. A publication of the Harvard Information Infrastructure Project