When did
you started to think about your RFC "the Internet is for everyone!",
the "manifesto" of the Internet, as somebody call it now?
- Actually,
that phrase arose from interactions with the ISOC Internet Societal Task
Force (ISTF) and specifically, from ideas expressed by Sascha Ignjatovic
(who recently changed his name to Thomas Anderson) and a woman whose name
is escaping me (perils of old age).
- The two
of them were the spark plugs behind the ISTF. Although the ISTF foundered
because of internal squabbles over procedures and the like, the idea still
resonates with me, as does that important phrase: The Internet is for Everyone.
While writing
it, who were the "targets" in your mind? The network community?
Those who still are not on-line? both?
- I wanted
to emphasize the inclusiveness that I thought should motivate and inform
all aspects of Internet operation, deployment, policy, use, technology,
etcetera.
- Internet
should be accessible and available to everyone at a cost that is affordable.
- It should
be open and inclusive (even to the extent of including information that
might be objectionable to some people - that is no doubt my American First
Amendment bias showing).
- I was
especially concerned that the capabilities and information on the Internet
be accessible to those with disabilities and to those in impoverished economic
circumstances.
- I still
think that way.
- My primary
targets in that campaign were the technical designers,the ISPs, the billions
who were not yet online, governments with the wherewithal to help make
it so.
In early
2002 you exactly guessed the future numbers for the Internet development:
1 billion subscribers by the end of 2005. An educated guess, or a lot of
guess only?
- I have
been tracking the statistics and making projections since 1988. Some have
not been on target but I must say that a billion is pretty exciting - but
we have 5.5 billion to go!!!
Which is
the comment about you and the Internet which you like best? And the one
which made you think more? And the most "odd" and curious?
- I think
it is a misnomer to refer to me as "the father of the Internet"
but I take great satisfaction in having been a part of this project for
over 30 years now.
- I hope
I will be remembered as someone who cared enough to devote an entire career
(and more than half a lifetime) to the continued expansion of the Internet
and the development of new functions for it to support.
- The most
disturbing references are those that fail to appreciate the contributions
of hundreds of thousands of other people.
- To try
for an analogy, Bob Kahn and I may have devised the rules for the roads
on which the cars and truck run and for the basic parameters of these vehicles,
but others actually built the roads and designed the cars and the trucks
that can use them.
- Our role,
and that of many colleagues has been catalytic and could not have been
successful were it not for the enormous efforts of millions who have chosen
to spread access to and operation of the Internet and its many applications.
One billion
of terrestrial subscribers... when do you think to update RFC3271 with...
aliens? One comment?
- We have
some Martian robots that are sending enormous amounts of information back
to Earth today - the Spirit and Opportuniy Mars Exploration Rovers.
- The Mars
Reconnaisance Orbiter is on its way to help scout for new landing places
for the future Mars Science Laboratory. The Interplanetary Internet is
in development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory through a program of standardizaton
of deep space protocols that overcome the effects of long delays and disruption
in communication caused by celestial motion and other impairments.
- I hope
to see the day when I can issue a new RFC welcoming at least robotic members
of the Internet, perhaps a new generation of lunar astronauts. It would
be truly exciting to be able to write about Martian Internauts working
on the surface of that planet but I guess my time will be over before that
day comes.
- I thrill
to its possibilities nonetheless and hope that a future generation will
write with equal passion about the Interplanetary network and society to
come.
a big thank
Vint, from Italy.
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