why politics suck

two seemingly unrelated pieces of news this week actually have more in common than you might think, in that one is a fairly good object lesson for the other.

as to the first item...it seems that two large internet service providers are having themselves a nasty little tinkling contest. the peering connection between level3 and cogent has been severed, and both are blaming each other for the dispute that brought the whole situation to this point. and while this is going on...both of their customers are dealing with interruptions of service, with little to no recourse other than switching providers.

the second item, of course, is the news that the eu, along with other countries around the world, are demanding that the u.s. relinquish control of the internet's root servers to an international governing body...like the u.n.

your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy does not like this idea one bit and here's why. if just two isps can cause the amount of disruption they have with their little squabble, just imagine the utter havoc that can, and i guarantee you will, arise once diplomats, politicians, and all their nimrod lackeys get involved.

i'm not for a minute foolish enough to think the u.s. has a lock on tech smarts...far far from it.

i lost count of the number of folks from overseas i met in seattle last month who rocked my world...tech-wise, business-wise, you name it.

and even tho there's a good bit of intercontinental joking and teasing here and there in the community...when it comes down to nuts and bolts tech issues...all that drops away.

cuz for it professionals...it's about results. not political hot air.

as it's an undeniable fact we yankee pigdogs have sunk a pretty fracking big amount of equity into the intarweb, i think we should have a fairly large role in determining any future direction. and by we...i really mean we.

see...i'm a shareholder, by virtue of my tax dollars that helped fund the thing.

so are all of you.

i just don't want dumbass politicians anywhere near the inner workings of the intarweb. hell, most of them can't even keep their own info adequately secured on their own fracking servers.

so here's what i propose...which i've humbly named "the great and grand happyfunboy plan to save the intarweb super hyper force go!"

catchy title, isn't it?

if a country wants any say concerning the net, make them earn it by requiring them to:

• pony up an equal share of the cost to build and maintain the international exchange points.
• maintain full and unfiltered access to and from all other countries at the international exchange points.
• maintain a minimum level of stability and availability among their own core routers and exchange points. check out the internet weather report, and you'll see what i mean.
• put the international exchange points in heavily guarded bunkers, with auto-firing sentry turrets set to blast any politicians who approach within 50 yards...or maybe, around the bunkers, build moats full of sharks with fracking laser beams on their heads!
  

and yes, i realize that basing a level of incentive on a proven level of contribution (read: performance) is a novel...dare i say foreign...concept anymore.

for that reason alone, "the happyfunboy plan" will never happen.