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U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS

An Anonymous Reader wrote in with a story on the Eweek site, reporting that the Federal Government is going to keep control of the Domain Name System rather than handing it over to ICANN. From the article: "...the United States is committed to taking no action that would have the potential to adversely impact the effective and efficient operation of the DNS, and will therefore maintain its historic role in authorizing changes or modifications to the authoritative root zone file..."

385 comments

  1. U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by zoloto · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And this is a problem how? This is an honest question. The U.S. has had control of the root servers since inception (as far as I have ever known) and things have been running wonderfully since... so what's the issue? We backed out of a plan to hand control over to ICANN because we were concerned? DU-H! Any country as powerful or even close would probably have done the same thing. //here's my solution

    Keep one/two root servers in each country based on population of internet users/total population. Really, this is what I could see as being "fair" or "international" as they come in terms of a solution that would benefit everyone. That's a LOT of servers, right? Each country can come up with a solution as to how and what they'll be. Let the other countries make their own DNS servers and agree to everyone just co-operating with each other.

    How hard can it be?

    1. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by mi · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Yep, it is a strategic asset of ever increasing importance. Holding on to it makes sense.

      Better be polite about it, of course, but do not let go.

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    2. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Keep one/two root servers in each country based on population of internet users/total population.

      Most countries have servers for their own TLD's (.au in Australia). Come to think of it there is nothing to stop countries with firewalls (Iran, China, Sauda Arabia, etc) from diverting root server traffic to their own root servers. Personally this is the type of control which I would _not_ want my Government to have.

    3. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by Pseudonym · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Keep one/two root servers in each country based on population of internet users/total population.

      Total population? Sure! So that'd be two in China, one in India, and... uhm... about none in the USA.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    4. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      cos US is borg.

      thank you.

      thank you very much.

    5. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by jasonvan · · Score: 1

      Everyone worries about the U.S. government taking control of the Internet but i can tell you, it will never, ever happen. U.S. politics is ruled by getting the vote. All a senator/representative/president are trying to do is get reelected or to keep their party on top, voting for something like control of the worldwide Internet would be political suicide, not to mention the U.N. and just about every other country getting mad. Besides, why fix something that isn't broken? ICANN has tons of power whether it is law or not.

    6. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by floop · · Score: 1

      This is really a non issue since it only effects adoption of IPv6 and possibly the national security of foriegn nations that don't prepare for the loss or tampering of root server records. The root zone has fewer records than your average mom-n-pop ISP manages in any number of zones so an arguement that the US has some special expertise is just silly. See for yourself. The only thing that makes the root servers special is that everone agrees to use them. At any moment, even you could choose not to use the root servers anymore, let alone a country or continent. The only real issues are stability of service and the widespread adoption of IPv6.

    7. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by elamdaly · · Score: 1
      Try again

      China - 7.3%

      India - 3.6%

      America - 67.8%

      Statistics are your friend.

    8. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by rstultz · · Score: 1

      Yah, that makes sense, we'd make the largest country in the world have two representatives, so that only India and China have a representative. Instead, think about how the House of Representatives works. Each state gets votes based on population, every state gets 1 vote.

      Ryan Stultz

    9. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by MyLongNickName · · Score: 2, Funny

      Statistics are your friend.

      Especially when you read the wrong column.

      Asia: 34%
      North America: 24.9%

      --
      See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
    10. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by thegrassyknowl · · Score: 1

      And this is a problem how?

      Um, it's supposed to be distributed. If the US retains control of all the root servers then the US retains control of the Internet. If the US is ever turned into "Lake US" by the "$TODAYS threat" what happens to the rest of the world's Internet?

      It allows the US to retain that thing they seem to think they have a fundamental right to - control over the whole world.

      It is also a profitable exercise. It forces more and more data to pass through the US. They can charge $$$ for that data and i doubt the running costs of the servers comes close to the amount they are charging for data.

      It allows monitoring. They can monitor the sorts of queries that are being performed and the sorts of places they are coming from. Sure, a lot of ISPs run caching name servers but there would still be a lot of queries that get passed throught the root servers. Even though the root servers just pass the request off to the appropriate second and third-level servers the request can still be logged.

      Keep one/two root servers in each country...

      I agree with this suggestion. Except, those servers can not be administered by the US. The server must be administered by the country that it resides in with some form of verification system in place, such that they can't do something malicious with their root server.

      --
      I drink to make other people interesting!
    11. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by linsys · · Score: 1

      Why did this get modded informative, more like naive:

      "Let the other countries make their own DNS servers and agree to everyone just co-operating with each other. How hard can it be?"

      Have you ever heard of the U.N, if not let me tell you a bit about the U.N it stands for the United Nations and it was formed to basicly keep the peace (and a few other things), if we (the world) can't get an orginization to work which will help countries stop killing one another what makes you think that this DNS "co-operating" solution of yours will?

      Not to mention that when ever the U.S feels fit to go against the U.N it does so when and how ever it wants. Which is what the U.S does when "co-operating" with other nations...

      I live in the U.S and would perfer that they don't control the root DNS servers. Are they currently stable YES, do I belive that the reason they don't want to let go is becuase of:

      "We backed out of a plan to hand control over to ICANN because we were concerned? DU-H! Any country as powerful or even close would probably have done the same thing."

      When you think in terms of U.S concerns remember that "Saddam Hussein Had Nukes". Makes me sleep ok at night when the U.S has "concerns".

    12. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by elamdaly · · Score: 1

      No.
      He said US, China, India, so those are the columns I used.

    13. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by nuintari · · Score: 1

      Except there is 13 root servers for a reason, that's all you can fit in the udp packet. Its a limitation of the IP protocol, not some random number they just made up and never exceeded. Can't just add more as needed, you'll exceed the payload of the datagram.

      Now, there are many more than 13 root servers, most of them are now Anycast from multiple locations. But IPv4 anycast is a hack that has some serious limitations.

      --

      --Nuintari

      slashdot : where an opinion can be wrong.

    14. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, I for one welcome our new... err... old American DNS overlords.

    15. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those are rows, not columns. Your columns were wrong. His rows were wrong.

    16. Re:U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS - So what? by m50d · · Score: 1

      If he's saying 2 per country on average, that makes maybe 300 total, so the US gets 15 of them.

      --
      I am trolling
  2. Ask yourself this by zymano · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why does ICANN want the DNS servers ?

    1. Re:Ask yourself this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      *shrug*

      To become our new overlords?

    2. Re:Ask yourself this by slavemowgli · · Score: 2, Informative

      Because ICANN is the follow-up organization to the IANA - the Internet Authority for Assigned Names and Numbers. That's a good part of what DNS is about, isn't it?

      I think the real question is "why does the USA want the DNS root servers" (most of them, anyway)?

      --
      quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
    3. Re:Ask yourself this by Hope+Thelps · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think the real question is "why does the USA want the DNS root servers" (most of them, anyway)?

      Apparently there was an unwritten understanding that ICANN would be able to come up with at least one sensible new TLD before being given anything more important to do.

      --
      To summarise the summary of the summary: people are a problem. ~ h2g2
    4. Re:Ask yourself this by flipper65 · · Score: 1

      Actually I believe this has already been asked and sufficiently answered. There have been no issues with the United States stewardship of the root servers on a technical level.

      In this day and age these servers are truly globally important. Unless there is a problem with their management or function I can think of nothing more disruptive to the internet globally than relegating their administration to a global committee.

    5. Re:Ask yourself this by TheKidWho · · Score: 1

      Because the USA already has them?

      Why give them away if we are doing a darn good job with them already?

    6. Re:Ask yourself this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      The internet is not America's property.

    7. Re:Ask yourself this by cowscows · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Because it is the nature of just about every organization to try and increase its own importance and authority. Then they can demand bigger budgets and whatnot. Just about every organization of any sort tends to do this, whatever its actual purpose is. Discussing why people tend to do this is many thesis papers worth of psychology.

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

    8. Re:Ask yourself this by mindstrm · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Why would you want the expense and hassle of running this if you don't have to? The point is, ICANN wants it so they can change things.. what do tehy want to change, and how will it benefit you and me, the average user?

    9. Re:Ask yourself this by Zeinfeld · · Score: 1
      I think the real question is "why does the USA want the DNS root servers" (most of them, anyway)?

      It really is not as strategic as some folk think. The only thing that the root does is to hand off to the TLDs. Provided it does that and does not go down and there is no political idiocy there is no real problem.

      What some countries are worried by is the possibility that some idiot Congressman looking to court the Florida Cuban or the Israeli lobby vote would stick an ammendment into some critical bill that requires the US to cause domains that they don't like (e.g. .ps or .cu).

      I don't think there is a need to worry. Everyone who understands the voluntary nature of the network knows that if any bill of that type did get passed the US would loose whatever theoretical control it has in a New York minute.

      --
      Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
      Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
    10. Re:Ask yourself this by smeager · · Score: 1

      You are correct that America did create the Internet. To be more specific DARPA in 1966 and developed his plan for ARPANET which became what we know as the Internet. But don't forget, it was a European, Tim Berners-Lee, and others, that created the protocol that became the World Wide Web (WWW). So in reality it does belong to the world. I do believe in the saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it", so things should be left as is, unless they get out of hand, like other things that shall remain nameless.

    11. Re:Ask yourself this by Bloke+down+the+pub · · Score: 0

      I don't know. Did you see a sign on the front of the bulding?

      --
      It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
    12. Re:Ask yourself this by Stelminator · · Score: 1

      I thought Al Gore created it?

    13. Re:Ask yourself this by Wavicle · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And while we're on the subject...

      Why are we suddenly supporting ICANN? Because it's an opportunity to attack the U.S.? Come on, wasn't this the same organization that held meetings on critical issues in Ghana so that critics wouldn't come? (i.e. Let's hold an important meeting on how much we'll let the public participate in ICANN in a country with less than impressive internal stability so the critics will be scared away.)

      Sorry, given the choice of ICANN control of root servers and US control of root servers... I'll stick with the current well functioning system. One of the two is subject to political pressure from SOMEBODY.

      --
      Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
      Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
    14. Re:Ask yourself this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and we all know its really the Intarweb not internet!

    15. Re:Ask yourself this by b00m3rang · · Score: 1

      ICANN: "Because I can."

    16. Re:Ask yourself this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are correct that America did create the Internet. To be more specific DARPA in 1966 and developed his plan for ARPANET which became what we know as the Internet. But don't forget, it was a European, Tim Berners-Lee, and others, that created the protocol that became the World Wide Web (WWW).

      and this is relevant to icann and the root servers how...?

      http does not care what network it runs over. and tcp/ip does not care how the web (etc.) works.

      these things are separate by design.

      if you wanted to argue that the W3C should be under the conrol of CERN or whatever, then your point would be cogent.

    17. Re:Ask yourself this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because your lawmakers and president can't be trusted.

  3. He who hs the nukes ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    makes the rules.

    1. Re:He who hs the nukes ... by MyLongNickName · · Score: 0

      More like he who invented the internet makes the rules. Sorry, but the internet has become more powerful and destructive than any nuke.

      How many man hours are spent in totalitarian countries monitoring and trying to block internet access? More than spent in nuclear espionage... (i'd guess).

      Think of Saddam's generals getting e-mails from the U.S. Betcha that made a bunch of people crap themselves... Think of the closed cultures that are suddenly forced to see others (like France). Think of the free flow of ideas.

      Whoever controls it (as much as you can control the internet) certainly has inflence on the world.

      --
      See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
    2. Re:He who hs the nukes ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      It doesn't even rhyme.

      Seriously though, what's stopping anyone from making free rootserver clones?

    3. Re:He who hs the nukes ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      More like he who invented the internet makes the rules.
      Al Gore makes the rules?
    4. Re:He who hs the nukes ... by Smallpond · · Score: 1

      It should be trivial to make your own root servers. There are only 100 or so tlds. Then you don't have to care who owns it. Plus you could just leave out the .biz domain and get rid of a lot of spam.

    5. Re:He who hs the nukes ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "More like he who invented the internet makes the rules."

      Must...resist...Al...Gore...joke...

  4. ZONK! READ THE DAMN SITE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Or quit as an editor. This is ridiculous.

    ICANN Won't Get DNS Root Servers

    1. Re:ZONK! READ THE DAMN SITE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sir,
      You are absolutely goddamned right. This is a dupe. In fact, some of the trolls were even clamouring to know when this news would be published even after it hit the front page.

      I know this is a dupe and I don't even read Slashdot every day. For goodness' sake, what are these editors even paid for? They constantly miss dupes, never correct the simplest speeling and grammeer(!!one1!) errors in submissions and often add 'editorial' that ought to appear as comments to the main story.

    2. Re:ZONK! READ THE DAMN SITE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The editors are paid??? WTF, JUNEAU!?

    3. Re:ZONK! READ THE DAMN SITE! by stormlead · · Score: 1

      So what if its a dupe? Some of us missed it the first time. It doesn't hurt you to ignore it and skip on to the next story, and I'm glad it got reposted cause I got to read it.

  5. AGAIN? by Hope+Thelps · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's the second time in the last couple of days the US have decided to hold onto DNS. It's starting to seem like a habit.

    --
    To summarise the summary of the summary: people are a problem. ~ h2g2
    1. Re:AGAIN? by CharonX · · Score: 1

      Odd...
      Last time they were asked about it they said:
      "We can stop controlling the DNS servers anytime we want to - we just don't want to stop right now."

      --
      +++ MELON MELON MELON +++ Out of Cheese Error +++ redo from start +++
  6. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/01/061825 by Evro · · Score: 5, Informative
    --
    rooooar
  7. If you believe everyone plays fair... by newsblaze · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you believe everyone plays fair, then put servers in other places, but the root servers need to work together. What happens if a government decides its going to play dirty and screw up the whole system? What about physical security? How can you guarantee that if the root servers are spread out across the world? There have been few problems so far and no dirty pool. Leave it as-is unless theres a compelling case to do otherwise.

    --
    Daily News http://newsblaze.com
    1. Re:If you believe everyone plays fair... by kfg · · Score: 5, Informative

      What about physical security? How can you guarantee that if the root servers are spread out across the world?

      The root servers are spread out all over the world. It is that, in fact, that guarantees physical security, because the system is physically distributed. There is no central point of failure to attack.

      That's rather the point of the Internet.

      KFG

    2. Re:If you believe everyone plays fair... by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      Welllll, yes and no. The point of the Internet isn't that an add-on like the Domain Name System is decentralized but that the network itself will route packets around any problems. Reliability of communication was a key factor in the design of the underlying routing technology and the TCP/IP protocol suite itself. There's no fixed point of failure that will cause a significant communications breakdown, and that is rather the point of the Internet. Remember that the Domain Name System is just a database layer on top of the underlying protocols, and is just there to make the Web work, really. Packet routing is not dependent upon DNS: I mean, hell, all the root servers could go offline now and the Internet wouldn't even notice. Sure, applications that depend upon domain name resolution would fail, but the Internet couldn't care less. Your browser would still get you to www.google.com, so long as you happen to know that Google's primary IP is 216.239.37.99.

      Even at that, the DNS system is far more distributed than you might think. ISPs provide DNS servers as a requirement of being an ISP, and they are (hopefully) kept synchronized to the root database. Root server failure wouldn't cause the Web to come to a screeching halt since when you use DNS you don't talk to the root servers anyway.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    3. Re:If you believe everyone plays fair... by kfg · · Score: 1

      Yes, I know. In fact I explained all of this to others, in greater detail, including the fact that the web is not the net, all the root domain servers could go down at once and users likely wouldn't even notice because they are actually relying on their ISP's DNS servers which simply use the root servers to sync against, on another forum just a couple of days ago.

      I even explained that they could simply set up their own if they really wanted to.

      In other words, DNS services are distributed and there is no single point of failure. . .not even at root level.

      Which is where I came in to this movie.

      KFG

    4. Re:If you believe everyone plays fair... by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      Ah ... KFG. I didn't notice your handle at first or I wouldn't have bothered replying since I know you know this stuff.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    5. Re:If you believe everyone plays fair... by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      your isps servers don't "sync with" the roots they make requests and get replies which they cache according to a time to live.

      sure if the roots went offline your isps servers would probablly have com/org/net and many others cached but especially if they are smaller its likely that wouldn't have the full set so some lookups may well fail. Also because its time to live based if you are unlucky your isps nameservers may expire thier cache of com at any time after the roots wen't down depending on when they got thier cached copy in the first place.

      ofc straight going down is unlikely the root servers are distributed to counter that

      whilst the us government may control the zone file, if they tried to do anything too nasty like removing a major tld isps would find ways to bypass thier control.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    6. Re:If you believe everyone plays fair... by kfg · · Score: 1

      Well, there ya go.

      KFG

    7. Re:If you believe everyone plays fair... by Triskele · · Score: 1
      What happens if a government decides its going to play dirty and screw up the whole system?

      And what if that govt is the USA? Sorry but we just don't trust you to play fair any more.

      --

      --
      USA: home of the world's largest terrorist training camp.

  8. I really hate re-runs ;) by CharonX · · Score: 0, Redundant

    As seen yesterday...
    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/01/061825 0&tid=103&tid=95

    Damn, I really hate re-runs. ;)

    --
    +++ MELON MELON MELON +++ Out of Cheese Error +++ redo from start +++
    1. Re:I really hate re-runs ;) by Kamiza+Ikioi · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Yeah, but this one is in "politics". Tomorrow, it will re-run under "IT". But, that won't be a repeat, either. This is Politics, the other is IT. See the difference? ;)

      Could this be like rewatching a movie on DVD? It may have the same cast, but does it have an alternate ending? :P

      --
      I8-D
  9. Another day, another fricking dupe by ColdGrits · · Score: 0, Redundant

    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/01/061825 0

    Yes, yesterday! Too much to expect the editors to read their own site, is it?

    --
    People should not be afraid of their governments - Governments should be afraid of their people.
  10. ICANN by mimayin · · Score: 0

    ICANN I can't! ICANN I can't!

    1. Re:ICANN by Gherald · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, see, that would have been funnier this way:

      ICAAN!
      US: You can't.
      ICAAN!
      US: You cannot.
      ICAAN!
      US: No, You can't!

  11. Again... what's the point of DaddyPants by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If the editors aren't going to read the email sent to it? I'm sure I'm not the only one that emailed about this being a dupe, but I'm also sure a lot of people have given up on reporting dupes by now. It's clear the editors simply don't care about the quality of this site any more or about listening to the subscribers who were actually willing to pay to help support the site.

    1. Re:Again... what's the point of DaddyPants by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  12. recent slashdot article you may be interested in by artifex2004 · · Score: 1, Informative

    here.

  13. It's no wonder.... by SeventyBang · · Score: 1

    ...the rest of the world things we're a bunch of egotistical maniacs.

    (Although I will say ICANN hasn't always behaved consistently.)

    1. Re:It's no wonder.... by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      Yea, because other nation-states give up control of important assets to international bodies.

      Look at how well the International Community handled the Suez after Egypt...oh wait, Egypt blocked it from 1954 to '57 and from '67 to '75.

      Or look at how well we've done since OPEC gave up control for the production rates of Oil...

      Or how cheap and murder free diamonds are since DeBeers stopped hording them...

    2. Re:It's no wonder.... by dtungsten · · Score: 1

      This decision is actually partly *because* "the rest of the world [thinks] we're a bunch of egotistical maniacs."

    3. Re:It's no wonder.... by ThisIsFred · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Exactly, and that can't stand. I propose, instead, that the servers be placed under the control of Robert Mugabe. It solves two problems: 1) They're no longer in the U.S., so you're happy. 2) It shows the difference between "invented here" syndrome and a real egotistical maniac.

      --
      Fred

      "A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
      -RMS
    4. Re:It's no wonder.... by Frank+T.+Lofaro+Jr. · · Score: 1

      What's with all these posts talking about Mugabe?

      Why is he considered the prototypical meglomaniac here?

      Anyway, how about putting the Internet under the control of Saudi Arabia? The we wouldn't be accused of nationalism or religious bigotry or with allowing corrupt Western interests to control it.

      They'd outlaw porn - which would reduce traffic by over 50% and speed things way up. And with no semblence of free speech we won't have all these disputes about intellectual property, free speech, etc. Undesirables will simply be beheaded - problem solved.

      Yes I'm kidding.

      And also, I believe Saudi Arabia forbids modems over 1200 baud since the censors can't keep up.

      Also, pre-invasion Iraq would behead people for even owning an Internet capable computer. Bet there was a lot less of a spam problem over there back then. :)

      --
      Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
    5. Re:It's no wonder.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >>Why is he considered the prototypical meglomaniac here?

      Jesus H Christ - what fucking rock are you living under?

      How about reading some news...

      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4640447.st m
      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4625039.stm
      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4119688.stm
      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4641961.st m

      Please educate yourself, you ignorant fuck!

    6. Re:It's no wonder.... by ThisIsFred · · Score: 1

      Mugabe is a convenient example. He's in the news all the time now, so I don't think anyone could not know his name.

      --
      Fred

      "A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
      -RMS
  14. And who should replace it? by ShatteredDream · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can anyone look at the history of the UN and honestly say that they would be any better, rather than a lot worse? Does anyone want the organization that puts the Sudan and other bloody, human rights violating states on its human rights commission to be the ones to regulate who gets a domain name? I sure don't.

    1. Re:And who should replace it? by gad_zuki! · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > Can anyone look at the history of the UN and honestly say that they would be any better, rather than a lot worse?

      You'd probably be dead of smallpox, if not all out nuclear war, but hey who cares when you you've got fox news talking points to spread on the web.

      I'll get you started on the path to some facts:

      The World Health Organization eradicated smallpox. Guess who created WHO?

      Playing the "rotating seat" card and claiming an evil conspiracy is pretty weak. The UN members states get representation of some kind, not just, say the US. Internationalism is ugly and messy. There's another country with a horrible human rights record that almost never gets mentioned by the "UN is bad, mmkay" crowd. Guess who? Guess who keeps covering for them in the security council.

      Anyway, taking the "I hate stuff and I'm kinda a libertarian" stance on slashdot is a great way to get mod points. Congrats on your +5 post!

    2. Re:And who should replace it? by rbarreira · · Score: 1

      Guess who created WHO?

      Cue "Who? WHO!" jokes :)

      --

      The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
    3. Re:And who should replace it? by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "You'd probably be dead of smallpox, if not all out nuclear war, but hey who cares when you you've got fox news talking points to spread on the web."

      Well, the UN didn't end the Cold War and didn't stop the US/USSR from having a nuclear war.

      The US/USSR stopped themselves from having a nuclear war. The UN didn't stop Korean 50-53, they didn't stop the Suez Crisis, they didn't solve the Israel/Arab wars, they didn't stop the Cuban Missile Crisis, the UN didn't tell the US/USSR to have the SALT I/II treaties, nor the Convention Forces in Europe Treaty or the reduction in tactical nuclear weapons in Europe.

      To claim the UN stopped a nuclear war is foolish, the Nuclear Powers - US/USSR/UK/France/China are the ones who stopped nuclear wars from happening.

    4. Re:And who should replace it? by X.25 · · Score: 0

      Can anyone look at the history of the UN and honestly say that they would be any better, rather than a lot worse? Does anyone want the organization that puts the Sudan and other bloody, human rights violating states on its human rights commission to be the ones to regulate who gets a domain name? I sure don't.

      Right. I sure love to have country that bombed 27+ countries (sample URL - there are zillion of them), since the end of WW2, in charge of everything. Not to mention the "record" of interferring in everyone else's business/country/politics/etc.

      And you get to complain about UN, with such silly arguments?

      I'd take UN over USA any day (even if I would compare all the 'sins', UN is really far far far behind). But that's just me.

      As a sidenote - you even don't understand what this story is about, if you're bright enough to talk about "controlling who gets a domain name". Additionaly, not all root servers are "controlled" by the US, but that's another story...

    5. Re:And who should replace it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I'd take UN over USA any day"

      Be careful what you wish for...

    6. Re:And who should replace it? by BlueLightning · · Score: 1

      The effect that the UN has had is not necessarily directly measurable. How do you measure the amount of goodwill and good relations that the UN has fostered simply by bringing representatives together to meet?

    7. Re:And who should replace it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The World Health Organization eradicated smallpox. Guess who created WHO?

      And who was it that provided the lion's share of the funding for WHO, who provides the single noteworthy accomplishment of the UN?

      I'll give you a hint: it wasn't France.

    8. Re:And who should replace it? by Kell_pt · · Score: 1

      Now you're quick in pointing fingers.

      So, you'd say that bombing Sudan over some allegued people terrorists hidden there, while killing thousands - like the US did - is a better approach?

      The UN put Sudanese people on their human rights comission, they did not put Sudan. While there, they might even learn something and take back to their country, right?

      And get your facts right. The US is quite into violating human rights. That's why they don't even want to recognize the Haya courts - they simply don't want to be accountable to anyone.

      Sure it makes sense, from a power-containment perspective, but please don't be so blind as to cover it with righteousness. Geez, you people believe your own propaganda... :)

      --
      "I don't mind God, it's his fan club I can't stand!" E8
    9. Re:And who should replace it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      was it the same country that doesnt pay its dues? Please, tell me!

      Just kidding. So you hate the UN but you'll be sure to take credit for any successes.

      I see. Now tell me about your mother.

    10. Re:And who should replace it? by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 1

      "How do you measure the amount of goodwill and good relations that the UN has fostered simply by bringing representatives together to meet?"

      Huh? Like there weren't already embassies established? Like there hadn't been tons of back channel links established during the wars, trade talks, etc?

      The UN has not fostered goodwill and good relations between nations/people screwed by the UN (Bosnia, Sudan, Congo/Katanga, Rwanda to name four).

      The UN works well when it's not doing something political. When it's doing WHO work, it's done well.

      When dealing in Internation Politics and Peace Keeping, it's not so good. Inclusion on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights of nations, such as Sudan, Cuba and Libya, which demonstrably have abysmal records on human rights, and also Libya's chairmanship of this Commission is idiotic at the least.

      Sexual abuse of girls by UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo isn't fostering good will.

      If it's goodwill and good relations we're after from bringing people togeather, cocktail parties would be more effective. Or Linux Installfests, or LAN parties of UT2004 and Halo.

    11. Re:And who should replace it? by flosofl · · Score: 1

      " The effect that the UN has had is not necessarily directly measurable"

      Which means it had no effect. If I can't measure it, I can't use to support my arguments.

      --
      "This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence" - Vyvyan "The Young Ones"
    12. Re:And who should replace it? by flosofl · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I'd definitely go for a group whose members have set up enforced prostition rings.

      And let's not forget what they do for the children.

      --
      "This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence" - Vyvyan "The Young Ones"
    13. Re:And who should replace it? by QuaZar666 · · Score: 1

      I am assuming you mean The Doctor, right?

    14. Re:And who should replace it? by tob · · Score: 1

      Currently the US is one of the main human rights violating countries with the stuff that's happening in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and even domestically.

      Tobias

    15. Re:And who should replace it? by hachete · · Score: 1

      Just look at the history of the US in Iraq and the sorry saga of corruption at the hands of the US government. Just to make it worse, it's the Iraq's money they're spending. And it runs into billions. I quote from the London Review of Books article, which in turn quotes from the GAO, DCAA, IAMB etc: $8.8 billon unaccounted for under the Bremer regime; Halliburton charging $2.64 per gallon to Iraqis ($1.57 for Americans); $3.4 billion congressional monies into 'security'; KBR (subsiduary of Halliburton) charging $73 million for motor caravans for the US army (twice as much as built accommadation), $88 million for meals to US troops it never served; oil exports unmetered; and so and so forth.

      My favourite quote:

      "An Iraqi hospital administrator told me that, as he was about to sign a contract, the American army officer representing the CPA had crossed out the original price and double it. The Iraqi protested that the original price was enough. The American officer explained that the increase (more than $1 million) was his retirement package."

      So, given this level of institutional corruption and lack of oversight, the bloody events that continue day-to-day in Iraq, violating people's civil rights world-wide by "ghosting" suspects, trial without jury, lack of judicial process for those of us who are *not* Americans, does anyone really want this bloody, corrupt regime of a US govt controlling the top-level domains?

      I sure don't.

      --
      Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious
    16. Re:And who should replace it? by rbarreira · · Score: 1

      No.
      Q: Who?
      A: WHO!
      Q: Yeah, who?
      A: WHO!
      etc etc...

      --

      The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
    17. Re:And who should replace it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      QUOTE "Sexual abuse of girls by UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo isn't fostering good will." /QUOTE

      Actually it was Guinean and other African nation soldiers working under UN auspices. As were the French Soldiers in Cote-d'Ivorie. As were the US soldiers in Kosovo (Technically Kosovo was a NATO op to assist UNMIK, but I'm not gonna bother quibbling). Face it humans can be shits no matter what country of origin.

    18. Re:And who should replace it? by ccmay · · Score: 1
      Under the Geneva Convention, every one of the unlawful combatants held at Gitmo could be summarily executed on the spot after their capture. I wish they would, actually, if it weren't for the intelligence value that might be lost.

      -ccm

      --
      Too much Law; not enough Order.
  15. Yeah, yeah ... we're the world's policeman. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The world bitches about the US being a bully, but when somebody needs some help, who do they call on?

  16. UN Tax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the world is fighting over a global internet tax.

    it was a key issue at g8 and the last bilderberg, for those of you who are *actually* paying attention.

    1. Re:UN Tax by TheKidWho · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      and where would the money from this puported global internet tax go? To the UN? To where?

    2. Re:UN Tax by Reaperducer · · Score: 1

      To Kofi Annan's kid. Just like the money that was supposed to buy food for hungry Iraqis.

      --
      -- I'm old enough to have lived through six different meanings of the word "hacker."
    3. Re:UN Tax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      more programs to enslave you, duh. but with a question that stupid you are almost enslaving yourself. you sure make our job easier.

      we discussed this already. http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=154539&cid =12967178

    4. Re:UN Tax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Get over it, asshole. The couple million that a few people (including Americans) made from the Oil-for-Food abuse doesn't really compare to the 8.2 BILLION the Americans misplaced after invading Iraq.

      Really, shithead, if I want to read more dumb regurgitations from White House press releases, I'll go to the NYTimes site.

    5. Re:UN Tax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wtf, you idiots are arguing un vs the us? HAHAHA

      THEY HAVE THE SAME AGENDA DIPSHITS

      you just got punk'd by "good cop vs bad cop"

      welcome to jr high, kids.

      (next stop, draft. but dont worry, the un are the good guys, er the neocons are the good guys, er whatever programming you enjoy)

  17. In other News US won't give up Alaska or Texas by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

    Where does this stuff come from ?

    ICANN wants it, the U.S. Govt says well you have been doing such a fine job in your assigned role we certainly wouldn't want to burden you with extra duties.

    Perhaps The U.N. should just administer it directly, I mean they have done an even better job than ICANN over the years.

    1. Re:In other News US won't give up Alaska or Texas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Umm, the UN? Let me just get this out real quick: no fucking way. Never. Are-you-fucking-kidding-me-NO!

      Christ, let one of the most inefficient organizations on the planet take over. What could possibly go wrong?

    2. Re:In other News US won't give up Alaska or Texas by aklix · · Score: 1

      Here's a quick question for those people who think the US government shouldn't control the Root DNS servers: When is the last time that they failed?

    3. Re:In other News US won't give up Alaska or Texas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps The U.N. should just administer it directly, I mean they have done an even better job than ICANN over the years.

      ICANN has done only one good thing - bitchslap Verisign when Verisign started to redirect DNS queries for non-existent domain names.

    4. Re:In other News US won't give up Alaska or Texas by X.25 · · Score: 0

      Here's a quick question for those people who think the US government shouldn't control the Root DNS servers: When is the last time that they failed?

      Actually, US government never controlled root servers. First it was 'geeks', then 'tech companies', and it's still that way. To my knowledge, none of the root servers get ANY funding from governments. There is a whole history and list of servers (with detailed explanation), so go and look it up.

      What scares me NOW is the fact that US goverment voiced their opinion on root servers, so NOW I am getting scared that some servers might 'conveniently' fail if/when needed.

      Until they got involved "officialy", I had no concerns. People like Paul Vixie know how to maintain root servers, so I don't think US govt needs to get involved in any way...

  18. Great news! by vvaduva · · Score: 0, Funny

    Wonderful news...finally, something WE made remains in America. Imagine that!

  19. I didn't know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...DNS had oil. You live you learn.

  20. I should submit a new article by ravenspear · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot: Slashdot Won't Let Go of Dupes

    An Anonymous Reader wrote in with a story on the Slashdot site, reporting that the Slashdot editors are going to keep control of the Duping System rather than handing it over to intelligent moderators that would be capable of successfully weeding out repeated stores. From the article: "...Slashdot is committed to taking no action when it sees a repeated story arrive for publication on its website, as this would have the potential to positively impact the effective and efficient operation of Slashdot.org.

  21. extremely arrogant by xiando · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    ..and rude of them. That being said, it is very good to read that they will not allow anything that would make domain names suddenly not work - that at least is a very good thing.

  22. Slow news day Mr. Zenke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Which is it?
    1. You don't read slashdot, so you didn't notice Mr. Pater's posting this yesterday
    2. You couldn't be bothered to search for DNS from the searchbox on the front page before posting
    Seriously, I'd be happy to subscribe, but between the lack of slashcode bugfixes (Bugs that have been outstanding for 2+ years) and this... why?
  23. The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yeah well, the agency within the UN that would administrate the TLDs, should the US release control over them, is the very same agency that made sure that the world has one telephone standard, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

    The ITU was founded before the UN was, and oviously, it has very little to do with human rights issues, they just happen to share some organizational structure.

    This constant ignorant whining of the "the UN is a worthless piece of garbage" kind, is getting on my nerves. Educate yourself instead of repeating soundbites you heard on the news.

    More info here: ITU history

    1. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by mrshowtime · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "This constant ignorant whining of the "the UN is a worthless piece of garbage" kind, is getting on my nerves" Yeah, tell that to the two million Christians that were brutally slaughtered -by hand- by the lovely, peace-loving muslim north in the Sudan: the U.N. Did nothing. Sure, they may have set up some standards of trade/deplomacy, FOURTY YEARS ago, but have remained constantly corrupt and useless since.

      --
      "Jeremy, you need to get to an internet cafe and cut and paste some appropriate sentiments about me from the world wide
    2. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Nedd+Ludd · · Score: 2, Funny
      Slashdot, News for People who Hate America, Stuff about Hating America

      Obviously, you haven't been following the news:

      "... slashdot.org is an far-right wing Internet news website that posts libelous and defamatory content and is used by Open Source Community members to anonymously post hate speech, death threats, threats to murder and promotes and advocates acts of domestic terrorism within the United States..."

      according to Jeff Merkey. Sounds pretty mainstream American to me.

    3. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would make sense if it wasn't for the fact that the people actually fighting are the least likely to die - they are the ones mugging refugees of the food and squatting in the deserted houses.

      No, it's the countless refugees that die, who have nothing to do with the fighting.

    4. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, using the political compass' notation, I'd put /. on the mid-left on the economic axis (midly regulative, but still promotes the free market), and waaay out to the libertarian side on the other axis. Don't know where that guy is getting his ideas from...

    5. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by NitsujTPU · · Score: 1

      I've made a number of posts that received unabashedly anti-American replies.

      Not like "the war in Iraq is bad," more like "you and your country suck"

    6. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by X.25 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      "This constant ignorant whining of the "the UN is a worthless piece of garbage" kind, is getting on my nerves" Yeah, tell that to the two million Christians that were brutally slaughtered -by hand- by the lovely, peace-loving muslim north in the Sudan: the U.N. Did nothing.

      True. They also did nothing when Americans killed untold number of Vietnamese, and also when Americans bombed unreal amount of countries.

      Bad UN, bad UN...

      As someone already explained, UN != ITU. If you ever worked in telecoms, and had an account at TIES, you'd know ITU != UN in any way...

    7. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Adrilla · · Score: 1

      Assuming your solution held any water whatsoever, the problem is that both parties mistake nationality or culture for religion. (ex: I'm american, therefore I *must* be christian, whether I am or not). I assume being that you made the statement you are of neither religion, but what happens if one of the parties can't tell. How dumb would you feel being that you have to die over a stupid blanket statement. But then again, that'd just make you less of a population problem. Right?

      --

      "Plans are for fools! Oglethorpe, the plutonian (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
    8. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by X.25 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Don't you remmeber, this is Slashdot, News for People who Hate America, Stuff about Hating America.

      Quit funny. I live in a country that has been under emormous pressure from "international community" to admit doing wrong things, blah, blah. And they did bad things.

      And I will always give shit to my govt/country when they do something I don't think is right. at the same time, I see many Americans not being able to handle any comments about how their GOVERNMENT might be doing something wrong.

      What's that? Expect others to confirm when they're doing something dodgy, but never expect to be asked to do the same when your govt is in question?

      Also called as 'double standards', 'hypocrisy', etc.

    9. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by robertjw · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Plus it's generally anti-christian, pro drug and pro gay (or at least has a 'not that there's anything wrong with that' attitude). Not what I would call far right at all.

      Not complaining mind you, makes for good discussions, but just can't believe someone would write a story saying Slashdot is far right.

    10. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by robertjw · · Score: 1

      Good point. In general Muslims aren't fond of anyone not Muslim (i.e. Infidels). If the GP was in Sudan right now he'd probably be attacked just like the Christians.

    11. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, tell that to the two million Christians that were brutally slaughtered

      Funny you should mention the Christians. They themselves have a stunning record of peaceful behaviour: The crusades, the Inquisition, today's USA.

      Did you think that pointing out that two million Christians died would garner you anymore sympathy than pointing out that two million people died? Who the hell cares that they were Christians? Personally, the less intolerant, monotheistic, war mongering religions on the planet the better. Christians, Muslims, Jews -- all guilty.

      Seeing two million people slaughtered is awful, don't weaken your point by attempting to back it up with an emotional response.

    12. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by dbc · · Score: 1
      made sure that the world has one telephone standard

      ...um ... but there *isn't* one telephone standard. There are actually several telephone standards, with converters at the boundaries. Digial voice encoding has multiple standards. Ring-back has multiple standards. I'm not sure, but I think ringing voltage has multiple standards. Good gravy, even the number of digits in a phone number isn't standard.

      Maybe you meant cell phone standards?? Oh wait...

      This should have been modded "+1 funny", it sure made *me* laugh.

    13. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Malleus+Dei · · Score: 2, Insightful
      This constant ignorant whining of the "the UN is a worthless piece of garbage"

      What nonsense! Leaving all of the politics out of it, the UN *is* a worthless piece of garbage - bloated, elitist, corrupt, bureaucratic, useless, and ineffective. I've been UN-watching since the fifties, and anyone who thinks that today's UN *isn't* garbage and is more than just a shell of its former self is the one who needs to educate himself and gain some perspective.

      --
      Slashdot Moderation Guidelines: Leftist viewpoint (+4), Conservative viewpoint (-4, Troll)
    14. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Aeiri · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      True. They also did nothing when Americans killed untold number of Vietnamese, and also when Americans bombed unreal amount of countries.

      Why are you using the past tense?

    15. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by flubbergust · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You know, UN is not some strange foreign country but more like a democratic assembly. In that assembly all the countries around the world participate, like USA, and there is the Security council in which USA has a veto. USA choose not to make a big deal about Sudan. USA CHOOSE NOT TO MAKE A BIG DEAL.
      Don't blame UN when you own government didn't do shit. You are just as guilty as the rest of us so don't try to make it seem like USA are some kind of Saint that only do good deeds and protect the weak against those who wants to inflict harm on them (especially if they are Christian). USA have destroyed a whole bunch of Christian democracys, like Chile and Guatemala, and bombed and killed countless of other innocent people. I don't think that is in the bible that its ok to do that.
      And 2 millions? You pulled that out of your ass? Your own government (Yes the US of A with Bush as president) said that its only around 181000. So Muslims are now just evil? What about the new report from Iraq in which Iraq UN ambassador said that a relative of his were murdered by the peace-loving Christians in the US marine corps? That boy wanted to help you and you repaid him with a bullet in his neck.
      And don't make it into some kind of religious war because its not. Learn first what the conflict is about BEFORE you start to make wild claims.
      And your claim that UN is corrupt. SIGH. You know, USA is a big part of UN so if UN is corrupt then USA is partly to blame for it. Once again, UN is not some strange mythical organization. black helicopters flying around, that wants to destroy humankind and USA and Christians in particular.
      I have nothing against USA, in fact I love that country and I love especially one American girl more than anything in this worl. I do however something against you in person. So just because someone is criticizing you, its not critique against democracy or freedom or USA or something like that, its because they just don't like what YOU say.

    16. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Aeiri · · Score: 1

      [I] just can't believe someone would write a story saying Slashdot is far right.

      sarcasm

    17. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Kythe · · Score: 1

      Don't you remmeber, this is Slashdot, News for People who Hate America, Stuff about Hating America.

      And don't forget: George Bush = America

      --

      Kythe
    18. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Kythe · · Score: 1

      Not that you said that, mind you. Just a cynical observation on a certain mindset...

      --

      Kythe
    19. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by danheskett · · Score: 1

      Steroetypes are generally true. That's where they come from.

      Americans, sterotypically, are self-idenitifed white Christians.

      Depending on your source 80-95% of Americans identify themselves as "Christian".

      It's just a numbers game.

    20. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Zak3056 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Don't blame UN when you own government didn't do shit.

      i.e. when the US acts without the backing of the UN, we're the big, evil bully. However, when the US DOESN'T act when the UN is disinterested, we're the big, evil, unfeeling nation who could care less about the plight of the rest of the world. Right?

      --
      What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
    21. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Tim+Browse · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You might have a point if slashdot wasn't also replete with posts from Americans about how great the US is, how Europe sucks, etc.

      Stupidity is not limited to any geographical area of the world, unfortunately.

    22. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Frank+T.+Lofaro+Jr. · · Score: 1, Troll

      The UN is often outright anti-Christian.

      Christians are persecuted in Nigeria too (sometimes burned and beheaded) - but the UN won't even publicize that either.

      The UN is anti-Christian and anti-American in many ways.

      If we complain about it - we are called bigots.

      --
      Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
    23. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Well, what would you have the UN do? Send in their army? Oh wait they don't have one.

      The UN was asking for countries to commit aid and troops to Darfur, but no one wanted to go...it was an African problem.

      The UN would love to send a peace keeping mission to Darfur, they just can't convince any member nations to commit troops and money.

    24. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many of that 80-95% are only "christian" to the extent of having a Christmas tree, telling kids about the Easter bunny and pretending they are better than their neighbor but not actually having any real faith.

      There is a difference betwee being a "(quasi-)christian" and being a Christian.

    25. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by robertjw · · Score: 1

      sarcasm

      Stupid

    26. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by asit+ler · · Score: 0, Troll

      However, when the US *does* act when the UN is disinterested, the people who are asked to act are the next generation of Americans. The "plight" of the rest of the country seems to have no importance to our current administration.

      The US has a military budget at least 3 times that of Russia, is smaller than Russia, and is less populated than Russia. If some of that good olde Amerikan money were diverted from feeding Our Bush's warmongering to feeding Our Poor, this country wouldn't be the war-mongering cesspool it is now.

      Conversely, the gene pool is being slowly cleansed of the warrior types that are useless outside of wartime, but invaluable when truly needed. So we can thank Dubya for that at least... Too bad he's a chicken hawk draft dodger.

      --
      This is not the sig you're looking for.
    27. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Dagny+Taggert · · Score: 1

      Same here. It's just jealously from inferior sub-humans. It's beneath us.

      --
      Don't be a looter...and yes, I know that it's spelled with an "A" instead of an "E".
    28. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      fuck off, bigot.

    29. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by le_defaut_tragique · · Score: 1

      Not to diminish your point, but the US is much more populous than Russia. Also, I've never heard of genetically engineered 'warrior types', but I'm sure we'll have them eventually if we want to. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ population

    30. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Kizor · · Score: 2, Insightful
      i.e. when the US acts without the backing of the UN, we're the big, evil bully. However, when the US DOESN'T act when the UN is disinterested, we're the big, evil, unfeeling nation who could care less about the plight of the rest of the world. Right?
      Since claiming that this has happened every time the US has done these things - and it's a rather active country - would be very weird or just a rather weak straw man attack, I'm going to assume you're smarter than that and mean these two specific incidents. So yes, not taking steps to stop a slaughter when you can is vile. And starting a war on the basis of fabricated evidence and outright lies? Doesn't sound too good, but that might be just me.
    31. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why don't you tell your hero Bush to do something about it?

      Oh that's right, they're not sitting on oil.

    32. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because nobody cares if 2,000,000 people blow each other up over a goat farm in Africa. We care about decent, innocent people executed in droves while a corrupt international organization holds meetings.

      What about a corrupt local government that invades another country based on lies, knows it and then blatantly lies once again to its own people, provoking fear, anxiety to garner support?

      Oh, and using emotional appeal is very practical. Perhaps more so than pointing out that there have been bad Christians. Everyone knows this, its no surprise and you're not insightful for pointing it out.

      Actually I think it is very practical to point out historic facts; most people these days tend to have very short memories. Being a Christian myself, it seems like my entire faith thinks they are superior and wiser than any other. We have the biggest self-prophesying President in the White House today, which just loves to show off that fact.

    33. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    34. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you plan to comment on the UN action regarding Sudan I think you had better study the US record regarding the genocide in Rwanda.

      It is the UN who declared the Sudan the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. It is the International Criminal Court that has its prosecutors office investigating the problems in Sudan (which the US refuses to ratify). The UN genocide convention (signed by the US) is the only piece of international law that can be invoked to legally (note the use of the term 'legal' humanitarian intervention) intervene.

      Now regarding the UN's inability to deal with genocide. Main cause: the Cold War. At any given time the US / USSR would veto the chance of the definition of 'genocide'. Consider how the US continued to support the Kamere Rouge, even though aprox. ~1.2 million people at least died as a result of this support.

      There are other countries that play a part in this inability. Consider that the US along side Belgium and I believe France all made a strong effort to negate the possibility of declaring the Rwandan genocide actually 'genocide' (thereby necessitating intervention under international law).

      The arguments that the international community couldn't do anything / didn't know are total bullshit (read Samantha Powers for a list of reasons). International law is not law per se. It is always negotiated in the political arena. So if for example the population is interested with say the OJ trial as oppose to human rights(as was the case during Rwanda) the politicians don't see value in making the politically risky move of pushing for change.

      I'm sorry my friend. The UN has many failings (largely a result of the security council IMHO), but, most of these failings should be attributed to the actions of the member states (the US vetoed far more motions to ban things like chemical weapons then the USSR ever did for example). The UN is a major step forward (despite its clunkiness) for humanity in many ways. If more world powers made a stronger effort to strengthen it, it would be able to do far more good things (note: this is unlikely, simply due to the large powers desire for sovreignty and power :( ).

      Cheers,
      Mike

    35. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful
      i.e. when the US acts without the backing of the UN, we're the big, evil bully.
      Invading a defenceless country and killing hundreds of thousands of civilians makes you an "evil bully".
      However, when the US DOESN'T act when the UN is disinterested, we're the big, evil, unfeeling nation who could care less about the plight of the rest of the world.
      Being a member of the UN security council and blocking attempts to intervene makes you and "evil bully".

      What you Republicans don't seem to understand is that the US is a major element of the UN and the US is as culpable as any other country for its failings. The trouble is, because of the effective propoganda machine in your country you only ever hear about it when France vetoes an action, never when the US does the same.
    36. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by QuaZar666 · · Score: 1

      Are you trying to say that Christians haven't slaughted muslims, jews, various other religious groups, etc over the years? Because if you think they haven't then you are very ignorant

      "Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity."
      -Thomas Jefferson

    37. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ever heard of the "army of the Lord"? Thats a group a fanatical Christians in Afrika who kidnap children to become child soldiers and fight in the name of the Lord. The burn and behead non-Christians...
      Nice isn't it? Now go wash your hands

    38. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Personally, the less intolerant, monotheistic, war mongering religions on the planet the better. Christians, Muslims, Jews -- all guilty.

      Actually all more or less the same. Variations on the "religion of Abraham". Thus it's hardly suprising that "fundermentalist" (though "perverted" might be a better term) Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc behave in similar ways.
      Of course anyone who actually tries to follow the Bible, Koran, Torah or whatever probably isn't ranting and raving about needing laws and military might to deal with heritics/infidels/etc.

    39. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      > True. They also did nothing when Americans
      > killed untold number of Vietnamese, and also
      > when Americans bombed unreal amount of countries.

      "Please don't invade these countries with murderous dictators." Yep, sounds like something the UN would say. Thwarting this is bad because...?

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    40. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by tuxguy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Haha, the crusades. There's a real good example.

      What most people DON'T know is that the crusades were fought to retake constantinople from the Muslims, who invaded it and took it over for no reason.

      As for the inquisition, well, anyone worth their salt should know that Catholic != Protestant, and out of the inquisition (Which really wasn't Christian at all - the Church at the time had been taken over by very corrupt leaders).

      And what's this about Jews being war mongering? As far as I know, Jews have never started a war, unless you consider obeying their God war mongering (And they have good reason to obery him - I'm not sure you would want to go against the all powerful creator of the universe)

      The entire United States isn't Christian - you can't blame the US's faults on us Jesus Freaks.

      Now, as for today's USA - what have we done wrong? We took out a dictator who routinely murdered his own people!

      Any international organization doesn't have the right to ask the US for something they invented. This is gonna get modded either Troll or Flamebait. Think about what I'm saying before you mod.

      --
      "I don't really care if they label me a Jesus Freak / There aint no disguising the truth!" - DC Talk
    41. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do us all a favour and pull your bigotted head out of your ass. Fundamentalists of any stripe arn't fond of anyone that doesn't follow their beliefs. ATM it's muslim fundamentalists that are big news. 40-50ish years ago it was Christian fundamentalists that were big in the media.

      Muslims as a whole have no more problem with Christians or Jews then anyone else who disagrees on a religious question. Some rant like jack-asses, some nod and smile and others try to convince the other in a reasonable manner.

      But you probably won't want to belive that since it would only shatter your pre-concieved notions of life.

      GTFU

    42. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by walt-sjc · · Score: 1

      Um, since the UN IS member nations, and those member nations don't want to send troops, exactly WHO the heck is saying that they want to send troops???? Goofi Annan himself?

    43. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 2, Informative

      Um, that's wrong. Constantinople wasn't taken by the Muslims (or to be exact, the Turks) until 1453. The Crusades began in 1284. The Turks didn't invade "for no reason" any more than Europe invaded the New World "for no reason."

      Your grasp of history is tenuous at best.

    44. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by MochaMan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Agreed. When you look at the basic principles behind all these religions - or in fact, most religions -- for the most part you find common sense rules urging peace and respect for your fellow man.

      It's when one of the spiritual "leaders" of one of these groups decides to abuse their position to promote their own twisted politics that you get genocide and abuse that goes against the basic prinicples of those religions. I suspect that a lot of people claiming to be Christians these days would make Jesus sick (if in fact he ever existed).

      Why people can't simply follow the principles of their religions on their own I can't fathom, but I suspect that most people use religion as a feel-good crutch rather than because they truly researched and believe in the fundamentals that religion espouses.

      In this same thread one of the posters suggested that Jews never started any wars "unless obeying your God counts" (or something to that effect - not bothering to quote directly). That's the sheep-like "I can't think for myself so I'll just believe what someone else tells me to" mentality one sees all too often from people who've been blinded by the politics of their particular faith, taking anything their leaders tell them at face value. It's as though they believe that questioning this kind of abuse is blasphemous just because it comes from a religious leader.

      One can only hope that these people one day actually sit down and read their particular Bible, Torah or Koran for themselves and decide if (a) it's really what they believe and (b) it's what they've been told it is. As someone who isn't a subscriber to any of them, I still have an interest in reading all three; it's sad a lot of so-called believers don't.

    45. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Frit+Mock · · Score: 1

      "Now, as for today's USA - what have we done wrong? We took out a dictator who routinely murdered his own people!" ... with the result, that there still is routine murder in that country ...

      http://www.iraqbodycount.net/

    46. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This tripe gets modded insightful? Sigh.

    47. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're trying to twist his post to serve your point.

      What he said is that the US didn't act WITHIN the UN, as in they didn't veto or they didn't bring any objections they had to the table. He did not imply that the US should act on their own, outside the UN.

    48. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by m50d · · Score: 1
      What most people DON'T know is that the crusades were fought to retake constantinople from the Muslims, who invaded it and took it over for no reason.

      Yeah. That's why they stopped at constantinople, never went any further. They didn't march through the heart of the Ottoman empire raping and pillaging, sack antioch, leave the dome of the rock in Jerusalem knee-deep in muslim blood, oh no it was all about constantinople. Oh, wait.

      As for the inquisition, well, anyone worth their salt should know that Catholic != Protestant, and out of the inquisition

      However, Catholic is a subset of Christian. Do you see the parent complaining about protestants?

      (Which really wasn't Christian at all - the Church at the time had been taken over by very corrupt leaders).

      And Stalin really wasn't Russian at all, the country at the time had been taken over by very corrupt leaders.

      And what's this about Jews being war mongering? As far as I know, Jews have never started a war, unless you consider obeying their God war mongering (And they have good reason to obery him - I'm not sure you would want to go against the all powerful creator of the universe)

      When your god tells you to start a war that's war mongering all right. Would you say the september 11th hijackers were not terrorists because they were obeying their god? I'm pretty sure they have started a war, but even if they haven't they've caused wars by going into other people's land. Pretty much the first definite Jewish thing was Abraham walking over to someone else's land and nicking it, oh, sorry, claiming it was granted to him by some almighty being.

      Now, as for today's USA - what have we done wrong? We took out a dictator who routinely murdered his own people!

      And killed so many of those people in the process that your government refuses to release a body count. Way to look out for their interests.

      Any international organization doesn't have the right to ask the US for something they invented.

      The DNS of today is far from a purely US invention. It's been a collaboration of interested people everywhere. More importantly, it's used everywhere, it's a part of the global infrastructure. I'm not saying it should necessarily be the UN, but it belongs in the hands of an international body.

      --
      I am trolling
    49. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1

      Do you prefer a situation with no end in sight, or with a possible end in sight?

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    50. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by ahodgson · · Score: 1

      What most people DON'T know is that the crusades were fought to retake constantinople from the Muslims, who invaded it and took it over for no reason.

      Most people don't know that, because that's not what happened. That would be the Holy Land, not Constantinople. Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, and no western power has tried to recover it. In fact, Europe was on the defensive against the Turks afterwards, until the naval battle of Lepanto showed Europe's large and growing technical superiority.

      One of the Crusades did stop by and sack the _Christian_ city of Constantinople on their way to the Holy Lands ..

      And another of the Crusades killed basically every man, woman and child in Jerusalem; Moslem, Christian and Jew.

      Not to mention Antioch, Cairo, and any number of other cities sacked and burned, some many times, over the several hundred years of the crusades.

      The Crusades were about bored European princes trying to carve out new kingdoms for themselves in rich lands, and Popes trying to get them to stop killing each other in Europe by giving them something better to do.

    51. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, Nigeria! Home to more millionaires than any country other than the USA! The Nigerian government takes special measures to ensure that the indigents don't interfere with BigOil operations, and the poor sometimes rebel against the rape of their environment and the destruction of their culture. Always, we have wondered why that beacon of hope for the world's oppressed, the United States of America, has not stepped in to relieve the suffering of that people -- and why has the United Nations remained silent? Could it be that all the talk about humanitarianism means nothing, that economic considerations are all that motivate international action?

    52. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by InsaneGeek · · Score: 1

      You do realize of course that because the US is doing quite a bit in the Sudan. You do realize that because the rest of the world are sitting on their hands, the US (who's troops are a little busy elsewhere you'd have to admit) flew African soldiers in US planes to help. The US has limited foot soldiers but where they can help they *ARE* helping.

      Unlike Canada, France, Germany, etc who really have *NO* excuse at all. The US is doing what they can, while other countries are doing *nothing* at all. The US is saying that it's a genocide, which would require all nations to intervene; *forcing* the issue, making all the countries sitting on their hands (including *yours*) to by UN law do something, while the UN is saying it's not but crimes against humanity might have occured so they don't have to do anything (collective sigh of releif comes from Canada, France, Germany, etc while they continue to point their fingers at the US for not doing anything).

      To top it all off in 2002 the Sudan got voted *onto* the UN human rights commision, and the US got voted off, want to try and explain to me how the UN did this with any sanity? Want to explain to me how the UN can kick off the US, and add Sudan, when by your own statements that people are getting killed by the hundred of thousands?

    53. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They only told you "you and your country suck" because it is true.

    54. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Shakrai · · Score: 1

      And Stalin really wasn't Russian at all, the country at the time had been taken over by very corrupt leaders.

      Funny you should mention that because he actually wasn't. He was Georgian -- not Russian. I understand the point you were trying to make but it would have been more effective if you had said "And Stalin really wasn't Soviet at all..."

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    55. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by 1u3hr · · Score: 1
      I've made a number of posts that received unabashedly anti-American replies. Not like "the war in Iraq is bad," more like "you and your country suck"

      Those rednecks who started off this topic with "the rest of the world/UN suck so they can pry our Internet out of our cold dead hands" provoking that response. Anyway, the whole country doesn't suck. But your foreign policies do, and this topic is about how little the US wants to cooperate with anyone -- it's "you're with us or you're with the terrorists" again.

    56. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by SA+Stevens · · Score: 1

      Unlike Canada, France, Germany, etc who really have *NO* excuse at all.

      Ah, but that's where you are wrong. France would help, but their storm troops are all engaged right now in the Ivory Coast.

    57. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by mi · · Score: 1
      The crusades, the Inquisition
      Crusades aimed to retake Jerusalem, conquered by Islamic warriors a couple of centuries earlier. today's USA. Today's USA is less religious than it was in 1950-ies. Oops...

      You could've blamed modern Christianity for its blasting of contraceptives -- the late Pope was quite (in)famous for it -- but you can't because he was also against Iraq war. Talk about weakening one's point.

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    58. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While we are in the game of accusing various groups for committing various bad things, let's just remember that Inquisition has exercised enormous restraint compared with protestants (who killed more than 2 million witches). In the end the Inquisition has decided that there are no witches and after that no burnings happened in the Catholic countries. Of course, both the catholics and protestants are christians, so it's not much difference.

    59. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by nickco3 · · Score: 1

      What most people DON'T know is that the crusades were fought to retake constantinople from the Muslims

      I think you are confusing the first and fourth crusades. The First Crusade was an attempt to recapture *Jerusalem* from the Muslims. The Fourth Crusade ended up attacking Constantinople, but not because of the Muslims this was just run of the mill Christian-on-Christian violence.

      As far as I know, Jews have never started a war

      How about removing the inhabitants of Canaan when the Jews moved there from Mesopotamia? More recent examples? Israel fired the first shots in the 1956 Suez War, the 1967 Six Day War, *and* the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

      --
      -- Nick "Hallo this is Beel Gates, und I pronounce weendows as ... WEENdows"
    60. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by mi · · Score: 1
      Bad UN, bad UN...
      It is bad. It is awful, in fact. Next time you are bored, consider renting Black Hawk Down and/or No Man's Land.

      For weak/poor contries, there may occasionally be a point in "going through U.N.". For stronger ones it is very foolish indeed.

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    61. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As has already been pointed out, there are many non-Christians who have as much reason to complain. I don't think you're a bigot because you defend Christians; I think you're a bigot because you're an ignoramous who apparently doesn't consider anyone else.

    62. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by NitsujTPU · · Score: 1

      I hold my country to fairly high standards. I try to correct the problems that my country has. I don't hold my country to double standards.

      I merely stated, and it is true, that there is a large anti-American faction on Slashdot. I am not talking about liberals, democrats, or anything else. I am talking about people who just say "America Sucks," and say that because it is the cool thing to say.

      Incidentally, I live with a foreign national. Most of my coworkers are foreign nationals. Many of my friends are foreign nationals. None of them have ever decided to tell me how much my country sucks. A few Americans have.

      It really is amazing. "Americans have no manners," coming out of the mouth of an American citizen, speaking to other Americans.

    63. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by WGR · · Score: 1

      And Stalin really wasn't Russian at all, the country at the time had been taken over by very corrupt leaders.
      Well he was born in Gori, Georgia, which is not part of Russia, so his despotism can not be blamed on Russia.

    64. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Zak3056 · · Score: 1

      I'm going to assume you're smarter than that and mean these two specific incidents.

      While these two specific incidents are rather good examples of the point I was trying to get across, no, I do mean in general--it's not a universal attitude, but it happens enough to be the rule rather than the exception.

      Case in point, the problems in western Africa (Liberia, etc) a couple of years ago. I read quite a few snide remarks in the international press that America should be intervening, but can't because of being locked in the Iraq war.

      So yes, not taking steps to stop a slaughter when you can is vile. And starting a war on the basis of fabricated evidence and outright lies?

      Allow me to state for the record that I was opposed to the Iraq war (but think that we must do the responsible thing and clean up the mess made by the current administration.) That said, your position about not taking steps to stop a slaughter CAN be applied to Iraq.

      Not that I, personally, would--I don't think the US should be the world's polceman.

      --
      What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
    65. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by ccmay · · Score: 1
      UN is not some strange foreign country but more like a democratic assembly.

      Ha! Are you crazy? It's got nothing to do with democracy. It's a club where dictators and despots get to pretend they have the same sovereign legitimacy as the democratically elected governments of the civilized world.

      I care nothing for the opinion of the Sudanese or Libyan or Cuban government on any topic. Their representatives should have no seat in the UN.

      -ccm

      --
      Too much Law; not enough Order.
    66. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by ccmay · · Score: 1
      France would help, but their storm troops are all engaged right now in the Ivory Coast.

      Yeah, that's pretty rich, isn't it? The French are a veritable fountain of sneers and scathing comments when it comes to 'cowboy' Bush, yet they are down in the Côte d'Ivoire uninvited, shooting the local black people to protect the interests of white French cocoa growers.

      No blood for chocolate!

      -ccm

      --
      Too much Law; not enough Order.
    67. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      haha silly... YOURE the one who is wrong... christians arent people!

    68. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Frit+Mock · · Score: 1


      The problem here seems to be, that I don't think that there is now an end in sight, either.

      There is nothing that indicates any reduction in violence and I don't see how politics could achieve this.

      The sad truth, IMHO, is that any difference can be found in the following sentence:

      Was there more hope/chance to live a "normal" live with a dictator leading a country, or is there more hope/chance with terrorists roaming the country.

      Think about it with the point of view of an Iraqi. On situation is controlable, and that gives you at least a chance to be safe. The other situation is out of any control, and there is no chance to be safe. You live in fear of terror all day long.

      Freedom is worthless if you are not safe or in other words, without safty there can't be freedom.

      Since day one of the war in Iraq the situation is in fact worse, than before.
      Until the point of time, where that country stabilizes, people will suffer more from the US-idealism than from there previous dictator.

      Until the point of time, where that country stabilizes there is absolutly nothing good, about what the US and their allies did.

      Only some time after that country stabilized, people can judge if this was realy the preferable way.

      Take a look what happens in most western countries since 9/11 (and even before) ... people are willing to sacrifice some freedom in order to live safe.
      Till now the question is: What do you prefer ... some kind of safty and no freedom or freedom without safty.

      What happened till now since day one of the Iraq war is, the exacty opposite, sacrifice safty for freedom ... that's worth nothing if a bomb tears your child, your wife or yourself into pieces and oyu have no way to avoid this to happen!

    69. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1

      You speak as though they did not fear their prior government. Saddam had three different agencies all doing the same thing: reporting on the populace to find out who was not a good Iraqi, in competition with each other. In addition to this, numerous government officials had appetites that were difficult to sate; it was not uncommon for some of them to stop, inform a parent that his or her teenage daughter would be ready the next night to be picked up, and then that girl would be raped -- or worse -- by that government official.

      Towns that displeased Saddam, even in some minor way, could have their water and electricity cut off in the middle of summer. Those that annoyed him might have segments of their populations picked up, forced to the outside of town where there was a large whole, and then executed as a warning. Sometimes, even annoyance was not necessary for this.

      Mere word of disloyalty -- even uncorroborated -- might bring the secret police to a family's home in the middle of the night, and the entire family might be taken away for torture until they confessed, at which point many were executed.

      There was no end in sight. None at all. At least now, there's a timetable for getting things on track. In a few weeks, we'll hopefully be seeing the new Iraqi Constitution come forth, with new elections at the end of the year with full ethnic participation, now that the Sunnis see the benefits of participation. Even Muqtada al-Sadr, who was such a thorn in the sides of the US and Iraqi forces, has largely disarmed and is cooperating with US forces to find insurgents, because he now understands that the faster they deal with the insurgency, the sooner US forces leave Iraq.

      And personally, I choose freedom over safety, because there's a point at which you get diminishing returns for significant increasing losses of freedom. Sacrificing freedom for safety is worth nothing if the secret police beats your child, your wife, or yourself into a bloody pulp before finally ending things with a bullet, and you have no way to avoid this happening.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    70. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by SilverspurG · · Score: 1
      One can only hope that these people one day actually sit down and read their particular Bible, Torah or Koran
      What fun would the world be if the ignorant people would enlighten themselves and quit starting wars and siphoning away our tax money for their personal profit?

      Sounds like it'd be a pleasant, peaceful... hmmmm.
      --
      fast as fast can be. you'll never catch me.
    71. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by SilverspurG · · Score: 1
      Saddam had three different agencies all doing the same thing: reporting on the populace to find out who was not a good Iraqi, in competition with each other
      Let's imagine for a moment where such a system has been decentralized so that no one knows who the three agencies report to. Know knows who's a member because there is no formal company building. Everyone who is a member holds some other job to keep up the ruse. Punishment for being a bad citizen does not result in arrest or jail. It results in a lowered social class: higher insurance rates, higher interest rates, lower offers for salary, etc.

      Oh wait. I've just described the social system in the US.

      Funny how we're really no different than Saddam. The only defining feature is that, in the US society, no one really knows just who's pushing the buttons and calling the shots because there are so many strings on all the politicians. At least in Iraq, you knew who the jerks were and had a better chance of avoiding them on a day to day basis.
      --
      fast as fast can be. you'll never catch me.
    72. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Rayonic · · Score: 1
      Invading a defenceless country and killing hundreds of thousands of civilians makes you an "evil bully".
      Fortunately the U.S. has never done this. Outside of your imagination, that is.

      Being a member of the UN security council and blocking attempts to intervene makes you and "evil bully".
      The U.S. has been pushing for action in Sudan. The Europeans have been pushing against action, and the Chinese have been threatening to use their veto.
    73. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1

      Are you really equating actuarial tables and credit scores with random torture and executions for not paying the right bribes or just happening to be seen by someone at the wrong time? Because if you are, I'm obviously living in a completely different world than you are.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    74. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What, the Muslims in Nigeria often get to impose Sharia law against all - even those who don't believe.

      Do you consider it oppression that in some Nigerian states they have been thwarted in doing so?

      Christians aren't imposing any non-democratic legal systems over there (or over here for that matter - heck the Supreme Court seems to be on the fast track to banning Christianity in the US).

      Apparently you like that.

      As for non-Christians, how about the Jews? Everytime the Jews in Israel take any action to prevent their HOSTILE NEIGHBORS from PUSHING THEM OUT INTO THE SEA and FINISHING WHAT HITLER STARTED , people like you say THEY are being bigots.

      You'd probably like to see both Christians and Jews eradicated.

      Archetypical Christian Nation = USA = Free
      Archetypical Jewish Nation = Israel = Free
      Archetypical Muslim Nation = Saudi Arabia = Is it free? Ha ha ha!

    75. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by koi88 · · Score: 1

      That's right. During the Crusades, Constantinople was even plundered a few times by the European Knights. I've heard, this also led to a further decline of Constantinople's power and therefore to its fall.

      --

      I don't need a signature.
    76. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by sukotto · · Score: 1

      Where were they when we needed a worldwide cell phone standard?

      It sure would be nice to have a cell phone that works everywhere in the world and was supported by all providers.

      --
      Come play free flash games on Kongregate!
    77. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by SilverspurG · · Score: 1

      If you have any paper evidence of random torture, please present it. Something a little more substantial than "well... all the news channels say it" would be helpful.

      To address the US side of random torture... have you visited any county jails lately? How about prisons? Look. There are bad people in every society. The spin is that Saddam is bad for punishing them, and the US is good. The spin is that Saddam always punished the wrong people, and the US judicial system never makes a mistake.

      Saddam's Iraq and the current USA (which is _NOT_ the Constitutional Republic defined by our charter document) are the same thing. We just have more due process to make gullible citizens think we're so much better (yes, say that with the snobby tone and everything to get the full effect). It's called wool over sheep's eyes.

      --
      fast as fast can be. you'll never catch me.
    78. Re:The ITU != the rest of UN by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1

      Go have a look at the mass graves from well before the invasion, where men, women, and children were gunned down and buried in a decidedly un-Islamic fashion. Check out the disabled citizens of Iraq who can no longer eat, walk, or work properly because they were beaten, had limbs broken, were forced to eat glass or sand or corrosive liquids, had electrodes applied to various parts of their bodies, and things that are beyond the imaginations of most people.

      And if you need even more proof, check out the use of chemical weapons against his own people. Whether he got them from the US or not (several European nations were involved in it, too), that doesn't mean that he had to use them. If I give you a gun intending to use it for defense and you kill your own family, that's your fault.

      Yes, US prisons can be brutal, but at least there's a structure to address wrongdoings. And while there were legitimate wrongdoers caught by the Iraqi police, there were still hundreds of thousands that went through the torture chambers for doing nothing other than crossing the wrong people.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
  24. It 's ours.... by icedcool · · Score: 1, Interesting

    So there....

    What is the rest of the world gonna cry about it?

    --
    Most people aren't thought about after they're gone. "I wonder where Rob got the plutonium" is better than most get.
  25. LEt's re-cap. by mindstrm · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I'm not American. I have no personal interest in this staying in America... however.

    What's the benefit to turning it over to ICANN? How will this benefit me or the internet at large?

    As far as I can tell, all ICANN has done is fuck up DNS with stupid new root zones, and waste millions of dollars on useless meetings.

    Why on earth would I want ICANN running the root zone? So they can fuck up DNS even more, with even less resistance?

  26. It's time for alternate root DNS... by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 2, Informative

    I think Internet ownership pretty much ends at the borders. Perhaps it's time for alternate root DNS? Sounds a lot like a job for the UN. Sure they'd probably fuck it up with even more politics than US ownership, but it still sounds like a UN project.

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
    1. Re:It's time for alternate root DNS... by Jesus_666 · · Score: 1
      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  27. I'd define it a little differently. by Whyte · · Score: 1

    As long as the Internet continues to follow open and published standards for operation of the root servers, and does not deviate from those standards, ultimately the bulk of that power still lies with the local end-user service provider. They are the ones most ably-situationed to censor content - your coment on totalitarian political units is dead on in this respect.

    Has anyone heard of the U.S. abusing this authority for particularistic gain?

    --
    -- No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats, approximately one billion Chinese couldn't care less.
  28. Ob futurama by ajb2718 · · Score: 1

    I'm going to make my own internet with blackjack and hookers, now that I think of it forget the internet.

  29. Correct My Understanding- by LionKimbro · · Score: 3, Interesting
    My understanding is thus:

    • root nameservers are controlled by the private companies that host them (NASA, VeriSign, Cogent, US DoD, ...)
    • ICANN keeps the official registry of names; the private companies with the nameservers decides to go along with ICANN's registry, but is not legally required to do so
    • ICANN has one root name server, but only one
    • the private companies have, in the past, rebuked ICANN - in particular, ICANN asked them to install specific private keys and to be granted root access; the companies said (basically) to take a hike
    • Country-coded TLD's are not managed by ICANN; somebody else does that. (yes..?)


    This is just my understanding of the situation, and it probably has errors. That said, I've not once seen a good plain language explanation of how this all works, and what the actual powers and obligations are. This is my understanding of what an IETF regular told me.

    Neither the US or ICANN actually determines what goes into the root name servers: It's just by convenience and general agreement (but not obligation) that the root nameservers decide to humour ICANN, and let them maintain the list of names. There is no law or contract that says they have to do anything that ICANN says.

    Congress doesn't control this, and never did, if I understand right.

    Please correct my understanding; I'm sure at least some of this is wrong.
    1. Re:Correct My Understanding- by n0nsensical · · Score: 1

      If the root server operators didn't listen to ICANN, they probably wouldn't be root server operators for very much longer.

      Doesn't ICANN already have de facto control of DNS anyway? I don't hear of much Department of Commerce interference with its operation.

  30. the devil you know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Given ICANNs performance and reputation, and their unique position, I'll take the DoC over ICANN any day of the week, and twice on Sundays.

  31. How hard indeed... by seanvaandering · · Score: 1

    How hard can it be?

    Its amazingly easy to divide up something that isn't yours. Its like me telling you how to spend your money, and we all know how thats going to end up.

  32. Yawn.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nothing to see here, move along

  33. FreeDNS by camcorder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Time for an organisation to come up with FreeDNS. With enough cooperation, it's not impossible to bring FreeDNS networks. It might seem utopia but as in any other thing, having an alternative is always better than monopoly.

    1. Re:FreeDNS by FireAtWill · · Score: 1

      It'd be Free as in Anarchy. Cool.

    2. Re:FreeDNS by Lehk228 · · Score: 1

      we already have interNIC and others. the main problem is it would require millions of people working together to do it (or a few determined sysadmins, i would say maybe cox, comcast, and roadrunner/aol switching would do it, but that would never happen)

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
    3. Re:FreeDNS by bigpat · · Score: 1

      ya aol already has their own dns they call it aol keywords for websites and screen names for messaging.

      Problem is that fragmentation in the namespace means that resources and persons would no longer be universally accessible. Fine for a big monopoly trying to freeze out the competition. Not great for the rest of us.

  34. Stuck record? by magpie · · Score: 1

    Am I alone in comming to the conclusion the the eds are realy not checking stuff.

    Oh yeah the refence about is a refence to a very old media distrobution methord.

    So I can't speel, I am lsydexic

  35. Paul Vixie really controls it... by argent · · Score: 5, Informative

    Basically, the identities of the root nameservers are defined by the contents of the root hints files in the nameserver software used by every company and ISP on the planet. If a release of BIND comes out and it has a certain IP address in its root hints, then that's what the people using that release of BIND will use. If Windows Server 2010 uses a different IP address, people using that nameserver will get that root server instead.

    So, most of the big nameservers out there are using BIND, with dedicated Windows shops running AD or running BIND on Windows and everyone sane using UNIX, it's really up to Paul Vixie at ISC. So long as he plays ball with the Commerce Department, nobody needs to get hurt...

    1. Re:Paul Vixie really controls it... by n0nsensical · · Score: 1

      Do most DNS server operators really use the root hints file that comes with BIND? I always downloaded the InterNIC version, that site being administered by ICANN on behalf of the DoC.

    2. Re:Paul Vixie really controls it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Given how childish Vixie is, well, the Internet Backchannel is pretty scary considering how reliant we all are on it.

    3. Re:Paul Vixie really controls it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Do most DNS server operators really use the root hints file that comes with BIND?"

      Since version 9 (i.e. for years) it has been compiled (read hardcoded) into the source, so there is no reason to download a separate root hints files unless your running a massively out of date version of BIND (when you probably have other issues).

      Since BIND is an open source product, you can of course change the defaults as well as override it, and you can of course use a different DNS server product.

      Paul V's (or the ISCs) control over the DNS is thus by consent.

      Indeed the US control over the root name servers is by consent, as any of the root server operators could equally hijack a significant proportion of Internet traffic if they went rogue, and they aren't all controlled by the US government despite vague stories circulating on the Internet to that effect.

      As such the core operating method of the technical aspects of the Internet work by users opting to consent to the current rules.

      You can of course opt to create your own DNS network, under your own rules, which can include some, all, or none, of the current Internet. A few people do this because they dislike ICANN's creation of artificial scarcity in domain names.

      Whilst I have some sympathy with this view, I don't think anything ICANN governance has done can be clearly construed as politically biased (has it failed to allocate an ISO agreed country codes?), and have no reason to think that the ITU would be a better organisation to manage these things.

      Indeed about the only thing the ITU can ever claim to have been really good at is creating publicity for the desire of a few of its prominent individuals to take over ICANN's role.

    4. Re:Paul Vixie really controls it... by vginders · · Score: 1

      Actually, the root hints file is used at start up. That data is updated in memory, fetched by querying one of the name servers.
      At least AFAIK that's what happens in Bind.

      Manually updating the file is as simple as

      root@dns:/etc/bind# dig NS @A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. > db.root.new

      --

      Serge
    5. Re:Paul Vixie really controls it... by argent · · Score: 1

      Do most DNS server operators really use the root hints file that comes with BIND?

      Most corporate IT people don't even know what a "root hint" means, given the number of times I have had to explain how to set up split DNS behind a proxy firewall without having unknown addresses spend 90 seconds timing out trying to get to the root.

      I did have my tongue firmly in my cheek when I wrote that, and I was surprised to see it get modded to (5, Informative) given how many times straightforward serious comments get (-1, Troll). As the AC who responded to you (and who by the way could do with a couple of mod-ups) noted, the whole DNS structure really runs on trust.

      Which is why when NSol started playing silly-buggers with the ".com" TLD people got bent way out of shape at them.

    6. Re:Paul Vixie really controls it... by argent · · Score: 1

      Actually, the root hints file is used at start up. That data is updated in memory, fetched by querying one of the name servers.

      Yah, now complete that thought... if the root hints file had a different set of name servers in it... where would that data be fetched from? :)

  36. I have educated myself, YOU have not by ShatteredDream · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The origins of the ITU are meaningless to this discussion because the ITU is now a UN agency. Do you know what that means? It has become part of a world body that has done precious little to actually help the world rather than trying to become a one world government accountable to no one but the rich and powerful.

    If I am so ignorant of the real, good accomplishments of the UN, the please post them here. Let's see them.

    I am distrustful of the UN because most of its members are completely undemocratic tin horn dictatorships that wouldn't know good government if it bit them in the ass. Actually, they probably would since they have spent so much of their effort to ensure that their people don't have it!

    People like you need to just accept the fact that there are a lot of well-informed people who disagree with you based on what they have learned about groups like the UN. The UN has never "kept the peace" anywhere it has ever been, nor has it ever done anything of substance elsewhere. It'll always been a pawn of the richest and most powerful nations because they are the ones with the largest individual populations and the most wealth. The US, EU, Japan, Russia and China account for half of the world's population. Even if we "democratize" the UN, it'll still be controlled by the G8 and China.

    Besides, WTF does the ITU setting the standard for telephone systems have to do with anything? Is that supposed to be like some special dispensation from the pope that whitewashes all of the shit caused by the UN around the world? We already have a world standard for the internet in the form of TCP/IP and no one, last I checked, is debating whether DNS should stay as a standard. The only debate here is ownership, and that is a very relevant concern when it is a UN agency that wants to take over ownership.

    1. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Planesdragon · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It has become part of a world body that has done precious little to actually help the world

      The UN was designed to do one thing: prevent World War III.

      It did that exceptionally well. The USSR and the USA never had a huge tank/nuke war in Europe, and their proxy wars were fought with unusual restraint given that each side had nuclear arms.

      The fact that the UN has been used to do some other things is a comparative footnote.

    2. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Personally, I'm distrustful of them because the US veto has consistently kept them from being effective. When the #1 threat to world peace and prosperity has a veto on anything you do, your options are pretty limited...

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    3. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I sometimes get the impression the UN is greatly misunderstood. It is more of an international podium and one way you can try and solve disputes between nations. So the standard fare for the UN is many diatribes, and peace mission in places that some nations care enough about to lend troops to the UN for.

      Sub organisation of the UN do other things, and are pretty independent to the other politicle cackling above, think forinstance WHO. They are only under the UN I suppose, cause that better facilitates getting these organisations in each nation.

      So to put it in other words, you've been mislead by propaganda what the UN really is. It may have been setup under quite nice ideals. But those have little to do with day to day operation of it now, if ever.

    4. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      If I am so ignorant of the real, good accomplishments of the UN, the please post them here. Let's see them.

      No problem. Some googling resulted in this list of UN accomplishments.

      Please take some time to read it. There's some pretty good stuff in there, I think.

      Some highlights:

      5. UNICEF spends more than $800 million a year, primarily on immunization, health care, nutrition and basic education in 138 countries.

      9. Over 300 international treaties, on topics as varied as human rights conventions to agreements on the use of outer space and seabed.

      11. The UN was a major factor in bringing about the downfall of the apartheid system.

      12. More than 30 million refugees fleeing war, famine or persecution have received aid from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

      41. Improving global communications Regulated international mail delivery, coordinated use of the radio spectrum, promoted cooperation in assigning positions for stationary satellites, and established international standards for communications, thereby ensuring the unfettered flow of information around the globe.

      45. Improving education in developing countries 60% of adults in developing countries can now read and write, and 80 percent of children in these countries attend school.

    5. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As someone born in the 40's and surprised to still be alive, +1 insightful.

    6. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by k_187 · · Score: 1

      Really? I always thought that the fact that if they did go nuclear, there wouldn't be enough left of either side to say they "won". I'm not saying the UN hasn't done other things, but saying it is soley responsible for the cold war esclating isn't quite right.

      --
      11 was a racehorse
      12 was 12
      1111 Race
      12112
    7. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by king-manic · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Personally, I'm distrustful of them because the US veto has consistently kept them from being effective. When the #1 threat to world peace and prosperity has a veto on anything you do, your options are pretty limited...

      Actually world peace is not threatened very hard these days. The three major world powers (USA/China/USSR) all have similiar goals and are achieving them economically. They find economic warfare has better PR, lower costs, and is more effective then troops. The single thing hobbling the Un is it's "democratic" nature. In so far as 1 country = 1 vote with a few notable countries gettign vetoes. The vast majority of those countries are run by horrible people trying to enrich themselves at everyone elses expense.

      The Us itself is trying to secure oil to shore up it's resources in the coming all out economic war with China and the EU. As for peace, my peace as a chinese middle class canadian is threatened more by the Muslim populace (not just terrorists, but also because most of the thugs in my city happen to be lebenese.)

      --
      "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
    8. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 1

      "When the #1 threat to world peace and prosperity has a veto on anything you do, your options are pretty limited..."

      When did poverty and Kleptocracies get a veto on the UN Security Council?

    9. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Planesdragon · · Score: 1

      I always thought that the fact that if they did go nuclear, there wouldn't be enough left of either side to say they "won".

      Depends on when and at what scale. For instance, nuking Afghanistan and Vietnam likely would not have resulted in nuking the USSR or the USA.

      Heck, it's entirely possible that, sans UN, the USSR and the USA would have traded nukes a few at a time at first--and by "at first" I mean "during or before the Korean war."

      And let's not forget that the main reason the Cold War didn't heat up was that the USA and the USSR were able to communicate--something that the UN was intended to do, and did well enough.

    10. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by lightningrod220 · · Score: 1

      The USSR and the USA never had a huge tank/nuke war in Europe, and their proxy wars were fought with unusual restraint given that each side had nuclear arms.

      That's a topic that my history professor commented on at one point.... Why do people claim that so many people hate the U.S., when the U.S. was the one that had nuclear weapons long before the USSR, but other than the two that were used against Japan to end WW2, there were no other mushroom clouds? There is a span of 63 years between the bombs on the Japanese cities and now. In fact, it was a President of the United States who came up with the nuclear test ban treaty, because he realized we were not getting anything productive done. Calm restraint on the part of the U.S. leaders. Meanwhile, when certain Soviet leaders had temper tantrums, they would become red-faced, and slam their shoe on the podium in rage. (I can't recall - was it Khrushchev?) A "hot-head" like that having access to a nuke is just asking for worldwide destruction.

      I don't recall the UN ever stepping in and doing anything. My professor concurs.

    11. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by X.25 · · Score: 0

      If I am so ignorant of the real, good accomplishments of the UN, the please post them here. Let's see them.

      If you need someone else to point these things out to you, then you are REALLY ignorant.

      "If I don't know about it - it doesn't exist".

    12. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The fact that this was modded as "insightful" is a perfect example of how left leaning, US hating Slashdot is.

      I suppose if you're a genocidal dictator or a supportor of one (like the UN) then the US does look like a threat to world peace.

    13. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Rayonic · · Score: 1
      When the #1 threat to world peace and prosperity has a veto on anything you do, your options are pretty limited...

      Either you're talking about China, or you are completely intellectually bankrupt.
    14. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by BlueLightning · · Score: 1

      And who was it who initiated the recent war in Iraq?

      Yeah, I thought so.

    15. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Rayonic · · Score: 1
      And who was it who initiated the recent war in Iraq?

      Saddam Hussein, back in 1991.

      Oh, you thought that war ever actually ended? Hint: You don't end a war by signing a cease-fire, then continually breaking the terms of it.
    16. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, I'm glad at first to see someone like you punched in the face by that many people. Good to see some smart in this dump of comments. How do you feel now, mister brilliant?

      Where is the -1, Idiot Karma-whore option...

    17. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Planesdragon · · Score: 1

      I don't recall the UN ever stepping in and doing anything.

      They weren't supposed to. They were supposed to be the place that Krushchev would go and bang his shoe, instead of nuking Britian.

      Let's not forget that the UN was the second implementation of another American president's idea, one that only worked because the USA signed onto it.

      (And, for the record, the reason people hate the USA is how double-faced we acted during the cold war. It's not that we're free or any shit like that--it's that we were jerks with most of the world.)

    18. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by ThreeE · · Score: 1

      Mod parent up. Grandparent post has got to be the most ridiculous, ungrateful post I've seen in a while.

    19. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe the UN has finished its mandate, and needs to be shut down, then.

    20. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Kizor · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why do people claim that so many people hate the U.S., when the U.S. was the one that had nuclear weapons long before the USSR, but other than the two that were used against Japan to end WW2, there were no other mushroom clouds?

      Have I suddenly lost the ability for reading comprehension, or did I just see someone state that we should be saying "Thank you for refraining from committing mass murder?"

      As annoying as Dan Simpson may be at times, I think he makes a very valid point that in a civilized society, there are certain requirements basic enough that meeting them is not praiseworthy. Or as he put it:

      "Boy, Bob is a wonderful human being! Today he was really mad about something, but he didn't beat anyone to death with a hammer!"

    21. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Minupla · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't recall the UN ever stepping in and doing anything. My professor concurs.

      set OFFTOPIC=1
      Like what? Deploy space based hunter killer robots that shot thermal rays from orbit to destroy all the nukes on earth? Ya, you're right they didn't do that.

      They did however provide a forum for the discussion of disagreements, and a structure within for things like the ABM treaty et all to exist in international law (oops that's a dirty word).

      It provided a forum where the non-superpowers could extert some peer pressure on the US and Soviets.

      It provided a number of opertunties for cooperation that lead to greater mutual understanding which arguably lead to the eventual thawing of the cold war. It's hard to consider hte man you were sitting across the table at a UNICEF meeting discussing how to vacinate children in the developing nations to be a blood thirthy enemy.

      The UN, like most diplomatic insterments, is a tool of subtly. Just because you don't see it invading countries does not mean it has no long term result. You don't see erosion either, but you don't deny it exists.
      set OFFTOPIC=0

      The DNS system should be decentralized. The true amount of power invested in it is small (you can turn off the internet for non-clued people). Can anyone see a situation where this is a good thing?)

      On the other hand the symbolism of turning over the DNS system to an international group would be striking. But it seems the US isn't serious about closing the rifts that it created after all.

      Pity.
      Min

      --
      On the whole, I find that I prefer Slashdot posts to twitter ones because I don't get limited to 140 chars before
    22. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you need to check what "intellectually bankrupt" means. Hint: your picture is used as an example.

      Yeah, I thought so... asshat.

    23. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by glitch23 · · Score: 0

      There have been more wars since the UN's inception than in any other period in history of similar length. Maybe they have "prevented" WW3 but they don't seem to have been capable of preventing other wars. I guess as long as it accomplishes the only goal it had then it must be the greatest organization Man has ever created despite all the other wars it hasn't been able to prevent.

      --
      this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
    24. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by TC+(WC) · · Score: 1

      There have been more wars since the UN's inception than in any other period in history of similar length.

      I would very much like to see you prove that.

    25. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you've educated yourself, you sure had a stupid teacher.

    26. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1

      Economic necessity led to the thawing of the Cold War, not talking things over at the UN.

      And the reason warheads never passed each other in the air had far less to do with the UN than did cool heads at the White House and Kremlin. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, it was communication between Kennedy and Krushchev, both of whom had advisors nearly screaming for direct military action, who realized that things were getting out of control, and that a compromise had to be reached. Krushchev ordered the missiles pulled from Cuba, and Kennedy ordered all nuclear-armed Jupiter missiles removed from Turkey.

      What the UN provided for a long time was a place where smaller nations could go and work things out, with the possibility of larger, more powerful nations (US, France, and Britain for the most part, though I'm sure the Soviets were involved in some cases) enforcing whatever was worked out.

      The problem is that the UN has grown sigificantly beyond that which was originally intended. It's a place for dialogue, but the dialogue never ends. Sudan is only the most recent problem. The slaughter in Bosnia went on for years before anyone took serious action, and when the slaughter picked up in Kosovo, it was NATO that stepped in over some UN objections. Rwanda is the classic example of no one stepping in to deal with things, threatening instead to invoke sanctions on military hardware while the people who were dying were being hacked and beaten to death as much as or more than they were being shot.

      Things have been much clearer post-Cold War. Unfortunately, political realities of the US-USSR confrontation set up actions that were not in the best interest of the local populace, but may have been necessary in the larger scale of things. We stood behind some real award winners, people that these days would be universally derided and pressured. Actions taken to prevent a Soviet foothold in the Western Hemisphere beyond Cuba resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands, but there is the distinct possibility that not doing this would have resulted in the deaths of millions -- or more. Just as the US was careful to never back the Soviets into a corner, we had to make sure that we were never pushed into a corner, because the result would have been the same -- large pockets of nuclear wasteland, which kind of makes the whole exercise pointless.

      The UN needs a serious workover. There are sections of it that should be disbanded, and parts that should be enhanced. I don't mind things like the Security Council being expanded, or even a couple of new permanent members being brought on-board, though I'm wary of new veto powers. The recent changes relaxing the rules of engagement with local forces are also welcome; one rebel group (and I can't recall the country off the top of my head) recently attacked a group of blue-helmets, killing several of them, believing that they would cower in their bunkers like they always do. Instead, that UN group struck back hard, killing a fair number of the rebel group, and letting them know that they weren't on the sidelines anymore. This has been debated as to its effectiveness -- there are legitimate fears that it will involve the UN taking a side (even if it's the UN's side) in peacekeeping operations, but it may also make the local warlords think first, because they know that the soldiers under the UN banner are far better trained and equipped than are their own warriors.

      But these are relatively small changes in the scale of things, and possibly a false start. Maybe we need to start it over in its entirety to get back to basics. I'm not sure.

      OK, so that was the scenic route back to the original topic. I hope you enjoyed the trip, and we should be pulling into the terminal in just a moment. :)

      Right now, I don't see a reason for the servers to be turned over to any international body, whether it be ICANN or the UN. The system ain't broke, so don't fix it. (I'll admit to some bandages being needed, though.) I would rather see restraint in rolling out things like new TLDs than see rampant new ones thrown out in an attempt to appease everyone.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    27. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OOOOH.... No... we would have been better with a WW3...

    28. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by njyoder · · Score: 1

      5. UNICEF spends more than $800 million a year, primarily on immunization, health care, nutrition and basic education in 138 countries.

      And where do you think the money fo unicef comes from? Hefty donations from countries like the U.S. UNICEF is essentially its own, independent, charitable organization. It could split off from the UN now and it wouldn't make a difference.


      9. Over 300 international treaties, on topics as varied as human rights conventions to agreements on the use of outer space and seabed.


      And we're supposed to take their word that these are valuable?

      11. The UN was a major factor in bringing about the downfall of the apartheid system.

      Again, are we supposed to take their word for it?

      12. More than 30 million refugees fleeing war, famine or persecution have received aid from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

      And how much of the money for that came from the U.S.?

      41. Improving global communications Regulated international mail delivery, coordinated use of the radio spectrum, promoted cooperation in assigning positions for stationary satellites, and established international standards for communications, thereby ensuring the unfettered flow of information around the globe.

      wow, that's a pretty bold claim and I don't believe it for an instant. Satellite use and radio spectrum use are regulated by other agencies. International communications standards are developed by special organizations (e.g. ISO) whos sole purpose is international standards, the UN doesn't have anything to do with it.

      I'm guessing they're sticking to vague claims because they don't have any particularly impressive specific claims.

      45. Improving education in developing countries 60% of adults in developing countries can now read and write, and 80 percent of children in these countries attend school.

      They act like it was all their own doing. Again, this is something that comes about through hefty donations from many individuals and countries, which is organized by a variety of institutions, not just the UN.

    29. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Illegal and unauthorized police actions are not wars.

    30. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Grym · · Score: 0

      The UN was designed to do one thing: prevent World War III.

      It did that exceptionally well. The USSR and the USA never had a huge tank/nuke war in Europe, and their proxy wars were fought with unusual restraint given that each side had nuclear arms.

      I think the only restraint was in fact the nuclear arms. The UN had far less to do with a relatively peaceful resolution to the Cold War than did the logic of Mutually Assured Destruction and the power of economics.

      The fact that the UN has been used to do some other things is a comparative footnote.

      I wouldn't exactly call nearly a million people dead in Rowanda as a result of UN neglegence a "footnote." The UN isn't completely without value, but to dismiss its colossal failures as trivial would be unwise.

      -Grym

    31. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by glitch23 · · Score: 0

      UN inception 1942

      WWII 1937-45

      Korean 1950-53

      Chinese Civil War 1945-49

      Vietnam War 1965-73

      Iran-Iraq War 1980-88

      French Indochina 1945-54

      French Algerian 1954-62

      Afghanistan War 1980-89

      First Sudanese Civil War 1956-72

      Biafran War 1967-70

      That is of course a listing of wars (not battles or conflicts) since the UN's inception. Doing research on previous wars for every 60year period prior to the UN would take a long time. As a shortcut you can read http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson041305. html/

      --
      this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
    32. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by karthik_r085 · · Score: 1

      How much is exactly spent and how much goes into the pockets of politicans?

    33. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by sickofthisshit · · Score: 1

      I could simply answer "post hoc ergo propter hoc," but a more complete response is that you are conflating multiple developments in the 20th century with the creation of the U.N.

      There was once this thing, for instance, called the "British Empire" where a country called "Great Britain" (perhaps you've heard of it) ruled much of the world. This was a good thing, in that it tended to make major wars rather rare, but a bad thing from the point of view of political rights for many of the world's people.

      The collapse of the Great Powers equilibrium caused by the unification of Germany and World War I also coincided with the advent of modern mechanized warfare and modern techniques of insurgency.

      Notice, for instance, that the wars you list did not occur between major powers. For example, Great Britain and France have not gone to war with each other or with Germany; for about the past 500 years, that kind of thing was relatively routine.

    34. Re:I have educated myself, YOU have not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      11. The UN was a major factor in bringing about the downfall of the apartheid system.

      please clarify cause last time i checked the soviet union did more against apartheid than the UN ever did. I like how everyone credits sanctions for the downfall of apartheid, yet as a South African, i remember rather well, US, UK and other European Countries still doing business with us under the radar. I also remember the fact that if we didn't have someone like De Klerk in office, chances that country would still be in apartheid.

      so please, what exactly did the UN and world the do? besides buy our diamonds and gold and sell back to us at higher rates.

  37. Not useless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The UN may have its problems, but it does succeed sometimes.

    Have you ever heard of the World Health Organization, a part of the UN? They are working hard to eradicate polio, which is a terrible disease, and things are looking good so far.

    Do you still think the UN has been useless for the last 40 years?

    1. Re:Not useless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, actually polio has been making a huge resurgence in the last ten years, after almost being completely eradicated.

      http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1 059060,00.html

  38. I know! by BlackMesaLabs · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They want to keep the DNS so they can justify the new internet tax!

  39. You left out how peaceful the UN's made the world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    no text necessary....

  40. The government doesn't control DNS by newsblaze · · Score: 3, Informative

    If the government controlled DNS, it would be completely screwed up and the porn sites would be deleted. Also, the CAN-SPAM legislation would not have been necessary. They would just delete spammers.

    --
    Daily News http://newsblaze.com
    1. Re:The government doesn't control DNS by dbIII · · Score: 2
      If the government controlled DNS, it would be completely screwed up and the porn sites would be deleted
      Not necessarily, consider the Australian government which has internet content rules and also runs the ".cx" domain. Christmas Island is an Austalian territory, mostly known for large tree climbing land crabs and being a dodgy business registration/money laundering bank location, and a place to lock up refugees and pretend they are not in your juristiction. Porn and gambling make a lot of money for some governments.
    2. Re:The government doesn't control DNS by newsblaze · · Score: 1

      Yes, what I am saying is that the US conservatives would have shut them down if they had control, which they don't. They wouldn't care that it makes money. If they cared more about money, they would tax marijuana.

      --
      Daily News http://newsblaze.com
  41. It seems like by suitepotato · · Score: 5, Insightful

    most of the opposition is knee-jerk and FUD. Like the "evil Bushies" are going to take away your pr0n collection.

    (insert rolling eyes emoticon here)

    I think the US government is well aware how dangerous the Internet and the flow of information across it is to its enemies. Iran and company can only be ever destabilized by the Internet and cutting themselves off completely will leave them behind more and more. Opening up access will accellerate disaffection in those nations more and more. Either way, the days of these totalitarians is numbered.

    Yet supposedly the US government is suddenly going to do all sorts of nasty things with their control of the root servers.

    I doubt Microsoft, IBM, General Motors, CitiBank, etc. would put up with that nor would any of the other many thousands of businesses and in short order, their money would do the talking to congressmen.

    --
    If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
    1. Re:It seems like by d^2b · · Score: 1
      I doubt Microsoft, IBM, General Motors, CitiBank, etc. would put up with that nor would any of the other many thousands of businesses and in short order, their money would do the talking to congressmen.
      A rousing defence of the ideals of American democracy!

      Copy and paste rolling eyes emoticon from previous post.

      On a more serious note, it is possible that other nations do not need to "Clear and Present Danger" signals of the kind you mock in order to think that there is no particular reason that control of some evidently international system should rest with the US Department of Commerce. The question is not whether this is definitely going to lead to bad things, but whether this expceptional situation is justified by something other than historical circumstances.

      "You can't stop us" is fine as far as it goes, but don't expect kudos from the crowd. "The war on terror", has alas, become a bit devalued as an international currency.

    2. Re:It seems like by Jesus_666 · · Score: 1

      Besides, if they decide to screw with the official root servers, Europeans still can switch to the ORSN servers, which usually are synchronized with the ICANN servers but stop synchronizing when the current state of world politics makes it possible that the ICANN servers might be subject to manipulation or downtime.

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
    3. Re:It seems like by danila · · Score: 1

      Yet supposedly the US government is suddenly going to do all sorts of nasty things with their control of the root servers.

      It just may. I don't trust the US, I'd trust international organisations such as the UN much more.

      I doubt Microsoft, IBM, General Motors, CitiBank, etc. would put up with that nor would any of the other many thousands of businesses and in short order, their money would do the talking to congressmen.

      You're naive to think that General Motors or CitiBank would care about US government abuses, as long as they can do their business as usual.

      --
      Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
  42. What is really kinda fucked about this dupe - by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    is that I know soooo many people have PERFECTLY good submissions that should be front page - but noooo - some lazy editor doesn't keep their eye o nthe ball, and so instead of some bit of interesting or fun NEWS getting commented on, like:

    http://www.technewsworld.com/story/44340.html

    or

    http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050702/fob7. asp

    we get a space wasting dupe.

    Smooth move, zonk.

    AC

  43. Troll title? by vsage3 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Now /. is usually fair enough in its blurbs about articles, but what is going on with the title of this one? "U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS" connotes the U.S. is doing something wrong, which is certainly not the case of the opinions of most others here carry any weight. Too bad we can't mod down the Zonk's post for trolling :\

  44. At least it's not YRO... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At least it's not marked as YRO...

  45. Mugabe! by PHAEDRU5 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now there's a man who's demonstrated a hard-charging, can-do, UN un-criticized attitude.

    Just the man for the job.

    I just can't understand the US reticence.

    --
    668: Neighbour of the Beast
    1. Re:Mugabe! by MochaMan · · Score: 1

      While having Mugabe in charge would be damn scary, having Bush at the controls of the resources of a nation like the US isn't particularly reassuring either. I'll agree having Mugabe in charge of the US would be enough to make me start building that underground bunker though.

    2. Re:Mugabe! by PHAEDRU5 · · Score: 1

      So, here I am in GA, 6+ years later.

      No Islamofascists on the horizon. Saddam gone. House of Saud replacing its ambassador. Blue skies. Pinot Grigiot plentiful. Hmmmm.

      (Reassured sigh.)

      --
      668: Neighbour of the Beast
    3. Re:Mugabe! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No Islamofascists on the horizon.

      I do hope you're right. But I have this nagging feeling you may be creating new ones as we speak.

    4. Re:Mugabe! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just can't understand the US reticence.

      Actually, I believe that the U.S. has spoken out on the issue.

      reticent

  46. What did you expect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bush has run rough-shed over the rest of the world like someone appointed him god instead of the truth that he cheated and stole two elections in Florida and Ohio from the dumb American public. Dumb and dumber.

  47. You God damn right! by SensitiveMale · · Score: 0, Troll

    Why in the world should the US give up control?

    1. Re:You God damn right! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Odd how a nation can look outside itself with different eyes to those it uses to view itself.

      The US is required to take military action and invade itself and liberate the DNS from a totalitarian regime and free the Internet users so they can elect a DNS autority of there own free will.

      Whilst invading, perhaps it can destroy its own weapons of mass destruction and fix its human rights issues.

    2. Re:You God damn right! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can't let the DNS fall into the hands of those darned terrorists. Next thing you know there will be a .wmd domain...

  48. Four Hours Later... by ThisIsFred · · Score: 2, Funny

    Slashdot: Slashdot Far From Dupe-Free

    Anonymous Reads writes: Despite efforts by a coalition of the willing and intelligent moderators, Slashdot refuses to relenquish control of its Duping System - capable of successfully weeding out repeat stories - to the aforementioned group. Says a Slashdot source: "...Slashdot is committed to taking no action when it sees a repeated story arrive for publication..." When asked about the reason for this, our source commented that efficiency and effectiveness would not suffer. Editor: How long can this go on? This is rediculous!

    (I kid, folks. The dupes don't bother me.)

    --
    Fred

    "A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
    -RMS
    1. Re:Four Hours Later... by discogravy · · Score: 1

      one of the few times i wish i had my old sig still on my /. account: "slashdot: when news breaks, we give you the pieces"

  49. Mod down flamebait. by geekee · · Score: 1, Interesting

    " Personally, I'm distrustful of them because the US veto has consistently kept them from being effective. When the #1 threat to world peace and prosperity has a veto on anything you do, your options are pretty limited..."

    Yes, vetos of ridiculous resolutions by anti-semetic nations condemning Israel for defending itself is hampering world peace and prosperity.

    --
    Vote for Pedro
    1. Re:Mod down flamebait. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      parent is flamebait, grandparent is insightful.

      condeming Iran for persuing nuclear power while encouraging Israel's development of nuclear weaponry is a very VERY scarey form of bigotry. Israel has caused as much if not more human rights issues than Ir*. but then again - the arabs don't mattter do they (yes that was sarcasam)

    2. Re:Mod down flamebait. by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I was personally thinking of the international criminal court, but that's another good example... and then there's always kyoto... and...

      Ah fuck it... you ain't listening anyways.

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    3. Re:Mod down flamebait. by general_re · · Score: 1
      Ah fuck it... you ain't listening anyways.

      Probably because whatever argument you're trying to make is hopelessly muddled. Neither the ICC nor Kyoto were UN resolutions, nor did the US "veto" either. Both were multilateral treaties which the US has declined to be a part of. Everyone else is still free to abide by either or both of those treaties if they wish, but the US will not - this is not a "veto" of ICC or Kyoto any more than declining to field a team for the 1980 Olympics was a "veto" of the Olympic games.

      --
      ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
    4. Re:Mod down flamebait. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As far as the ICC goes. The primary objection is that it violates the US Constitution. But of course, the rest of the world seems to expect that we should just suspend it where it's inconvenient.

      Assholes.

  50. All I want... by Rick+and+Roll · · Score: 2, Funny

    is the decision that will result in all words up to four letters being TLD's. Then someone can finally register a .fart domain, and we can declare all of the domain names officially taken.

  51. Re:What are the Little Black Helicopters? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You obviously have some issues..

    However, even if this absurd scenario is true, it is ironically the consequence of a democratically elected government, and in therefore a direct result of the will of the American people.

    Perhaps it would be better with a democracy full of like minded individuals. Or at least, have them in control so that Communism doesn't get a true foothold.

    There is no left and right.. it's a circle.

  52. Oh, it's DNS... by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

    ...I had misread it as "DNF", and wondered what could be Broussard's excuse this time.

  53. Funny... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If anyone is critical of Israel they are automatically labeled anti-jew. Get a grip on yourself. Israel is just as responsible, if not more, for its current problems than anyone else. That double standard will only continue to make their situation worse. BTW, I wouldn't be surprised if you happen to be Jewish.

  54. Why does ICANN want the DNS servers ? by argent · · Score: 1

    When you put them all together they transform into the Arc of the Covenant.

  55. It should be trivial to make your own root servers by argent · · Score: 1

    Yeh, we did it years ago. The first non-IANA domain was the "dot" TLD.

  56. Wacky Perspective - Most DNS mirrors aren't in US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is an interesting fallicy: The US Controls the root servers, and thus could switch them off at a moments notice, blacking out certain countries at will to the entire internet. BULLSHIT! Fact: All root servers: A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L, and M all have mirrored backups in FOREIGN countries. If the primary goes down (or gets switched off, whatever), the backup ramps up to handle a larger portion of the load (they aren't just backups, they are always running too). The primary servers handle US internet traffic to a very large degree, but a lesser amount of 'foreign' traffic, because the foreign root servers are handling the traffic. If the US wanted to shut off net access to it's own citizens, it could shut down the hometown computers (and black out the US). Good job there!

  57. It's a bit of wishful thinking by Phil+Urich · · Score: 1

    Americans (and I speak this with citizenship and with no regret as to holding that citizenship) would rather the problems be glossed over with their nation, thus it's great to criticize the UN and other powers and nations when they do things that are wrong or just plain morally reprehensible, but America? Doing something wrong? You leftist, freedom hating bastard!

    Actually, living in Canada right now, it's kindof the same issue as far as America-bashing goes; people go "god-damned Americans, screwing up the world and not taking any responsibility, and why the fuck are they so dumb as to elect that fascist blah blah blah blah", Canadians basically define themselves by the fact that they're not Americans, and the general lack of achievements in recent years are glossed over by a constant tirade against all the things that the States does wrong, and everything percieved to be wrong with americans.

    When it comes down to it, people just can't bring themselves to believe that the place they live isn't the best; it's hard to justify not doing anything about it otherwise (fixing it, moving, anything, people would rather just live their lives lazily and pretend that they're living it as best as they can). Hence Americans bashing the UN, hence Canadians bashing Americans, hence people bashing other things and people in general.

    (As a further note, I actually have Canadian citizenship as well, I've had both since birth . . . it gives me an odd measure of both affinity to both, and a lack of commitment to either; it has upsides and downsides . . . I write this for the benefit of anyone flaming me, so that they can flame with their facts straight ;).

    --
    I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
  58. Deja Vu by MeKonfuzed · · Score: 0, Redundant

    it must be a break in the matrix!

  59. One little reminder by gothamboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The Internet was funded with US taxpayer dollars and has been open to the world to use without financial consideration or gratitude for the research money that went into it. If the US Govt wants to run the root servers that is purely a domestic US issue. Like the GPS system (also US taxpayer financed in the billions and used by the world without gratitude or financial consideration), if people in other countries or Americans don't like the US govt administering it, go build your own.

    1. Re:One little reminder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Like the GPS system (also US taxpayer financed in the billions and used by the world without gratitude or financial consideration), if people in other countries or Americans don't like the US govt administering it, go build your own.

      Then why did the US government object so strongly to the European Magellan project?

    2. Re:One little reminder by TC+(WC) · · Score: 1

      The Internet was funded with US taxpayer dollars and has been open to the world to use without financial consideration or gratitude for the research money that went into it. If the US Govt wants to run the root servers that is purely a domestic US issue. Like the GPS system (also US taxpayer financed in the billions and used by the world without gratitude or financial consideration), if people in other countries or Americans don't like the US govt administering it, go build your own.

      We built our own. It just happens to be attached to yours.

    3. Re:One little reminder by fmaxwell · · Score: 1

      We built our own. It just happens to be attached to yours.

      You didn't build anything. You just attached computers to an existing network using the building blocks (TCP/IP, Ethernet, etc.) which were invented in the U.S. at U.S. taxpayer expense. That's like me saying that my neighborhood built it's own highway system because our driveways attach to U.S. roads.

    4. Re:One little reminder by Captain_Chaos · · Score: 2, Informative

      Like the GPS system (also US taxpayer financed in the billions and used by the world without gratitude or financial consideration), if people in other countries or Americans don't like the US govt administering it, go build your own.

      Got ya

      .
    5. Re:One little reminder by fmaxwell · · Score: 1

      Then why did the US government object so strongly to the European Magellan project?

      Magellan is a U.S. brand of GPS products, formerly owned by Orbital Sciences Corporation. Galileo is the EU analog to GPS and is based on the same technology as GPS.

      The Galileo project could provide targeting capabilities to our enemies and, unlike GPS, we would be unable to degrade accuracy or turn it off if we sensed a threat to the United States. It would be based almost completely on the U.S. GPS design, again funded at U.S. taxpayer expense, while posing a potential threat to the U.S. That's the reason for the objection.

    6. Re:One little reminder by janrinok · · Score: 1

      Oh, so its all yours now is it? By the way, the US of A didn't invent the steam engine, the aircraft, or a billion and one other things that they now use without financial compensation. Its just the way of the world. Get used to it. The USA only thinks it is the boss, we all know that the rest of the world has a say in matters, too.

      --
      Have a look at soylentnews.org for a different view
    7. Re:One little reminder by Triskele · · Score: 1

      You didn't invent the web but use it anyway.

      --

      --
      USA: home of the world's largest terrorist training camp.

    8. Re:One little reminder by gothamboy · · Score: 1

      uh...nobody's government wanted to take control of the steamengines or airplanes did they? Additionally those inventions weren't specifically government funded (ie taxpayer), were they? What we are talking about is administration of a service provided by the US govenerment currently for the world's benefit, financed by US taxpayer dollars. I don't see any parallel between that and individual inventions made by individuals.

    9. Re:One little reminder by gothamboy · · Score: 1

      Gee, was that a Swiss government funded project? If it was and the Swiss gov't wish to license it, that is one thing. I specifically didn't mention "invention" did I?

    10. Re:One little reminder by janrinok · · Score: 1

      OK, I'll bite. The UN (which includes the rest of the world) is quite prepared to take the DNS management task on - it is the US that is saying 'no'. So the world is prepared to pay for the task from which it benefits. Hardly our problem if you want to keep them. And then lets ask ourselves why the US is saying no? Probably because there is some benefit to the US from doing so. One can only speculate - does management of the DNS servers give the US a useful lever to use when it might wish to do so? Or is there an intelligence benefit from knowing instantly who owns which domain and thus being able to target those of specific interest? Perhaps something more mundane - but all speculation and it will not be answered here in /. No, my previous post was directed at your attitude that if we don't like the US' decision then we should just sod off and build our own. Many of the things that we use today were invented outside of the country in which they are used. We are a caring, sharing species - we do things like that. But becoming petulant and saying 'Its my ball and now I want it back' is very reminiscent of young children. They have to learn to cope with such things and take part in life. The internet may have been based on a US invention but it does not belong to any country. The world-wide infrastructure that supports the WWW has been paid for by many nations and businesses. It belongs to them all and is not for any nation to 'own'. And, although I haven't got the details at my fingertips, both the steam engine and aircraft were marvellous inventions which both benefitted from government funding of the day - one by direct sponsorship and the second by a reward for achieving a goal that had been set. So perhaps the type of government funding changed and the way in which money was allocated differed, but it was still the taxpayer who paid the bill. Not wishing to cause anyone any offence, including yourself, but it seems that sometimes some nations forget that they share this world with other nations and we all have an equal say. If the rest of the world _want_ to have control over the DNS servers the US should at least explain why they will not let them have it. Its not your ball....

      --
      Have a look at soylentnews.org for a different view
    11. Re:One little reminder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL, so because a protocol has been 'invented' somewhere (by committees often containing people from all over the world), you can not build a new network, because you use building blocks? Okay, I'll extend your statement, and say that the US has never build any roads or buildings, because they have been invented in other places. Also the US has never build any computers or networks, because those too have been invented outside of the US. As root servers are computer too, the US has never build any root servers either. So, get real, it's not the US against the world, we're in this together. After many centuries of fighting against eachother, in European governments it's now common to play along with each other, and give everyone a fair say. This concept of working internationally in a co-operative way is a bit foreign to many people in the US. So Europeans get upset when the US plays the 'see how good we are' game again. We were the same you were, you're just walking some centuries behind. You guys will get over it.

    12. Re:One little reminder by Njovich · · Score: 1

      The Internet was funded with US taxpayer dollars and has been open to the world to use without financial consideration

      and

      If the US Govt wants to run the root servers that is purely a domestic US issue.

      I think it's fine that the US runs the root servers, but as you have stated yourself, this is in no way purely a domestic issue. International use is there, there is worldwide political sensitivity, and therefore, it's an international issue. The US isn't the only country that has invested billions into internet infrastructure, and the US has had very significant international investment because of the internet. So no matter what your point of view is on who should run these, this is an international issue. Diplomacy, and carefull consideration of all arguments are in place, before China, France or someone else decides to take this as a reason to start a trade war.

      (ok, trade war is unlikely, but you get the point)

    13. Re:One little reminder by fmaxwell · · Score: 4, Insightful

      LOL, so because a protocol has been 'invented' somewhere (by committees often containing people from all over the world), you can not build a new network, because you use building blocks?

      What an incredibly gross distortion of what I wrote. First off, TCP/IP was not invented by a committee "containing people from all over the world." It was invented in the 1970s by Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn. Nor did I say that you could not build a new network because it used such building blocks. But you can't paste your computers onto the Internet and say "we built a network!" No, you didn't. You just attached to an existing one.

      Okay, I'll extend your statement, and say that the US has never build any roads or buildings, because they have been invented in other places.

      That's not an extension of my statement. I wrote: "You just attached computers to an existing network using the building blocks (TCP/IP, Ethernet, etc.) which were invented in the U.S. at U.S. taxpayer expense." The U.S. didn't attach roads to the ones in Europe. We built a complete, standalone system of roads. Every road in Europe could be shut down and it would not affect traffic flow in the U.S.

      Also the US has never build any computers or networks, because those too have been invented outside of the US.

      Your ignorance is showing. The Atanasoff-Berry Computer was the world's first electronic digital computer. It was built by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State University during 1937-42. Timesharing, the concept of linking a large numbers of users to a single computer via remote terminals, was developed at MIT in the late 50s and early 60s. In 1962, Paul Baran of RAND developed the idea of distributed, packet-switching networks. ARPANET, which later became the Internet, went online in 1969. So, computers were invented in the U.S. So was networking. And so was the Internet.

      Again, you don't have to invent something to build an example of it. But neither can you claim that you built a network if all you built is just an extension to an existing network.

      As root servers are computer too, the US has never build any root servers either.

      Again, you don't seem to grasp the argument. I didn't say that the EU could not build a network because they did not invent the concept or protocols. But simply hooking into a network built in the U.S. does not constitute building a network.

    14. Re:One little reminder by m50d · · Score: 1
      Why should one country be entitled to control the accuracy of the system? As far as Europe is concerned the US could just as easily be the bad guys. After all, recent events have hardly showed you as a non-aggressor.

      If the design is genuine innovation from US funds, why isn't it patented?

      --
      I am trolling
    15. Re:One little reminder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are right... and wrong...
      It is correct that the money came from US taxpayers... but if you think that US citizen has any WHATSOEVER influence on those two systems you are naive.
      Both systems has been developed by the US military for military use. The only gratitude we should show is for the US military not for the US taxpayers, those money would have gone to US military anyway.
      ...and the Internet could have been a new destroyer...

    16. Re:One little reminder by fmaxwell · · Score: 1

      Why should one country be entitled to control the accuracy of the system?

      I didn't say that the U.S. should be entitled to control it. But having sole control of it is in our national interests, which is why the U.S. has been opposed to the Galileo cluster.

      As far as Europe is concerned the US could just as easily be the bad guys. After all, recent events have hardly showed you as a non-aggressor.

      How about a little gratitude? Remember WWII when the U.S. took up arms against European aggressors? Also, 49% of the US voters didn't elect that idiot that we have in office. Bear with us and maybe we can convince enough of the others of their mistake that we can remedy it in 2008.

      If the design is genuine innovation from US funds, why isn't it patented?

      Because the U.S. government doesn't normally patent taxpayer-funded inventions.

    17. Re:One little reminder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First off, TCP/IP was not invented by a committee "containing people from all over the world." It was invented in the 1970s by Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn.

      No-one uses the first version of these protocols any more. What we use now has been designed by a committee.

      The U.S. didn't attach roads to the ones in Europe. We built a complete, standalone system of roads. Every road in Europe could be shut down and it would not affect traffic flow in the U.S.

      If you drop the US of the internet, it will keep working just fine in Europe.

      Your ignorance is showing. The Atanasoff-Berry Computer was the world's first electronic digital computer. It was built by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State University during 1937-42

      It was about 'inventing', not about building anything. Even if it was about building, ever heard of von Neumann or Turing? That a certain type of computer may or may not (it's disputed) have been made first in the US is quite uninteresting. If you actually read my whole comment, you would have noticed that my whole point was that it doesn't matter shit which country was first.

      But simply hooking into a network built in the U.S. does not constitute building a network.

      Why do you think it's called an internet? Would you think it might have anything to do with it being a network between networks?

      I congratulate you with your +4 post, scoring completely on Americans who want to keep in there dream that nationalism actually matters shit. Keep up the good work!

    18. Re:One little reminder by fmaxwell · · Score: 1

      No-one uses the first version of these protocols any more. What we use now has been designed by a committee.

      That is such an incredibly weak argument that I'm amazed you'd be willing to post it. Maybe that's why you're posting anonymously. It's like trying to say that the Wright Brothers are owed little credit because the airplane has since been improved upon by successive engineers.

      If you drop the US of the internet, it will keep working just fine in Europe.

      Then why are you so concerned about the root DNS servers remaining in the U.S.?

      It was about 'inventing', not about building anything. Even if it was about building, ever heard of von Neumann or Turing? That a certain type of computer may or may not (it's disputed) have been made first in the US is quite uninteresting.

      Inventing and theorizing are two very different things. Von Neumann didn't even publish his paper (First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC) until 1945. Turing thought of a "computer" as a person who carried out a computation. The theories that he published, though important in the history of computers, did not, by any means, constitute the invention of a computer.

      Why do you think it's called an internet? Would you think it might have anything to do with it being a network between networks?

      Of course, but when the original poster stated that "The Internet was funded with US taxpayer dollars...if people in other countries or Americans don't like the US govt administering it, go build your own." As in, go build your own Internet equivalent, as a standalone network with no reliance on U.S. Internet infrastructure. So my use of the term "network," referred to a worldwide network of networks equivalent to the Internet.

      I congratulate you with your +4 post, scoring completely on Americans who want to keep in there dream that nationalism actually matters shit. Keep up the good work!

      You really don't know who modded my comment up or down. Those who modded it up marked it as "interesting" and "insightful". That you could believe that only an American would find accomplishments of Americans to be of interest shows just how nationalistic you are.

    19. Re:One little reminder by PigIronBob · · Score: 1

      Gratitude ? if the Dutch and French had ignored Adam's please and NOT propped up the US dollar in the first place you guys wouldn't have had a hope in hell!

      --
      You never catch me alive
    20. Re:One little reminder by fmaxwell · · Score: 1

      Gratitude ? if the Dutch and French had ignored Adam's please and NOT propped up the US dollar in the first place you guys wouldn't have had a hope in hell!

      You're comparing a $2 million loan from a Dutch syndicate with the loss of over 400,000 American lives? Amazing.

    21. Re:One little reminder by m50d · · Score: 1
      How about a little gratitude? Remember WWII when the U.S. took up arms against European aggressors?

      Yeah, I remember. You didn't want to touch it until the US itself was attacked, even though without the nation being invaded (France) your country wouldn't exist. You're a colony that rebelled, cost us goodness knows how much directly and lost us control of the world, grudgingly help us out a few times and you expect us to be grateful?

      Also, 49% of the US voters didn't elect that idiot that we have in office. Bear with us and maybe we can convince enough of the others of their mistake that we can remedy it in 2008

      That's what you were saying 5 years ago. How long does it need? The fact is, you did elect him, under your own system, you can't blame us for judging you by the rulers you pick.

      --
      I am trolling
    22. Re:One little reminder by fmaxwell · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You're a colony that rebelled, cost us goodness knows how much directly and lost us control of the world, grudgingly help us out a few times and you expect us to be grateful?

      Yes. It's about time that you recognize that England was in the wrong at the time that the U.S. colonies revolted.

      1763 - The Proclamation of 1763, signed by King George III of England, prohibited any English settlement west of the Appalachian mountains and required those already settled in those regions to return east. These were people eeking out an existence in an new land and the English government was requiring that they abandon their home, crops, and everything that they had worked so hard for.

      1764 - The Sugar Act was passed by the English Parliament to offset the war debt brought on by the French and Indian War and to help pay for the expenses of running the colonies and newly acquired territories. This act increased the duties on imported sugar and other items such as textiles, coffee, wines and dye. It doubled the duties on foreign goods reshipped from England to the colonies and also forbade the import of foreign rum and French wines.

      1764 - The English Parliament passed a measure to establish a court in Halifax, Nova Scotia which would have jurisdiction over all of the American colonies in trade matters.

      1764 - The Currency Act prohibited the colonists from issuing any legal tender paper money. This act threatened to destabilize the entire colonial economy of both the industrial North and agricultural South, thus uniting the colonists against it.

      1765 - In March, the Stamp Act was passed by the English Parliament, imposing the first direct tax on the American colonies, to offset the high costs of the British military organization in America. For the first time in the 150 year old history of the British colonies in America, the Americans were to pay tax not to their own local legislatures in America, but directly to England.

      Under the Stamp Act, all printed materials are taxed, including; newspapers, pamphlets, bills, legal documents, licenses, almanacs, dice and playing cards. The American colonists quickly united in opposition, led by the most influential segments of colonial society - lawyers, publishers, land owners, ship builders and merchants - who are most affected by the Act, which was scheduled to go into effect on November 1.

      1765 - Also in March, the Quartering Act required colonists to house British troops and supply them with food.

      1766 - The English Parliament passed the Declaratory Act stating that the British government had total power to legislate any laws governing the American colonies in all cases whatsoever.

      1774 - On May 13, General Thomas Gage, commander of all British military forces in the colonies, arrived in Boston and put Massachusetts under British military rule. He is followed by the arrival of four regiments of British troops.

      1774 - May 20, The English Parliament enacted the Quebec Act, greatly upsetting American colonists by extending the southern boundary of Canada into settled territories claimed by U.S. states.

      1774 - In June, a new version of the 1765 Quartering Act is enacted by the English Parliament requiring all of the American colonies to provide housing for British troops in occupied houses and taverns and in unoccupied buildings.

      Given the way that England treated the colonies, it's a damned good reflection on our character that we helped defend England at all in WWII.

      Yeah, I remember. You didn't want to touch it until the US itself was attacked, even though without the nation being invaded (France) your country wouldn't exist.

      It would have been easy for us to strike back at the Japanese and leave it at that. Instead, we entered Europe at a great cost to fight beside the Allied troops.

      The fact is, you did elect him, under your own system, you can't blame us for judging you by the rulers you pick.

      No, *I* didn't elect him. I didn

    23. Re:One little reminder by m50d · · Score: 1
      Blaming all of the American people for the mistakes of a simple (and I mean that word in both of its connotations) majority is just bigotry

      I'm not blaming all the American people, but as a nation the US is responsible. And it's the nation of the US that controls GPS, not the people.

      --
      I am trolling
  60. how can you talk to dead people? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    foolish christian, you cant talk to the dead.

  61. Look at it this way by todd10k · · Score: 1
    If aliens ever do come down and start blasting the white house and fornicating with the washington monument, it'll be the U.N who announces humanitys surrender.

    hopefully that puts all the arguments to bed.

    1. Re:Look at it this way by imthesponge · · Score: 1

      and you base this argument on what?

    2. Re:Look at it this way by todd10k · · Score: 1

      well it was supposed to be a joke, albeit a bad one. but i suppose if you wanna get down to the meat of it, its the largest intergovernmental organisation in the world at the moment, with the most representatives. if it had to be anybody, i suppose, it would be them.

  62. Whatever... by Ziviyr · · Score: 1

    DNS is a network service just like HTTP or whatever else. If theres any reason, the smart masses can just redirect their DNS queries.

    --

    Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!
  63. Meta: Moderation in dupes by zsau · · Score: 1

    Why is it that in dupe posts, there's always half a dozen posts rated up about how it's a dupe? And, once there's already been a first post pointing out that it's a dupe, why are there still many more to come?

    Once a link's been given to the orginal post, that's great; continue the discussion either here or there, but let it go.

    --
    Look out!
  64. What do I call 2 million dead Xians? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    A good start.

    Fuck them all - Moslem, Xian, Jew - the lot of them can rot as far as I am concerned.

    The UN did a good job ignoring their plight, just like the USA ignores the Palestinians and everyone ignored the jews backs in the 1940s.

    I think killing religious zealots of any variety is a good idea. Buncha stupid freeeks.

    AC

    1. Re:What do I call 2 million dead Xians? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wish someone would kill the mormons

    2. Re:What do I call 2 million dead Xians? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The UN did a good job ignoring their plight, just like the USA ignores the Palestinians and everyone ignored the jews backs in the 1940s.

      The UN actually has quite a bit to answer for in relation to this mess. It was the UN who came up with the idea to the patition of Palestine, even though this was at odds with the UN Charter. The UN continued to recognise "Israel" even after it was obvious that the Zionists were not going to comply with the partition plan.
      The US just gives Israel virtually unconditional support. If anyone gets in Israel's way, including US citizens, then that's just too bad...

  65. Isn't the title to this story misleading? by brocheck · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The U.S. won't "let them go"? Are the servers trying to escape?

    --

    suddenly I feel very tired

    1. Re:Isn't the title to this story misleading? by Jesus_666 · · Score: 1

      Yes. In fact, there's already a documentary in the making, called Escape from the US. It will be directed by John Carpenter and the lead role of a tough one-screened DNS server (with the network name of snake.plissken) will be played by Kurt Russell. In the movie, snake is forced by the president of the USA to invade ICANN territory and extract the DNS information about the president's daughter's website. He has to do so in nine hours, as the president's men installed a cronjob that will automatically shutdown -h now him after said time.

      Critics are already expecting this to become a classic of the action genre.

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  66. It scares me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that you seem to believe what you're saying. More than anything I feel sorry for you, I guess. Thousands of americans dead in the gulf, islamic fundamentalists more pissed off than ever at the US.

    We'll see how reassured you are when a dirty bomb goes off in Manhattan or the next mad fucker sends a jet into downtown LA. The states is headed for disaster; and most of you don't have the common sense or the education to spot it.

  67. Right, after all, everything wrong is the US' faul by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    You've got to be fucking kidding me. How the fuck did the mods mark this as "Insightful"?

    Don't blame the UN, eh? I didn't see Russia, or South Africa, or France, or Belgium, or any other country doing jack fucking shit to help the people of Sudan.

    The only "big part" of the UN the United States plays is its seat on the security council and the assload of money we hand over to the useless, corrupt ambassadors of the rest of the world so they can buy their children faster cars.

    This is the fucking problem with the rest of the world. You bastards are too fucking lazy/appeasing/pussy to stand up against ANY wrong doing. The second someone does stand up to fix a broken region of the world, you all harp in about how self cenetered and evil they are. You totally fucking ignore whatever evils are being comitted, and turn on whoever is doing something like a pack of wild dogs suddenly turning on its own.

    Yeah, I think what happened in Sudan was terrible. There's not a lot I can do about it, however. But saying America did nothing - what, we're supposed to police the hole fucking world so that everytime some group of backwards, cave dwelling fundamentalists decide to go to war with their neighbour, it's our fucking fault? What the fuck do you think the UN was created for?

    And - surprise - Islam has a pretty bad reputation in some parts of the world right now. The latest iteration of the "My Religion is Better Than Yours - The Story of Humanity" is getting pretty fucking old, and there are plenty of us who are getting more than slightly sick of the shit religion keeps hashing up (yes: this includes the budding christian fundamentalist movement in the US today). Of course, these fundamentalists don't behead people, video tape it, and post it on the internet. Believe it or not there is a fucking difference.

    Don't fucking defend the UN when they fail to do their job by trying to make this the United States or any other countries fault. The people at fault here are those who are comitting the attrocities in the Sudan, and its the responsibility of the UN to keep the peace. (SURPRISE! That's why they call them UN Peacekeepers!)

  68. Re: Don't knock Krushchev by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't knock Krushchev, he was a man ahead of his time. His shoe pounding antics would have certainly given him top billing on one of a number of reality TV shows that Americans can't get enough of (or the producers can't get enough of because you can hire a bunch of idiots for next to nothing and then ask people to pay to watch commercials for a double kick-back).

  69. Re:Wacky Perspective - Most DNS mirrors aren't in by Chemicalscum · · Score: 1
    "If the US wanted to shut off net access to it's own citizens, it could shut down the hometown computers (and black out the US). Good job there!

    Maybe that is why the Bush regime wishes to retain control of the root servers. Makes you think !

  70. Re: George Bush = America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I agree. Kind of like the American asshole. Lots of flatulence, gobbling up resources and turning them to ..., responsible for distressing messes everywhere, and general discomfort all around, but hey most of us can identify with him for better or for worse.

    Its all part of the new anti-christian christianity thats being ushered in, where its good to seek wealth, be judgmental, and express disdain for the meek and your fellow man when Christ explicitly forbade such behavior (assuming you want to get into heaven and you really believe in that sort of thing).

  71. We Buif It, They Will Come by LM741N · · Score: 0

    Since the US DARPA was the start of the internet, and the concept of HTTP was born here, and everything else (excepting the Linus Kernel, haha), we have rights to keep it here. Despite our sometimes goofy federal government, I'd rather the FB I running the root DNS servers, as opposed to France or some other degenerate EU country.

    1. Re:We Buif It, They Will Come by nagora · · Score: 1
      and the concept of HTTP was born here,

      Nope, sorry. HTTP was Europe.

      --
      "Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
    2. Re:We Buif It, They Will Come by Triskele · · Score: 1
      Other posters have commented on your ignorance about the web.

      But you are also unaware that over in degenerate Europe we were also building our internet. For the sake of interoperability we agreed a common standard that included elements of many standards. We could equally claim that JANET was the start of the internet - it was a public network unlike DARPA which was after all a military network.

      --

      --
      USA: home of the world's largest terrorist training camp.

    3. Re:We Buif It, They Will Come by Arimus · · Score: 0, Troll

      Hmm... HTTP was born WHERE?

      Before shooting your gob off check the facts.

      HTTP was orginally developed at CERN in Switzerland not in some over hyped country that thinks it invented everything.

      As the current people responsible for the root dns haven't done too bad a job unlike ICANN then I don't really see what the urgent need is to fix it...

      --
      --- Users are like bacteria -> Each one causing a thousand tiny crises until the host finally gives up and dies.
    4. Re:We Buif It, They Will Come by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least we shower. I was recently on a flight from Nice to Paris, and I thought I would throw up. Y'all smell like ass.

    5. Re:We Buif It, They Will Come by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "and the concept of HTTP was born here"
      Funny... I remember something about CERN in Zürich (in Switzerland)... ...I guess it was wrong...

    6. Re:We Buif It, They Will Come by PigIronBob · · Score: 1

      Fucking Uberyank, get you facts right imbecile, you guys start to resemble Nazi Germany of the 30's more and more each day, if you didn't' invent it you steal or ignore it, No the Sun does NOT shine out of your arse.

      --
      You never catch me alive
    7. Re:We Buif It, They Will Come by ccmay · · Score: 1
      What is http, but a better gopher? Invented at the University of Minnesota. So yes, the sun does shine out of our arses, you fucking Eurotrash.

      -ccm

      --
      Too much Law; not enough Order.
    8. Re:We Buif It, They Will Come by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jackass, he said "HTTP" specifically; nothing about the origin of the HTTP protocol. Uberyank jackass.

    9. Re:We Buif It, They Will Come by PigIronBob · · Score: 1

      I'm australian you idiot (not that you would now the difference)

      --
      You never catch me alive
  72. maintain its role in authorizing changes by l3v1 · · Score: 1

    Of course it would, I see no surprises here. First, this is the U.S. we're talking about here, now come on. Second, the simple rule, if it's not broken [enough

    --
    I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
  73. Taking sides by arodland · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Come on, now. I don't like it any more than anyone else when the government runs my life, but ICANN is one bunch of slobs that I wouldn't trust with a water gun. I don't see any reason for slashdot to have its feelings hurt so much :)

  74. Re:Right, after all, everything wrong is the US' f by koreaman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm going to try to make sense of our post, which is not a trivial task. I'm an American and I love America, by the way. I just don't agree with you.

    Don't blame the UN, eh? I didn't see Russia, or South Africa, or France, or Belgium, or any other country doing jack fucking shit to help the people of Sudan.
    What's your point? Because no one else helps we shouldn't either?

    The only "big part" of the UN the United States plays is its seat on the security council and the assload of money we hand over to the useless, corrupt ambassadors of the rest of the world so they can buy their children faster cars.
    I'm not real sure what this has to do with your point (if you have one). Anyway, the UN has done some good. Look at the WHO as an earlier poster pointed out. It's not just a big money hole that does nothing, although it has been corrupt in the past. Oh, right, so has the US government. Remember the Nixon administration? Our government is not the saint you think it is.

    This is the fucking problem with the rest of the world. You bastards are too fucking lazy/appeasing/pussy to stand up against ANY wrong doing. The second someone does stand up to fix a broken region of the world, you all harp in about how self cenetered and evil they are. You totally fucking ignore whatever evils are being comitted, and turn on whoever is doing something like a pack of wild dogs suddenly turning on its own.
    When did America stand up to fix a broken part of the world? No, really? Don't say Iraq. That was for oil and nothing else and you know it. Deep down, you know it. Why aren't we helping the areas that are even MORE broken than Iraq but would cost less to fix? Oh, right, oil.

    Yeah, I think what happened in Sudan was terrible. There's not a lot I can do about it, however. But saying America did nothing - what, we're supposed to police the hole fucking world so that everytime some group of backwards, cave dwelling fundamentalists decide to go to war with their neighbour, it's our fucking fault? What the fuck do you think the UN was created for?
    Earlier you say we should stand up to evil and fix broken parts of the world, now you basically say "What, we're supposed to police the whole ... world?" I can't really argue against two different opinions so pick the one you're going with.

    Now you go into an anti-Islamic rant that I'm not even going to bother pasting. Again, I'm not real sure what your point is.


    Don't fucking defend the UN when they fail to do their job by trying to make this the United States or any other countries fault. The people at fault here are those who are comitting the attrocities in the Sudan, and its the responsibility of the UN to keep the peace. (SURPRISE! That's why they call them UN Peacekeepers!)

    Why don't you apply this logic to Iraq, and let the UN do its job there? Oh, right, oil. When the UN doesn't do its job in one area (in your opinion) we should invade and "fix" it ourselves, but when it doesn't do its job in another area we should just stick our thumbs up our nether regions and wait for someone else to fix it?

    In conclusion:
    I know you're smarter than this. Realize your potential by thinking for yourself and not letting the Bush administration form your opinions for you. We may still disagree, but at least you'll be worth arguing with.

    Please reply.

  75. Re:(lame filter...) by l3v1 · · Score: 1

    ...[enough] don't fix it.

    --
    I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
  76. Made in the USA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The USA Goverment made the internet. Without the USA there wouldn't be an internet. Therefor the USA should control the internet.

  77. Unbelievable!! by ctid · · Score: 1
    the concept of HTTP was born here

    I find it amazing that you believe this. Try looking here: the history of http.
    --
    Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
  78. outsource it to india by abandonment · · Score: 3, Funny

    no problem, with the US in control, it will probably be outsourced to india or another country before too long...

    1. Re:outsource it to india by mi · · Score: 1
      These operations are not labor-intensive at all. But they sure are bandwidth-intensive. These two factors alone will keep them in US for a while.

      Plus there is the already mentioned strategic importance. We are not talking about phone-support centers, nor medical-records processing, nor cotton growing here.

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    2. Re:outsource it to india by manojar · · Score: 1

      The issue is not of sending it out of the USA. It is about having 'control' over it. You have have it in the moon and still let it be under USA's control. You can have it within USA and not let the government control it, like Tyco's undersea cables now owned by VSNL of India.

    3. Re:outsource it to india by mi · · Score: 1
      Tyco's undersea cables now owned by VSNL of India.
      I'm sure, Tyco is comfortable with the control it excercises after the arrangement.
      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  79. domain name anarchy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  80. Re:Right, after all, everything wrong is the US' f by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, what an ignorant response.

    The reason Europe is free today is largely because of the United States. No it wasn't all atruism, but without American protection Europe would have been part of the Soviet Empire.

    I will leave it at that. It is late and I am too tired to respond to ignorant cynicism.

  81. Re:Right, after all, everything wrong is the US' f by koreaman · · Score: 1

    I really have no clear idea what this has to do with anything.

  82. cyberspace equivalent of nuclear bombs by cahiha · · Score: 1

    And this is a problem how? This is an honest question.

    It's the US government that has hyped up cyberwarfare. If you believe their hype, then keeping control of the root DNS servers gives the US the equivalent of full first-strike, ICBM, nuclear capabilities. Even if you don't believe their hype, it suggests bad faith.

    Each country can come up with a solution as to how and what they'll be. Let the other countries make their own DNS servers and agree to everyone just co-operating with each other.

    That's what the other nations want, and that's what the US is trying to prevent.

  83. correct by cahiha · · Score: 0

    i.e. when the US acts without the backing of the UN, we're the big, evil bully. However, when the US DOESN'T act when the UN is disinterested, we're the big, evil, unfeeling nation who could care less about the plight of the rest of the world. Right?

    You are absolutely right: both of these behaviors are unacceptable.

    What the US should do is participate in the UN and support the UN. That means not acting when the UN votes not to act, but to lobby and participate within the UN to get it to do what we think is the right thing to do.

  84. Re:Wacky Perspective - Most DNS mirrors aren't in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Real terrorists use IP adress!!!

  85. Re:You may have posted AC... by Goth+Biker+Babe · · Score: 1, Informative

    What god? Oh you mean that figment of the imagination of those who need an emotional crutch.

  86. Re:Right, after all, everything wrong is the US' f by StrayJay · · Score: 1

    My guess is, he knows he was wrong and is trying to save face. ;-)

    --
    If you're old enough to get screwed, you should be old enough to get hammered.
  87. Except U.S. is 3rd most populous in world by HighOrbit · · Score: 1

    and has the most net users by far

  88. The UN is the world's best hope for peace? Yeah... by usurper_ii · · Score: 3, Informative

    The UN is the world's last best hope for peace.

    This cliche has achieved near universal acceptance because of sheer repetition; it has been repeated so often that people assume it must be true. However, only by some tortured application of Orwellian "Newspeak" can the UN be referred to as a "peace" organization.

    During the summer of 1945, Ambassador J. Reuben Clark, Jr., one of America's foremost scholars in the field of international law, prepared an analysis of the UN Charter. His learned appraisal and cogent remarks fly in the face of popular platitudes and conventional "wisdom" concerning the "revered" document. Ambassador Clark's examination led him to conclude that the Charter "is a war document not a peace document," and that it "is built to prepare for war, not to promote peace." The Ambassador noted:

    [T]here is no provision in the Charter itself that contemplates ending war. It is true the Charter provides for force to bring peace, but such use of force is itself war.33

    Moreover, said Ambassador Clark,

    Not only does the Charter Organization not prevent future wars, but it makes practically certain that we shall have future wars, and as to such wars it takes from us the power to declare them, to choose the side on which we shall fight, to determine what forces and military equipment we shall use in the war, and to control and command our sons who do the fighting.34

    The Ambassador's predictions were soon borne out -- first in Korea and then in Vietnam, the first two wars America fought with UN involvement and the only two which the United States has ever failed to win.35

    Dr. J. B. Matthews, former chief investigator for the House Committee on Un-American Activities and one of America's outstanding scholars on Marxist-Leninist theory and practice, was but one of many leading Americans who exposed the UN-as-peace-dove myth. Dr. Matthews was not one to mince words. "I challenge the illusion that the UN is an instrument of peace," he said. "It could not be less of a cruel hoax if it had been organized in Hell for the sole purpose of aiding and abetting the destruction of the United States."36 Senator William Langer (R-ND), one of only two senators with enough courage and foresight to vote against the UN Charter, said "I feel from the bottom of my heart that the adoption of the Charter ... will mean perpetuating war."37

    The UN's monstrous war against the people of Katanga should forever lay to rest any reference to the UN as a peace organization. The UN and its supporters may persist in the charade of calling the UN's warmaking powers "peacemaking" or "peacekeeping," but no sensible person of goodwill should give the slightest credence to such patently deceitful abuse of language.

  89. Don't forget the UN's war against Katanga either by usurper_ii · · Score: 1

    Remember Katanga:
    http://www.neusysinc.com/columnarchive/colm0036.ht ml

    -=-=-=-=-=

    The UN is the world's last best hope for peace?

    This cliche has achieved near universal acceptance because of sheer repetition; it has been repeated so often that people assume it must be true. However, only by some tortured application of Orwellian "Newspeak" can the UN be referred to as a "peace" organization.

    During the summer of 1945, Ambassador J. Reuben Clark, Jr., one of America's foremost scholars in the field of international law, prepared an analysis of the UN Charter. His learned appraisal and cogent remarks fly in the face of popular platitudes and conventional "wisdom" concerning the "revered" document. Ambassador Clark's examination led him to conclude that the Charter "is a war document not a peace document," and that it "is built to prepare for war, not to promote peace." The Ambassador noted:

    [T]here is no provision in the Charter itself that contemplates ending war. It is true the Charter provides for force to bring peace, but such use of force is itself war.33

    Moreover, said Ambassador Clark,

    Not only does the Charter Organization not prevent future wars, but it makes practically certain that we shall have future wars, and as to such wars it takes from us the power to declare them, to choose the side on which we shall fight, to determine what forces and military equipment we shall use in the war, and to control and command our sons who do the fighting.34

    The Ambassador's predictions were soon borne out -- first in Korea and then in Vietnam, the first two wars America fought with UN involvement and the only two which the United States has ever failed to win.35

    Dr. J. B. Matthews, former chief investigator for the House Committee on Un-American Activities and one of America's outstanding scholars on Marxist-Leninist theory and practice, was but one of many leading Americans who exposed the UN-as-peace-dove myth. Dr. Matthews was not one to mince words. "I challenge the illusion that the UN is an instrument of peace," he said. "It could not be less of a cruel hoax if it had been organized in Hell for the sole purpose of aiding and abetting the destruction of the United States."36 Senator William Langer (R-ND), one of only two senators with enough courage and foresight to vote against the UN Charter, said "I feel from the bottom of my heart that the adoption of the Charter ... will mean perpetuating war."37

    The UN's monstrous war against the people of Katanga should forever lay to rest any reference to the UN as a peace organization. The UN and its supporters may persist in the charade of calling the UN's warmaking powers "peacemaking" or "peacekeeping," but no sensible person of goodwill should give the slightest credence to such patently deceitful abuse of language.

  90. Re:You may have posted AC... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Whoever modded parent flamebait, get a sense of humour, you! ;)

  91. Re:Right, after all, everything wrong is the US' f by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of course, [Christian] fundamentalists don't behead people, video tape it, and post it on the internet. Believe it or not there is a fucking difference.

    Good point, and this is one that no one ever seems to comment on.

    When Islam is insulted (eg, a Koran in the toilet), Muslims riot in the streets of Jalalabad, murdering, burning, and beating their chests.

    Can anyone imagine even the most twisted, demented, freakishly paranoid Christian fundamentalist in the US or Europe running amok because someone insulted his religion?

    I sure can't. I know many peaceful/good Muslims and some violent/bad Christians - but there's something within the core of Islamic beliefs that is dark, and cancerous, and dangerous in a way that just doesn't seem to exist in the Christian faith.

    For the record, I'm an atheist.

  92. Re:Right, after all, everything wrong is the US' f by charyou-tree · · Score: 1

    Anyway, the UN has done some good. Look at the WHO

    I agree, and the WHO is a good example.

    However, the fundamental problem I and many others have with the UN is that there seems to be this growing crowd of people who think the UN is, or should be, some kind of democracy of nations. This is neither a practical nor a desirable goal.

    Inefficiencies aside, I don't want my nation's actions to be subject to veto by China or impassioned speeches from the UN Commission on Human Rights chair Libya.

    When did America stand up to fix a broken part of the world?

    WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq/Kuwait 1991 for starters.

    Oh, wait, you meant to write, "what have you done lately" ...

    No, really? Don't say Iraq. That was for oil and nothing else and you know it. Deep down, you know it.

    Iraq. Oil? Right. Bush has done a stupendously inexcusable job of articulating why we invaded Iraq, but that doesn't mean he did it for the oil. Iraq was invaded because it is of immense strategic importance and had an unstable, corrupt, historically dangerous regime. Oil is one reason why Iraq is strategically important. To imply that oil is the only reason Iraq is important is almost childish in its naivete.

    Why aren't we helping the areas that are even MORE broken than Iraq but would cost less to fix?

    Because the United States, while rich and powerful, is not omnipotent. We have to carefully consider where our blood and economic/military resources are best spent. The fact that Iraq has oil and occupies a strategic piece of land are two factors that made it intervention there viable.

    Oh, right, oil.

    This oft-chanted answer is a moral and intellectual cop-out. It's so obviously wrong, on so many levels.

    Rational, intelligent people can debate whether or not invading Iraq was necessary or wise, or whether Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/etc have made mistakes managing post-invasion Iraq ... but the people who are still stuck in oil-chanting mode are not among them.

    Why don't you apply this logic to Iraq, and let the UN do its job there?

    I'd rather not digress into a discussion of the UN's endless resolutions condemning Saddam's actions, its endless promises of action, and its ultimate failure to do anything at all over the course of a decade.

    When the UN doesn't do its job in one area (in your opinion) we should invade and "fix" it ourselves

    When we a) have the capability, b) feel our national interests are at stake, and c) the UN declines to help ... yes. Absolutely. That's why we have the US Army, the US Navy, the US Air Force, and the US Marine Corps ... and not the US-contingent-of-the-UN Army, US-contingent-of-the-UN navy, etc.

    but when it doesn't do its job in another area we should just stick our thumbs up our nether regions and wait for someone else to fix it?

    As noted above, our resources are not infinite. Intervening in Sudan, and other places, would be nice - but Iraq and Afghanistan were felt to be more important places to focus our efforts.

  93. MOD PARENT DOWN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    [T]here is no provision in the Charter itself that contemplates ending war. It is true the Charter provides for force to bring peace, but such use of force is itself war.33

    This plagurism, an obvious cut and paste job, where the poster didn't even bother to get rid of the footnotes.

  94. Re:The UN is the world's best hope for peace? Yeah by Planesdragon · · Score: 1

    During the summer of 1945, Ambassador J. Reuben Clark, Jr., one of America's foremost scholars in the field of international law, prepared an analysis of the UN Charter. His learned appraisal and cogent remarks fly in the face of popular platitudes and conventional "wisdom" concerning the "revered" document. Ambassador Clark's examination led him to conclude that the Charter "is a war document not a peace document," and that it "is built to prepare for war, not to promote peace." The Ambassador noted...:

    I did not say the UN would prevent war. I never called its charter a revered document.

    I said that it was supposed to prevent World War III. And it did, by ensuring that the two cascading networks of alliances that caused WWI were instead one single worldwide network of alliances, with two big sub-knots of communists and democracies.

  95. Re:The UN is the world's best hope for peace? Yeah by cherberos · · Score: 1

    Are you one of those socalled 'Americans' we Europeans hear so much about? Let me guess: You voted for Bush because he's sooo pro 'peace and democracy'

    --
    So "used" cases that used "unused" could break, though older compilers in essence used "unused" to mean both "used" and
  96. Somalia: no oil. Bosnia: no oil. Aceh: no oil by ccmay · · Score: 1
    Why aren't we helping the areas that are even MORE broken than Iraq but would cost less to fix? Oh, right, oil.

    We were involved in Bosnia and Kosovo, at the cost of many American lives and billions of American dollars, while the pusillanimous Europeans turned their back on the suffering. . . No oil there.

    We evacuated civilians from dozens of nations from any number of African shit holes during their many revolutions over the past twenty years. . . No oil there.

    We were in Aceh shortly after the tsunami. Our military field hospitals were doing operations in knee-deep muck by the light of propane lanterns, and our choppers were dropping MREs and bottled water over hundreds of miles of coastline, days before Kofi Annan swanned into the Jakarta Hilton. While he and the feckless NGOs and UN agencies were holding task force meetings and press conferences, our boys were sweating and bleeding out in the field, saving the lives of bloodthirsty Muslim fiends who a week previously would have gladly beheaded them all. . . No oil there.

    No oil in Somalia. No oil in Haiti. Just hopeless suffering people under the thumb of despotic governments, crying out for freedom and security. Some thanks we got for trying our best to help!

    No oil in Vietnam. No oil in Korea. And we didn't get much in the way of oil out of either of the World Wars.

    Sophisticated, cowardly, jaded Europeans, in their pampered, self-centered cynicism, do not believe anyone could truly go to war to relieve the suffering of others. They see no imperative to spread the blessings of free markets and democratic self-government, as they have themselves lost faith in it. They observe the corruption and lack of principle in their own governments, and project the same venality on the American government and military. They are craven fools. They will soon be living under Sharia law if they do not change.

    I proudly acknowledge that the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are being done in my name and with my tax dollars. I believe that they will succeed, and that future generations will remember them with favor.

    Many more such operations will be necessary if civilization is to survive. When possible they will be humanitarian in nature, to relieve suffering directly and spread good will towards our nation. When this is not possible, military force will be used to prevent the suffering of millions under collectivist tyranny or medieval religious fanaticism or nuclear terrorism.

    We'll hit hard in the interests of our country, and we won't apologize to anyone. We'll laugh in the face of multi-culti asswipes who think that some people are unfit for free-market democracy. We won't ask permission from quavering intellectuals, or bickering diplomats, or corrupt dictators. Get used to it. This is just the beginning. The world has changed forever. We are going to sweep away the debris of millennia.

    -ccm

    --
    Too much Law; not enough Order.
  97. I wasn't joking [nt] (although I'd take a +1 mod) by oldosadmin · · Score: 1

    I wasn't joking [nt] (although I'd take a +1 mod)

    --
    Jay | http://oldos.org
  98. It is time to FORK into ORSN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is time for the world community to fork and start going on our own:

    http://european.nl.orsn.net/

    ORSN is an abbreviation for Open Root Server Network and stands for a network of DNS servers in member countries of the European Union and/or neighbouring countries.

    The ORSN serves as a alternative for the existing root-server network since February 2002, which is coordinated by the ICANN. In contrast to the root servers of the ICANN, the ORSN servers should predominantly be placed in Europe. The maximum number of ORSN root-servers will be 13.

    Until now, the administration is done by the USA and/or the ICANN. Therefor, a large number of root-servers is located in America. A loss or the modification of the root-server information could result in serious consequences for all other countries concerning their internet use. It is for example possible to stop a whole country from using the internet. In practice, this scenario didn't happen so far but it can't be excluded either.

    The ORSN is based on a private initiative. The project isn't profit-oriented and won't be it in the future. The current root-server operators of the ORSN support the network by supplying resources such as server hardware and, if necessary, the administration of the appropriate server. The joined ISPs and operators administer and use the ORSN by conviction and in the interest of the autarcy of the network in Europe.

    Visit our forum at http://forum.orsn.org/ to ask for more information.

  99. We have a winner! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is actually an American more stupid than GWB. LOL, what an asshole. Lets laugh at the ignorant redneck one more time. My favourite line (amongst many), in discussing the UN conventions on human rights and the rights of the child:

    And we're supposed to take their word that these are valuable?

    Priceless. Why oh why do Walmart always get the talent? this guy should be on the stage.

    1. Re:We have a winner! by njyoder · · Score: 1

      You seem to be under the mistaken impression that because people sign a piece of paper, that it must have value.

  100. How am I flamebait, and this is insightful? [nt] by oldosadmin · · Score: 1

    I don't like text. I put none here. I'm burning karma. OMG WHEE!

    --
    Jay | http://oldos.org
  101. Re: U.S. Won't Let Go of DNS by lightyear4 · · Score: 1

    All of this tangental discussion about the UN and the USA overlooks a particularly salient point. The UN is a representative body; the US is a representative government. As with most such institutions, the official position of the body is a view with a particular bias behind it. Far more often than being truly representative, such a position more usually a view distilled and refined many times over. Rather than being the view of the body's constituents, it is instead the combined view of those few people in the rarefied heights at the top of the pyramid. The little guys at the bottom of the pile (who, granted, hold a highly diverse field of opinion) will often feel entirely differently, if they are indeed even aware of the subject at hand. I am an American myself, and do not at all share the views of the current powers that be. Therefore, fellow slashdotters, in just spirit: please if you would, take care to criticise the body and not the entirety of those that the body represents.