Internet Pioneer To Head Board

Friday, November 17th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. (AP) â€” A man widely regarded as one of the Internet's founding fathers will now lead the international oversight board for online addresses, bringing a technical focus to an organization often accused of straying into social policy and governance.

Vinton Cerf, 57, was selected chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers following its annual meeting Thursday, when the group approved seven new domain name suffixes to join .com, .net and .org.

He replaces Esther Dyson, a high-tech entrepreneur and newsletter editor who left the board after two years. Cerf's chairmanship is for one year and is unpaid.

Concerned about what he referred to as ICANN's ``mushrooming activity,'' Cerf said that ``the current ICANN is probably pushed further beyond the technical mission, more than I wish it were.''

As the board discussed new domain names this week, Cerf complained about ICANN's scrutiny of the 44 companies that had submitted proposals to run them. He said the market, not ICANN, should handle the financial matters.

ICANN's role, he said, should be limited to finding a replacement for running a domain suffix should the initial company fail to make money.

``We can't manage this whole process so that the Internet can't grow,'' Cerf said. ``We have to make sure the engine keeps going. We still have to find a way to make this process more mechanical.''

ICANN was selected in 1998 by the U.S. government to handle domain names, numeric address assignments and other technical matters related to helping computer users find one another.

As a professor at Stanford University in the 1970s, Cerf led a team that invented the protocols, known as TCP/IP, which now serve as the Internet's basic communications tools.

He continued working on Internet technology at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and later developed MCI Mail, the Net's first commercial e-mail service. He is currently senior vice president of Internet Architecture and Technology for WorldCom Corp., which merged with MCI.

``I can't think of many people who have done more for the Internet than Vint Cerf,'' said Don Heath, president of the nonprofit Internet Society, which Cerf helped form. ``His whole life is wrapped up in it.''

Jonathan Weinberg, a Wayne State University law professor who has followed ICANN closely, said Cerf's technical background brings clout.

``When Vint Cerf speaks about Internet stability, he does it with authority,'' Weinberg said. ``Nobody can say this is a guy who doesn't known what he's talking about.''

But Cerf, appointed to the board in 1999 by ICANN's protocol supporting organization, still has a tough job winning respect from many of the Internet users disillusioned with a board they consider heavily tilted toward corporate interests.

Leah Gallegos, who has been running a .biz suffix without ICANN's sanction, said naming a current director as chairman changes nothing.

``Vint Cerf is MCI WorldCom,'' she said. ``It's just that much more entrenched in big business.''

The vote was unanimous, although two members abstained â€” Cerf and newcomer Andy Mueller-Maguhn, who also expressed concerns about Cerf's ties to business.

``No doubt he made good work on the Net, but he's moved to industry,' Mueller-Maguhn said. ``I'm not sure whether he sees his industry involvement as one part of his life and ICANN as another.''

Mueller-Maguhn was elected Europe's representative to the general membership. Four other at-large directors seated Thursday were Karl Auerbach from North America, Ivan Campos from Latin America/Caribbean, Nii Quaynor from Africa and Masanobu Katoh from Asia/Australia/Pacific.

Auerbach and Mueller-Maguhn both ran on anti-ICANN platforms and have pledged to give average users more of a voice in ICANN decisions.

``There needs to be a better balance of power,'' Mueller-Maguhn said. ``My job is to bring some issues in public to make them discussable and understandable. Even if ICANN claims to be not government, ... it will still have a great impact on the social, cultural and economic development on this planet.''

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On the Net:

ICANN: http://www.icann.org

Cerf's site: http://wcom.com/cerfsup