Is the Internet Broken?

Recently there have been several articles about the need to "reinvent the Internet". For an alternative view, below is an letter written by Mike Roberts. Mike is currently a consultant to I2 and to Educause but one of the leaders in developing the Internet that we know today. He was Pres. and CEO of ICANN, VP of Educom, a director with I2 and prior to that Deputy Director of Information Technology Services at Stanford. Mike submitted the letter below to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Design Choices,
Not Defects

To the Editor:
When I was in grad school some
years back, one of my professors often
said to me, "Rigor, Roberts, more
rigor." Your article on scrapping the
Internet quotes a number of academic
network researchers whose comments
could use a healthy dose of rigor
("Can the Internet Be Saved?," The
Chronicle, June 29). Many of the sup-
posed deficiencies noted in the text are
actually carefully designed features,
not defects.
To mention but one, the Internet
protocols were specifically designed to
avoid single points of failure, yet your
description of the Ethane network
says "Only if that policy is allowed by
'central
command' will it choose a
path for the packets" The last thing
the Internet, or academe, needs is
"central command." The country is
still recovering from the stifling of innovation
inflicted on us for genera-
tions by telephone engineers with
command-and-control mentalities.
Those of us who participated in the
generalization and commercialization
of the Internet back in the 80s and 90s
look askance at the indifference to
network architectural choices carefully
weighed and made in those days that is
reflected in articles like yours especial-
ly since the researchers involved have
their eyes on spending $300-million of
taxpayers' money.
Perfection in a computer network is
not an attainable goal; the deficiencies
of the Intemet reflect design choices
and value judgments In a technology
that has now, fortuitously, become an
essential means of human communica-
tion, it is essential to revisit those
choices But it would increase the rigor
involved if there were a little less
breaking of china and a little more at-
tention to achieving the best balance
of network features for the billions
who will use the Net in this new century.

Mike Robertr
Portola Valley, Calif.