Robert E. Kahn

The role of government in the evolution of the Internet

rom its origins as a U.S. government research project, the Internet has grown to become a major component of network infrastructure, linking millions of machines and tens of millions of users around the world. Very little of the current Internet is owned by, operated by or even controlled by governmental bodies. Most of the funding for Internet services comes directly from private sources, although the educational community in the U.S. receives most of its research funding from governmental sources. Increasingly, however, the provision of Internet communication services, regardless of use, is being handled by commercial firms on a profit-making basis. This situation raises the question as to the proper long-term role for government in the continued evolution ofthe Internet. Is the Internet now in a form where government involvement should cease in its entirety so as to allow private sector interests to determine its future trajectory? Or is there still an important role for government to play in the future? This article concludes that there are a series of important contributions for government to make and a few areas where government involvement will continue to be essential to the longterm well-being of the Internet. In fact, as the Internet continues on its commercial and international trajectory, the role of government will continue to be essential, and may expand to include more involvement by governments around the world.

Representing Value as Digital Objects: A Discussion of Transferability and Anonymity

This article discusses the use of “digital objects” to represent “value” in the network environment. Deeds of trust, mortgages, bills of lading and digital cash can all be represented as digital objects. The notion of “transferable records” structured as digital objects is introduced, along with references to its application in real financial situations. Even in a formal information system, anonymity reflects the desire of a holder of value to remain incognito, except as he or she wishes to be made known. The use of unique, persistent identifiers and a resolution mechanism to fashion such a capability for anonymity and transferability is presented.

Managing Digital Objects on the Internet

All types of information may be structured as digital objects. These may be subject to rights, require privacy or demand security. Some may be inaccessible without permission (eg. Behind firewalls) may move from place to place, or exist at multiple locations. Some may need to be accessible for very long period of time. An overall framework in which to address these issues will be presented and their revelence to network operations and management will be discussed.

Cooperative Design Over High Speed Networks

The availability of high speed networks will enable geographically separated research groups to interact on the design and implementation of complex systems. System concepts, schematic diagrams and component descriptions will need to be communicated along with plans for integration of the components or the interaction with other components. A discussion of the possibilities in this area will be given. The MOSIS system for VLSI design will be reviewed and a brief discussion of the differences between VLSI design and mechanical design will be discussed.