A four-day Internet forum is meeting in Brazil to address a wide range of issues such as network security, fighting child pornography, language diversity, privacy and human rights. There are about 1,000 representatives from the governments of many countries, business and the civil society, gathered. I would imagine there are some un-civil members of society in attendance as well. The first surprising announcement from the attendees is that while there are a billion people having access to the Internet, 5 billion have no access. Who knew???
Americans being Americans, U.S. control over how Internet addresses (anything after the dot like 'com', 'org' or 'net') are assigned has already been 'addressed'. To which Brazil's Culture Minister Gilberto Gil says not so fast, "The Internet is transnational. It can't be under the authority of one country or even some countries." Do you get the feeling that things will go downhill from there? Me too!!!
I'm not quite sure why this meeting is being held since the forum has no decision-making powers. Those seeking change can use the conference to pressure the United States to cede control. So why are we there? The United States funded most of the early development of the Internet, not Al Gore?, then went to the nonprofit, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which we have veto power over and said go ahead, knock yourself out and assign Internet addresses...
In answer to my question, 'So why are we there?', here's why. By controlling domain names, the United States indirectly influences much of the Internet. There are those who fear that changing the current system (ICANN) will open the door to the United Nations to allow governments to use the Internet for their own political gain and even impose censorship. ICANN's president and chief executive, Paul Twomey says the organization is already international. Twomey is an Australian and the newly elected chairman is from New Zealand. Only three of its 15 board members comes from the U.S...
Updates will be provided should anything occur during the forum worth updating...
10 Timeline Memories:
- 1789] Death and Taxes: Benjamin Franklin writes in a letter to a friend, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes". This video clip provides more great axioms from Big Ben: http://youtube.com/watch?v=EZf9_g1F-3w ...
- 1942] 18 with a bullet: The minimum draft age is lowered from 21 to 18...
- 1960] Wedding Bells: Sammy Davis Jr. and Swedish actress May Britt walk down the aisle. The pair will stay in wedded bliss for 8 years...
- 1968] Premiered on this date: "Yellow Submarine", the animated movie and here's a clip from it: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZIjZtgyPhS0 ...1997] "The Lion King" opens at the New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway...
- 1974] "Happy Trails": Karen Silkwood, 28, a technician and union activist from Oklahoma who inspired a movie of her life, is killed in a suspicious car crash...
- 1979] Vote for the "Gipper": Former California Governor Ronald Reagan announces his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination while visiting New York...
- 1979] 'Chocolate Thunder': 76er Darryl Dawkins shatters a fiberglass backboard doing a monster dunk in Kansas City and starts a new fad that provides ESPN with about a million 'Sports Update' show opens. DD is included in this 'Top Ten in Game Dunks' video clip: http://youtube.com/watch?v=QNid2mHh9Mg ...
- 1993] Top of the charts: Top-ranked Florida State and #2 Notre Dame (both 9-0) stage a showdown in South Bend with the 'Fighting Irish' prevailing 31-24. The Irish go to number one but lose the following weekend to Boston College and Florida State will win the national championship with a victory over Nebraska in the Orange Bowl...
- 1998] Hush money: Bill Clinton agrees to pay Paula Jones $850,000 ending the four-year legal battle over her sexual harassment lawsuit against him. Clinton does not admit guilt or apologize. Several years later Paula takes a lie detector test on Fox. The results? Watch this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=PxKA4k_oD5o ...
- 1999] First Brit champ: Lenox Lewis becomes the first British heavyweight champion of the world by winning a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield...
Music Memories:
- 1961] Released on this date: "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - Tokens, seen here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=mwy5uqemp6c ...1965] "Fever" - McCoys (Rick Derringer-lead singer)...1971] "Old Fashioned Love Song" - Three Dog Night...2000] "One Night Only" LP - Elton John (recorded at Madison Square Garden 3 weeks earlier)...
Commentary:
Dick Clark will be making his 35th appearance (his stroke in 2004 prohibited him from attending) on the 36th edition of "Rockin' Eve" on New Year's Eve. Ryan Seacrest will handle most of the hosting assignment featuring live music from Times Square at 10, the actual countdown will start at 11:35 with more performances from TS and Hollywood. The final segment starts at 1:05 a.m. and will feature additional acts filmed on the West Coast (where it will be 10:05 p.m.)..."Happy Trails" to Laraine Day, actress and 'first lady of baseball', who passed away at 87 from natural causes. Once married to baseball manager Leo Durocher, Laraine attended most of the games played by the Giants at the Polo Grounds when Leo managed the 'Jints'...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Jimmy Kimmel (40), life-long football fill-in QB Vinny Testaverde, now with the Panthers of Carolina (44), Chris Noth (51), Whoopi Goldberg (52), Joe Mantegna (60) and Garry Marshall (73)...
Timeline Countdown: 9 days until Thanksgiving, 22 days until Hanukah, 39 days until winter and 42 shopping days until Christmas...
