Simon Lyall wrote:
"Yeah, but we've held great conferences in the past without ICANN. I just think that the whole ICANN/Internetnz thing has the capability to hijack NZNOG. "
This is not the first time I have heard the suggestion, so for clarification I will point out: - The Wellington ICANN meeting is likely to be the only ICANN meeting in NZ for the next decade - InternetNZ has sponsored speakers and cash to NZNOG in the past 3 years - InternetNZ has not attempted to influence NZNOG organisers into what to spend our sponsorship on - InternetNZ has the express desire to assist the NOG community to the greatest extent possible, in achieving the NOG's aspirations, not InternetNZ's. - Read my lips - "No hijack". The reason for our suggestion that the NZNOG might be held to coincide with the Wellington ICANN meeting was purely to extend the opportunity to NZNOG to be able to meet some of the absolute thought leaders of the Internet who will be in NZ for ICANN, for example: - Vint Cerf www.icann.org/biog/cerf.htm and www.worldcom.com/cerfsup - Steve Crocker www.icann.org/biog/crocker.htm I'd suggest we would not have an Internet at all if it hadn't been for the above 2 individuals. Both are still code hackers... - Bill Manning - very useful attendee at previous NZNOG's I know some people say that ICANN is the political arena of the Internet, which is dead true - but within that environment are the geeks who made it work in the first place, as well as newer geeks who have great things working on the Internet. So I urge you all to please shake the mindset that there is some kind of hidden agenda, or some desire by InternetNZ to hijack this event. Our motives are purely to provide an opportunity for you all to participate in sharing in the intellectual property that will be here in NZ anyway. If NZNOG wants the event at a different timing, then that is a fair call. But to try and undermine InternetNZ's offer by innuendo is grossly unfair. Keith Davidson President - InternetNZ