This content was published by Andrew Tomazos and written by several hundred members of the former Internet Knowledge Base project.

Don't pull the pin

Part of it is just common-sense, which is in surprisingly large supply in many places online. Without the RFCs and other standards, we don't have a system any more, we only have an enormous set of conflicts.

However, with the huge mass of users being unaware of these issues, and the profit motive starting to make more decisions than common sense, where will that leave us? So much of the coherence of the Internet system has been by community effort. if we have to force people into behaving, or pay them to do it, we lose a lot of impetus and sincerity. We waste a lot of time cleaning up, when we could be creating new opportunities.

The spam problem has showed how difficult it is to police the Net. Perhaps with a world government it will become more possible to restrict really destructive behaviour. Right now, all people have to do is switch locations/IDs. A surprisingly small minority is causing us all a lot of trouble.

Standards to which governments become signatories have some potential for survival. Recommendations are for people who listen.

I think it's gone way beyond Request for Comment nowadays, and needs to be Way to Make it Happen.

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