May 26, 2003

Locus ab auctoritate est infirmissimus  ("The argument from authority is the weakest.") - Thomas Aquinas

Perhaps you noticed the quote in the header in my blog - Locus ab auctoritate est infirmissimus  ("The argument from authority is the weakest.") by Thomas Aquinas.

There is a bit of fun and irony, not to mention more than a bit of circular logic, to use the authority of a Saint of the Catholic Church to confront a claim that one should concede a point on nothing more than a bald assertion of authority.

It seems to me that we in the United States have fallen under the spell of asserted authority.

Why, for example, should we believe that ICANN has any power over the internet whatsoever?  Where did ICANN get its power?  From the US Department of Commerce?  Where did they get that power?  Because they say they have it?  Where's the proof?

Nearly three years ago Professor A. Michael Froomkin asked for proof.  His questions have never been answered.  Is it perhaps because there is no proof?

We deserve more from ICANN and the US Department of Commerce than hand waving and statements that amount to nothing more than paper-thin assertions that contend that ICANN has its powers simply because ICANN and the US Dep't of Commerce say so.

If we accept that then we are simply accepting the argument from authority.

Posted by karl at May 26, 2003 2:14 AM